Big drug doses 'matter of course'

The patients died at the hospital between 1996 and 1999 Fears of 'culture of euthanasia' Unlawful killing claim sparked probe

Patients were given large dosages of drugs "as a matter of course", a General Medical Council panel heard.

Dr Jane Barton is accused of serious professional misconduct in treating 12 patients at Hampshire's Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s.

The hearing follows an inquest into 10 patients' deaths which found drugs to be a factor in five cases.

The GMC panel was told an elderly patient of Dr Barton's was dosed up with opiates to "keep [her] quiet".

Tom Kark, representing the GMC, said: "The prescription of very large doses of opiates appears to have become a matter of course at the GWMH for the patients under Dr Barton's care.

"Dr Barton's prescription of drugs like diamorphine was dangerous, inappropriate and left too much to the nurses' discretion."

Cocktail of painkillers

In April, a jury inquest at Portsmouth Coroner's Court decided that in the cases of GWMH patients Robert Wilson, 74, Geoffrey Packman, 66, and Elsie Devine, 88, the use of painkillers had been inappropriate for their condition.

Arthur Cunningham, 79, and Elsie Lavender, 83, were prescribed medication appropriate for their condition but in doses which contributed to their deaths, jurors found.

A narrative verdict was recorded.

On Tuesday, the GMC panel heard relatives describe Mr Wilson, who had been given "much stronger oral doses of morphine", being left in an "almost paralysed state" by a cocktail of painkillers and sedatives.

Another patient Mrs Devine - admitted to the hospital with confusion and kidney problems - was given doses of diamorphine and Midazolam despite there being no record of her suffering pain, and then a tranquiliser.

No prosecutions

Mr Kark added the "regime of opiate medication had every appearance of being given to keep the patient quiet".

He later read to the panel a written statement from the daughter of another patient, Leslie Pittock.

Lynda Wiles, then a registered mental health nurse, said she felt her father had received good care at the hospital and realised he would not recover when he was sent there.

Mr Pittock, who served in the Navy for 22 years, had suffered from depression throughout his life and had lost the will to live by the end, she said.

Dr Michael Brigg, who has been a GP with Dr Barton in Gosport since 1993, told the panel he "never had any doubt" she was committed to her patients' best interests.

He said he was happy with Dr Barton's habit of writing prescriptions with wide dose ranges to allow nursing staff to alter medication in a doctor's absence.

On Monday, Dr Barton admitted that her prescriptions left 11 patients at risk of being given drugs excessive to their needs.

All of the matters being dealt with at the hearing happened between January 1996 and November 1999.

Dr Barton, who left the hospital in 2000 but still practises as a GP in Gosport, has been under certain conditions since July 2008.

She is is banned from prescribing diamorphine while she is under investigation, the GMC said.

Police carried out investigations into the treatment of 92 patients at the hospital, although no prosecutions were brought.

The patients' families have called for a criminal investigation.

The hearing is expected to last 11 weeks.