Darren Denholm: Died after tooth extraction

He has admitted failing to keep adequate clinical records in respect of Mrs Woolger and failing to ensure that an electrocardiogram was attached to Darren Denholm prior to or immediately after the anaesthetic was administered.

Rebecca Poulet, prosecuting, told the GMC that Darren was cheerful and well when he went to the Peffermill Clinic with his mother Isla Denholm and grandmother Alice Campbell in October 1998.

When dentist Hallgier Pedersen tested the tooth with his forceps, it was clear the patient was not properly anaesthetised, the hearing was told.

"Darren kicked his legs quite forcefully, so much so that Kirsty Thompson had to hold on to them or she thought someone in there would be kicked," Miss Poulet said.

Colour change

Evans-Appiah's response was to say he wanted to keep Darren lightly sedated, and asked Dr Pedersen to give him a local anaesthetic injection.

But before Dr Pedersen had given two-thirds of the injection, Mrs Thompson noticed Darren go pale then yellow then green.

Miss Thompson had to tell Evans-Appiah two or three times before he took any notice of what she had said.

Evans-Appiah arrives for the hearing

Evans-Appiah then started panicking and started shouting different instructions.

Miss Poulet said that Evans-Appiah appeared to have made a wrong diagnosis of what happened to Darren and was sticking to it.

Even though a heart monitor indicated Darren had "ventricular fibrillation" and would need shock treatment, he refused to use the machine that could have saved the boy's life, it was claimed.

Recovery nurse Sharon Gill later claimed Evans-Appiah tried to falsify his records of the operation by adding details of pulse and blood pressure, which he failed to record.

A few days later he phoned her to put her under pressure to say that a blood pressure cuff had been placed on the boy, the tribunal was told.

Consent form

When police arrived at the doctor's surgery and told him Darren had died, Evans-Appiah fell on the floor, wailing: "Why me?", Miss Poulet said.

Darren's mother Isla Denholm said she signed a consent form but neither Evans-Appiah or Dr Pedersen explained any of the possible risks.

A paramedic said her son was having a cardiac arrest she told him: "Don't be so stupid. He's only having a tooth out."

Isla Denholm: Saw son in hospital

At the hospital a doctor knelt beside Mrs Denholm and told her: "We've been trying for a long time and there's nothing else we can do.

"Darren was lying on the bed, his head was turned to the right hand side," she said.

"He was just staring. He was just looking at me. I couldn't look at him."

Work restrictions

Evans-Appiah, who lives in London, denies gross misconduct. The hearing before the professional conduct committee is scheduled to last a month.

The GMC has restricted Dr Evans-Appiah's work until the hearing is completed.

The anaesthetist was strongly criticised by a sheriff who conducted a fatal accident inquiry into Darren's death.

The inquiry heard he had failed parts of the exams he took to qualify as an anaesthetist, although at the time of Darren's death he was practising lawfully.

A General Dental Council hearing into the conduct of dentists Maurice Beckett, Paul Shields and Mr Pederson is scheduled to resume this month.

The three face allegations of serious professional misconduct resulting from the tragedy.

Mr Beckett faces 14 charges, Mr Shields faces seven charges and Hallgier Pedersen, a Norwegian dentist who was working at the Peffermill Clinic, faces three charges.

The three men have admitted most of the allegations.

The Peffermill Dental Clinic is now under new management and has been renamed the Craigmillar Dental Centre.