A doctor who ran a private clinic for heroin addicts was struck off the medical register today for providing patients with a lethal cocktail of drugs that led to the death of one and the development of further addictions in several others.

The General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates UK doctors, found the drug clinic's founder, Dr Colin Brewer, 63, guilty of serious professional misconduct.

The GMC fitness to practise panel found that Dr Brewer had acted irresponsibly and inappropriately towards 13 of his patients at the Stapleford Centre, in central London.

One patient, Grant Smith, 29, choked to death on his own vomit in September 2001 after being sent home by Dr Brewer with a controversial DIY home detox kit containing 16 drugs, including the tranquillisers diazepam and temazepam.

The GMC hearing was told that other patients were prescribed potentially life-threatening drug cocktails to wean them off their addictions. The disciplinary panel condemned Dr Brewer, who is retired, for ignoring warnings about prescribing drugs, including the 'date-rape' drug rohypnol, which led to several patients becoming dependent on or addicted to more drugs.

The GMC was highly critical of the programme, which put the patient in charge of the drug dose and offered medical support only by telephone. Many of its findings relate to the practice of giving patients long-term prescriptions with the result that they had large quantities of drugs, which they may have been tempted to sell.

Two of Dr Brewer's colleagues at the clinic, Hugh Kindness, 66, and Ronald Tovey, 47, were also found guilty of serious professional misconduct but neither was struck off. Dr Kindness received a reprimand from the council while Dr Tovey had conditions attached to his licence to practice for the next three years.

Professor Denis McDevitt, who chaired the disciplinary panel, said that it had found all three doctors guilty of serious professional misconduct, but had been satisfied that it would be sufficient to conclude Dr Kindness's case with a reprimand. He added: "Conditions were imposed on Dr Tovey's registration for a period of three years. Dr Brewer was erased from the medical register."

Four other doctors at the centre had previously been cleared of serious professional misconduct.