Born: 4 April, 1921, in Aberdeen.
Died: 30 August, 2008, in Bridge of Allan, aged 87.DR SANDY Speirs spent many years as a consultant paediatrician on the Western Regional Hospital Board and in charge of the Children's Ward
s and Neonatal Units at both Stirling and Falkirk Royal infirmaries. The paediatric units that are there today – incorporating the most up to date technology – are a permanent and fitting legacy to Speirs's vision and clinical foresight . In the Sixties, Speirs was concerned at the number of babies being born with severe limb abnormalities so he studied the details of the drugs that the mothers had taken during their pregnancy and found a significant and worrying link between the damaged babies and the taking of Thalidomide by the mothers.
"Sandy was renowned in Scotland, and worldwide, for uncovering Thalidomide," Dr Robert McWilliam told The Scotsman. Dr McWilliam worked with Speirs at Falkirk RI and is now a consultant at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow. "He displayed remarkable tenacity and doggedness throughout his research into Thalidomide – it was single-handed clinical detective work of the highest order. For all that he achieved – and his achievements were considerable – Sandy was always a paediatrician with an easy authority who put patents at their ease."
Alexander Logan Speirs (always Sandy to family, friends and often patients) was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, where his father was a teacher. He showed early talent both in maths and on the athletics track. His mother died when he was four and family holidays were spent with aunts at Gavinton in Berwickshire. He read medicine at Aberdeen University and served as a surgeon lieutenant in the Royal Navy in the last years of the war.
He trained as a paediatrician, again at Aberdeen University, qualified in 1949 and became a senior registrar at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow. There he carried out research into children with acute bowel cancer and the resulting thesis won him an MD from Aberdeen in 1954. The following year, he was appointed to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow as a consultant, part of his duties involved Speirs carrying out clinics throughout the central belt including Stirling.
In 1955, he moved to Stirling – many colleagues felt a major teaching hospital was more suitable for a physician of his talents – where he began modernising the paediatric services that ensured the care for babies was of the very best. As a clinician, Speirs was methodical and exceptionally diligent while, with his patients – often worried mothers – there was an air of quiet authority that inspired a confidence and calm. Speirs was tireless in his desire to improve the quality of care in the area and lectured regularly to the Royal College of Midwives and to the student doctors and nurses at the Forth Valley College of Nursing.
In the late Fifties and early Sixties, a drug was prescribed by doctors to pregnant women to control morning sickness and as an aid to help them sleep. Speirs researched the drug from 1959 and began by questioning ten mothers of malformed babies about the drugs they had taken. He got vague or negative answers. More worryingly, he got the same rather vague replies from their doctors. Speirs refused to give up and analysed the prescription records in detail. He found that eight of the ten mothers had been taking Distaval (later known as Thalidomide) and a ninth might have been.
The drug was immediately withdrawn in the UK and there is little doubt that as a result of his persistence, Speirs greatly alleviated what could have been a greater tragedy. It was typical of the man who, throughout his career, displayed a foresight and understanding of the highest order. He created a dialogue with his patients – instructing his assistants to listen to what the patients told them, "and how they told it".
Speirs rightly gained an international reputation as a result of his research: he lectured widely and frequently contributed to learned medical journals. Most notably he wrote three articles in the Lancet – the 1962 article, "Thalidomide and Congenital Abnormalities" was avidly read throughout the profession. In May 1962, Paris Match devoted three pages to his work on Thalidomide: the young doctor is pictured in his white coat with an introduction in capital letters, "Young Scottish doctor lives a nightmare: in his maternity unit. Abnormal babies are born one after the other – the epidemic is worldwide. He discovered the cause: a mild sedative which everyone believed inoffensive."
The article then praises "the young Scottish doctor" and congratulates him on his research.
Speirs and his family lived in Bridge of Allan since 1960 where they were popular members of the community. He and his wife, Inez, whom he married in 1945, played golf locally and he was a member at both Dunblane and Gleneagles – where he took special pleasure in playing the Queen's course. He much enjoyed walking the Perthshire hills – pleasures that were reduced after a severe stroke ten years ago. His other passion was playing the piano and he would happily relax by playing Chopin or Scottish country dance music.
Alastair Stuart, a near neighbour who accompanied Speirs on many of those walks, said: "We also went to a driving range and whacked balls with gusto. Sandy was reluctant to give up such pleasures and remained as active as possible. He retained a painting done by Inez of the pond at the Queen's course in his sitting room. Sandy was devoted to his family and a man of distinction: always relaxed and courteous."
Speirs was recognised as one of the leading paediatricians in Scotland, was president of the Scottish Paediatrician Society in 1985 and elected to the Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. He was awarded an OBE in 1979.
Dr Sandy Speirs is survived by a daughter. His wife, Inez, predeceased him, as did a second daughter.
The full article contains 991 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
