Penicillin blunder woman can die

Teresa Innes has been in a coma

A woman who fell into a coma when mistakenly given penicillin to which she was allergic can be allowed to die, the High Court has ruled.

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, head of the High Court Family Division, ruled on Tuesday that artificial feeding could be withheld from Teresa Innes.

Miss Innes, 38, from West Yorkshire, sought treatment at Bradford Royal Infirmary in September 2001 for an ulcer on her leg thought to have been caused by an insect bite on holiday in Corfu.

Her family claim that doctors were warned about her allergy, but gave her penicillin nonetheless.

Miss Innes suffered a cardiac arrest and could not be revived for 35 minutes, during which time her brain was irreparably damaged because of oxygen starvation.

The judge was told that Miss Innes had been in a "permanent vegetative state" for at least 15 months and would no longer benefit from further treatment.

Family view

She also heard that Miss Innes' relatives - including her teenage son - were agreed that she would not want to be kept alive in her current condition.

Christopher Johnston, representing Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, admitted that the drug had been administered "in error" after an operation on the abscess was postponed for a day.

Two experts on neurological disease gave evidence that although Miss Innes may have had a very low level of awareness for some time after she went into a coma, she had been in a very deep permanent vegetative state for at least 15 months.

One consultant said her life expectancy, if artificial feeding and hydration continued, would be up to two years.

Tragedy

Dame Elizabeth said it was "a very tragic case" of a cheerful and lively woman who had been struck down "by an appalling disaster".

The judge said the hospital had "overlooked" that she was not to be given penicillin and she suffered an acute reaction.

She said Miss Innes' devoted family, together with a dedicated medical team, had done everything to try to evoke a response from her.

There was some hope that Miss Innes was showing signs of a minimal reaction but from April last year there had been no awareness of her surroundings.

Dame Elizabeth said: "Her son and other members of the family are absolutely certain that if the patient was in a state of awareness she would say that she would not wish to continue a life such as hers, living in a twilight world."

She made an order that it was lawful for the hospital to discontinue treatment and allow Miss Innes to die.