Doctor fired over Baby P. death sues hospital

London: The doctor who failed to spot Baby P's broken back is demanding damages from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children for sacking her.

Dr Sabah Al Zayyat launched the legal action against the hospital following her dismissal nine months after Baby Peter's death. She was the first person to be sacked in the wake of the scandal.

The 17 month old could be alive today if Al Zayyat, 52, a paediatric consultant, had conducted a full medical examination two days before his death in August 2007.

Baby P almost certainly already had a broken back and ribs but Al Zayyat decided against the examination because he was "miserable and cranky".

A source close to the case said Al Zayyat had launched a legal action for unfair dismissal. The claim could be worth a six-figure sum.

The action will spark widespread anger that a doctor roundly blamed for her part in Baby P's death should seek compensation effectively funded by taxpayers. Sharon Shoesmith, the head of children's services at Haringey, caused outrage when she sued the council for unfair dismissal after being sacked.

It is understood Al Zayyat, who trained in Pakistan and Ireland, will argue she has been made a scapegoat for wider failures. She was employed on a rolling six-month contract by the hospital on a salary of more than £75,000 (Dh453,400.34). The world-famous children's hospital runs the child development centre at St Ann's Hospital in Tottenham, where Baby P was brought in shortly before his death. Al Zayyat is expected to claim she was never shown the child's full medical history and so didn't realise he was the long-term victim of abuse.