IOM DHSC & MANX CARE

[Banker]

Well we could be in Guernsey & pay to visit A&E , probably reduce the demand on service!!

https://gov.gg/article/189053/Emergency-Department-charges-set-to-increase-from-1-May-2022

[Justice Dredd]

?

Edited April 28, 2022 by Justice Dredd

[Roger Mexico]

The BBC have more details:

Accusations of gross negligence manslaughter against four Manx Care anaesthetists over the death of a patient have been dismissed.  Katherine Teare, Miklos Palotas, Alison Hool and Sheila Clarke were charged after James Joseph Shimmin, 55, died at Noble's Hospital on 4 February 2021.

Deputy High Bailiff James Brooks told Douglas Courthouse there was not enough evidence for a safe conviction.   As a result, he ruled that he would not commit the four doctors for trial.

Mr Shimmin, who lived in Douglas, died following an operation at the hospital.

The seriousness of the charges meant   the case could only be heard in the higher court, and committal was challenged by the medics' lawyers.  Dismissing the case against the four, Deputy High Bailiff Brooks said that given the evidence, he could not see how a jury could find the actions of the medics to have amounted to gross negligence.

In a joint statement, Manx Care and the Department of Health and Social Care acknowledged the court's decision, but said "given the complexity of this matter", they would make no further comment about the case.  They added that the four anaesthetists were continuing in their roles "in line with guidance from the General Medical Council".

As I pointed out when this was announced, cases like this are ridiculously rare - nothing like it in the whole of the British isles for at least 250 years.  And it's also rare for such cases to be challenged at committal - because, as it says above, if there is any chance of conviction (not a certainty or even a likelihood, just the remotest possibility) then the case proceeds to trial.  So for this case to fail at that stage, then the evidence must have been incredibly weak and clearly the BMA knew this, which is why it was challenged.

So it's not just the DHSC and Manx care who have to answer for this, it's also the Police and especially the AG's Office.  No doubt the Cabinet Office will have its fingers in there somewhere as well (not least regarding the way the information went to the media).  And we shouldn't let them get away with muttering about "the complexity of this matter".  Even if it is true (and I doubt it), these people are paid to deal with complex issues and to do so competently and to be able to explain their decisions.

[Hoops]

the AG's office was where the ire of my client was particularly directed

[Max Power]

57 minutes ago, Hoops said:

the AG's office was where the ire of my client was particularly directed

There certainly does appear to be some sort of deficiency there, I often wonder if working there is something which a good lawyer would aspire to as a good career move? 

[Banker]

16 minutes ago, Max Power said:

There certainly does appear to be some sort of deficiency there, I often wonder if working there is something which a good lawyer would aspire to as a good career move? 

Pay is not good enough, too much politics & get drawn into all sorts of crap like procurement!

[Max Power]

13 minutes ago, Banker said:

Pay is not good enough, too much politics & get drawn into all sorts of crap like procurement!

That then begs the question, what use are they if their work can't stand up to the challenges of good lawyers?   

[Roger Mexico]

10 minutes ago, Banker said:

Pay is not good enough, too much politics & get drawn into all sorts of crap like procurement!

Pay's actually pretty good - some of them are just under £100,000 and the AG is much better paid than his counterpart in Scotland.  All the additional work, such as procurement and the regulation of charities was pushed by them as part of their empire building, no doubt at much greater expense that if they had been left as simple administration.  As for the politics, of course it's as poisonous as it is in the rest of government here, but when have lawyers ever held back from playing politics?

The main problem is the same as it is elsewhere in government.  Failure, no matter how obvious or public is ignored or even rewarded.  Success and integrity are treated with suspicion at best. 

[Bandits]

36 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

The main problem is the same as it is elsewhere in government.  Failure, no matter how obvious or public is ignored or even rewarded.  Success and integrity are treated with suspicion at best. 

An additional element is the woke factor. At the AGs they seem more interested in social justice rather than proving what is legally right or what is wrong. If you get paid £80K a year for being a social warrior who really doesn’t have to consider actual legal implications but just arbitrarily decide what you think is right or wrong to go to court regardless of the evidence then it’s an easy life even if it ultimately makes you look like an idiot. 

[Gladys]

The whole thing looked wrong from the outset.  Not sure what normally happens when there is a death or unplanned injury during a medical procedure, but surely there should have been a referral to a medical body  first to determine if there was negligence sufficient to warrant calling the police or if it was one of those cases where an unexpected sequence of events had a disastrous outcome?

What specialist medical expertise was used in the police investigation?  The circumstances would be so unusual and require specialist knowledge that normal investigative processes couldn't be employed,  you would think.

It just appears, although I could be wrong, that the investigation (and there should have been one but the question is by whom) was set down the wrong path early on and was never put back on the right track.

If you think about it, any medical procedure is an assault but is permissable because of the greater good achieved and a written consent is usually obtained.  Of course, things may go wrong and they do, but when they do is the first response to call the police?  Were the correct procedures in place for such an event and were they followed?

All very sad for the four anaesthetists, the deceased and his family, who must have had their bereavement made worse because of the police investigation, but was this handled correctly?  

A public apology to all would be in order, but from whom? Manx Care, DHSC, the police, the AG's office?

 

 

[TheTeapot]

I've heard it suggested that a close associate of the deceased was in a position to influence the instigation of the investigation. This may be 'pub talk', although I've not been to the pub.

[Gladys]

7 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

I've heard it suggested that a close associate of the deceased was in a position to influence the instigation of the investigation. This may be 'pub talk', although I've not been to the pub.

If true, that would reveal a 'corrupt' (as in rotten) system.  In matters such as this, the correct procedures should be followed even if that seems bureaucratic and picky.  These things should not be influenced other than by following the procedure. 

[TheTeapot]

8 minutes ago, Gladys said:

If true, that would reveal a 'corrupt' (as in rotten) system.  

This is why we will never know.

 

[Bandits]

1 hour ago, Gladys said:

If true, that would reveal a 'corrupt' (as in rotten) system.  In matters such as this, the correct procedures should be followed even if that seems bureaucratic and picky.  These things should not be influenced other than by following the procedure. 

As the BBC reports in the statement from Manx Care it states the below. So you can probably assume even the GMC were bemused as to why this ended up in Court. The Isle of Man “where you can … totally f**k people over if you’re well connected  enough!” 

They added that the four anaesthetists were continuing in their roles "in line with guidance from the General Medical Council".

[Omobono]

10 hours ago, Max Power said:

That then begs the question, what use are they if their work can't stand up to the challenges of good lawyers?   

Never the less the operation has become one of the biggest legal practices on the Isle of Man , it would be interesting to know  who their  expert at procurement  is and why some contractors seem to be able to run rings around government departments ,and you get the impression the interests of the taxpaying public  is not the uppermost thoughts in their minds ,