Hamilton doctor charged after baby left in car

A prominent doctor from Hamilton has been charged with child abandonment.

Dr. Gordon Guyatt is a specialist in internal medicine and a spokesperson for the Medical Reform Group. He also ran for the NDP in the last federal election.

Guyatt was charged after he allegedly left his six-month-old baby girl in his car.

Guyutt says he was distracted during a conversation with his 14-year-old daughter while shopping on Friday, and simply forgot about his baby who was sleeping in the car.

"We got into a conversation on the way to the store; [the] baby went to sleep [and] we forgot the baby in the car. The baby was there, by my estimate, about 15 or 20 minutes before we were called out," he said Tuesday.

"I'm profoundly, profoundly regretful at what happened and it's clearly disturbing. I am, however, extremely grateful that the baby was fine and that there is no subsequent problem."

The baby was checked out by a pediatrician who says she appeared to be fine and wasn't dehydrated.

The child was in the car on a day when temperatures reached 29C. But Guyutt says the incident happened around 6:30 p.m., when the temperature had gone down.

"It's very distressing," says the doctor. "At the same time, I think, and the child-care worker suggested, that people will see this as an anomalous situation in the overall context of a very caring family and caring father on my part and there's a good chance these charges will be dropped."