Thursday 3 September 2009

Overdose doctor 'regrets error'

A doctor who gave a patient six times* the proper dose of a painkiller has told a General Medical Council panel he "bitterly regrets the error." Dr Michael Stevenson, 57, of Cumbria, said he thought he had given a 59-year-old builder 5mg of diamorphine in 2005, but had actually administered 35mg. The panel heard the man stopped breathing and needed an antidote.

In 2007, the 57-year-old GP admitted manslaughter after accidentally giving a female patient a fatal overdose.
He was given a suspended jail sentence for the mistake which killed Marjorie Wright, of Workington, in January 2005...

"Clearly I bitterly regret the error. I go over it in my mind and try to find an explanation. It has had a big effect on me. I have never ever made an error of that magnitude in my life."
Well, apart from the woman you killed in the same year, of course.

* I make that seven.

Source; BBC

2 comments:

Witterings from Witney said...

So, given the opportunity of getting my hands round his throat and then,having rescusisated him, I could condemn him to a life of eternity with Gordon Brown, I could plead my sorrow and ask for forgiveness?

Dick Puddlecote said...

"I make that seven"

You weren't using the BBC calculator.