- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday June 29 2005 01.17 BST
A doctor accused of failing to notice "a cluster of deaths" among the patients of the serial killer Harold Shipman said yesterday that he had trusted the GP "implicitly".
Jeremy Dirckze worked close to Shipman's practice in Hyde, Greater Manchester, and countersigned 35 cremation forms for the mass murderer between 1995 and 1998.
Dr Dirckze, who still practises in Hyde, is accused of serious professional misconduct in relation to 12 of the deaths. The patients died between 1995 and 1997 in Shipman's presence or soon after he had visited them.
Dr Dirckze told a General Medical Council panel there was no reason to suspect Shipman of any wrongdoing before his arrest in 1998. Even when Shipman's high number of patient deaths became apparent, Dr Dirckze said he did not "dare consider" he was harming his patients. He said: "It wasn't something that we thought possible. Mutual trust in your colleagues meant that we didn't think a doctor could do something like that."
Nigel Grundy, representing the GMC, accused Dr Dirckze of signing the cremation forms without questioning contradictions Shipman made in his accounts of the deaths.
All the deaths were sudden or unexpected and in unusual circumstances, the hearing was told. The doctor should have spotted these and reported them to the coroner.
When bodies are released for cremation, the GP must sign a cremation form, providing details of the cause and circumstances of death. A second doctor must then scrutinise these comments to ensure against any negligence by the GP before signing another form.
He added that Shipman was considered an "ideal" GP who often went "beyond the call of duty" to help his sick and elderly patients, visiting them "two or three times a day".
Shipman murdered at least 215 patients with lethal diamorphine injections. He was jailed for life in January 2000 on 15 murder counts, and was found hanged in his cell in Wakefield prison in January last year.
Dr Dirckze is one of four doctors accused of professional failings over the deaths of Shipman's patients. They all deny the accusations.
The hearing continues today.
