Death doctor decision is green light for charlatans, says family
The family of a man killed by a drugs overdose administered by an 'incompetent' doctor have described a decision not to extradite him to the UK as a 'green light for charlatans'.
David Gray, aged 70, died in 2008 after being given an overdose of painkillers by a German locum who was working his first shift for an out-of-hours service.
The pensioner's family wanted Dr Daniel Ubani to face trial in the UK over the death.
But this has been rejected by German authorities who instead chose to prosecute him in his home country.
The decision was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled it had found no violation of human rights after examining the family's claim that the German investigation was flawed.
Following the ruling, Mr Gray's sons - Stuart, a GP from Blakedown, near Kidderminster, and Rory - said they were looking into whether they could lodge an appeal.
Dr Gray, who works at Church View surgery in Halesowen Road, Cradley Heath, said the case had got wider ramifications for the UK.
"We need to digest this and go back to our lawyers and see if we can lodge an appeal or not," he said.
His brother Rory added: "German authorities convicted him of a minor misdemeanour, there was no hearing, no trial and Ubani never answered for what he's done.
"This is a green light for charlatans to go to other countries and do whatever they like."
A UK coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing at the inquest on grandfather-of-four Mr Gray, of Manea, Cambridgeshire.
He described Mr Gray's death as 'gross negligence and manslaughter' and said Dr Ubani was 'incompetent'.
Dr Ubani, a 67-year-old Nigerian-born German citizen, who had been working for SuffDoc, part of the out-of-hours GP service provider Take Care Now, at the time of Mr Gray's death was struck off in the UK.
However, he is still able to work in Germany, where he was fined the equivalent of £6,168 despite being given a suspended sentence there for death by negligence.
A GMC hearing heard that the first he knew of Mr Gray's death was when a doctor from SuffDoc called to tell him of the death, the following day, and said he should return to Germany.
The panel was also told that a doctor who gave him an induction expressed concerns that Dr Ubani had no NHS experience, did not know the area, and that he did not have enough time to properly train him.
The doctor had previously not been selected by Leeds Primary Care Trust because he had failed a language test.
