Medical manslaughter convictions
The main legal clues to how Australian courts tackle medical manslaughter cases are the four successful convictions that researchers have identified. Perhaps reassuringly, there are consistencies visible even across the centuries.
Dr William Valentine( 1843)
THE first Australian doctor convicted of manslaughter, the Tasmanian Dr Valentine, admitted giving a patient a bottle of laudanum instead of the black draught he meant to.
He was found guilty but escaped with a £ 25 fine.
Dr Frederick Hornbrook( 1864)
DR Hornbrook, from Goulburn in regional NSW, was found guilty of manslaughter after administering 210 drops of sulfuric acid to an adult patient— 13 times the maximum dose.
The court sentenced him to two years’ jail, sparking a lobbying effort from local doctors in private practice, who opposed the result. After just one month in jail, Dr Hornbrook received a royal pardon.
Dr Margaret Pearce( 2000)
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ALMOST 150 years later, Brisbane GP Dr Margaret Pearce was convicted after a similar error.
Dr Pearce injected a 15-month-old girl with morphine to stop the girl struggling and allow Dr Pearce to examine her burnt hand, according to a report in the Lancet.
The morphine dose was 15mg, about 10 times the required amount. The girl died overnight.
The court sentenced Dr Pearce to five years’ jail, suspended after six months.
In 2003, while serving the suspended part of her sentence, Dr Pearce’ s registration was reinstated.
Dr Arthur Garry Gow( 2006)
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IN another case reflected across centuries, Dr Gow prescribed a patient five ampules of morphine tartrate, instead of morphine sulfate. The patient died after self-administering 120mg of the morphine tartrate to treat chronic back pain.
Like Dr William Valentine, who had also mixed up medications, Dr Gow was convicted of manslaughter.
He received an 18-month suspended sentence.
Justifying the suspended sentence, the judge said system failures had contributed to the death and the sentence was“ to recognise that people, even professional people, make mistakes”.
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