A doctor has been ordered not to advise or treat patients, after giving the wrong diagnosis on a five-year-old boy who later died.

Dr David Jarman, of the Wallingford Medical Practice, was charged with serious professional misconduct after being accused of failing to treat five-year-old Wilfried Toth.

The child, who suffered from glycogen storage disease, went into a hypoglycaemic seizure on October 9, 1993, at the family's home in The Lane, Gangsdown Hill, Nuffield, near Wallingford. He died, seven days later, at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

At a hearing of the General Medical Council's professional conduct committee last month, it was decided Dr Jarman's mental condition must be re-examined if he is ever to be allowed to return to practice.

His case was referred to the GMC's health committee after a week-long hearing. At a previous hearing, the GMC decided Dr Jarman, 55, of Wallingford Road, Cholsey, near Wallingford, suffered from acute anxiety attacks.

The doctor's counsel, Mary O'Rourke, said Dr Jarman was liable to burst into tears whenever the case was mentioned.

At the start of the hearing in London, the doctor was accused of giving "inadequate and inappropriate" treatment to Wilfried Toth.

Dr Jarman had been called from his surgery in Reading Road, Wallingford, after Wilfried suffered a fit.

During the visit, the boy's parents repeatedly demanded that the GP administer intravenous glucose. He refused and instead gave stesolid rectally. Wilfried died at was referred for observation to the JR where he died seven days later.

If Dr Jarman is found fit to answer the allegations, a further disciplinary hearing could be called.