Judges rule doctor's conviction was safe

A doctor who injected a woman with a fatal adrenaline dose has failed to convince top judges she was wrongly convicted of manslaughter.

Dr Priya Ramnath received a suspended six-month sentence at Birmingham Crown Court in February after she was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.

Her prosecution came following the death of 51-year-old Patricia Leighton, from Dewsbury Drive, Burntwood, who suffered a devastating heart attack after receiving a fatal dose of adrenaline.

Mrs Leighton died in Stafford Hospital in July 1998 after being rushed in with severe septic shock. She was a chronic sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis.

Lord Justice Hooper, sitting in London's Appeal Court with Mr Justice Gross and Judge Christopher Moss QC, said her condition was steadily deteriorating and septic shock could often prove fatal.

But he added that Mrs Leighton was still alert before Dr Ramnath, 42, injected her with adrenaline to boost her blood pressure.

She did so despite clear warnings from her superior, said the judge and there was evidence that the dose triggered the cardiac arrest which killed Mrs Leighton.

Ramnath's case reached the Appeal Court as she challenged her conviction with claims that there was no basis for the jury's finding of gross negligence.

The entire issue of the precise cause of death was also fundamentally unclear, her lawyers argued.

However, Lord Justice Hooper said there was enough evidence for the jury to find the adrenaline injection was the "substantial cause of death".

He concluded: "There was evidence from which the jury could conclude that someone, who was not about to die, did die very quickly after the administration of adrenaline.

"In all these circumstances we dismiss this application for permission to appeal."

The case took a decade to reach trial because of complex extradition proceedings after Ramnath flew to Florida following the death.