Unfortunately, there have been several cases over the past year which have proved that doctors can be guilty of making errors of such magnitude that they have resulted in fatalities. It would be reasonable to assume the doctor might face a lawsuit or even jail, but it seems that often the NHS trusts are bearing the cost of these blunders whilst the doctors are left to continue as normal.
If we were the News of the World, that last sentence would be packed with bold type, capitalisations and a host of exclamation marks — and quite rightly so. But don’t let our outer decorum belie the horror we feel whilst reporting.
Dr. Jacqueline James, who worked at the Frenchay Hospital in Bristol has said she was sorry for giving Anna McKenna 4 times the usual amount of her chemotherapy drug which led to her death. Ms McKenna was due to receive 60mg of the drug over 4 days, but received 60mg on each of the 4 days. This led to renal failure and death. Pharmacists were also supposed to check the drugs before they were administered, this did not happen. The inquest verdict was manslaughter by gross neglect but as yet the doctor appears to have suffered no consequences – the hospital in question simply stated that they will put better procedures in place.
Another case of negligence involved a Crowhurst woman, Bridget Kelly. She was given twice the maximum dosage of aminophylline by Dr Ghassan Youssef. The Dr admitted he failed to check the guidance on dosage and said that he was under stress at the time; having to deal with two patients at once. Although the official cause of death was given as natural causes, the incorrect medication caused distress to both Mrs Kelly and her family. The doctor also failed to apologise initially for his mistake. Once again there has been changes made to policy in light of the error, but the doctor has not been found responsible.
In another case of incorrect drugs being given to a cancer patient, Paul Richards was given an overdose as he was nearing the end of his chemotherapy. His survival chances had been given as 90% and his tumour had been shrinking but had stalled, so new stronger drugs were given. Paul started to react to the new drug, his body went into shock and he died. The inquest found he had been given an overdose of amphotericin. This was despite having two nurses check the dosage. Two brands of the drug with different dosages had been confused. The verdict was accidental death with neglect as a contributing factor. The NHS Trust admitted liability and is negotiating compensation with the family. Once again changes to procedure have been implemented.
These three cases highlight how doctors in this country appear to get away with negligence which leads to death. The NHS trusts involved are being left with huge compensation bills yet they are happy for the doctors to just apologise (sometimes) and carry on.
Here is how German courts dealt with a doctor who was working in the UK when he killed a patient:
Dr Daniel Ubani, (from Germany) had been providing out of hours cover in Cambridgshire. He was found to have administered 10 times too much painkiller to a patient which caused the death of the 70 year old. Dr Ubani had been employed by a firm called Take Care Now which provided out of hours care for the NHS. He was however, sentenced for negligence in Germany and received a 9 month suspended sentence. Dr Ubani claimed he was tired due to a lack of sleep and he may have confused the drug for another he had used in Germany.
Here in the UK he has not faced any sentence at all. Apparently we pay out compensation, we don’t reprimand doctors.
Compensation payments have increased by £146m in the past year and the Government is now looking at ways to mitigate the problem. The Department of Health is considering imposing a duty of candour on hospitals to ensure they tell patients and families exactly what has occurred when mistakes happen. The National Patient Safety Agency and the NHS Litigation Authority say they have tried to get NHS staff to admit when errors occur, but the emphasis has always been on avoiding lawsuits if possible. They believe that providing this sort of information would build trust in the profession. But when doctor’s and nurse’s blatant errors result in death and there are no consequences — finding out what truly happened doesn’t really bring back the trust that was lost.
We’re not talking about failures during risky procedures with many variables — we’re talking about Doctors and Nurses not reading the instructions on deadly medication. If you misread a children’s Ibuprofen medicine and caused injury, there would be consequences — and you’re not trained to understand the label fully either. Why are medical professionals above the law?
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