Hodge Jones & Allen

1st August 2011

Press Release

 

The jury today returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" in the controversial and important 7 week inquest into the death of David Donohue.

 

David died in Manchester on 21 December 2002, two days after his GP had prescribed 60 tablets of Heminevrin, a drug which is likely to be fatal if the patient drinks alcohol and therefore should not be prescribed if the patient is drinking, or is likely to continue to drink.   David had a long history of alcohol abuse and overdosing on prescribed medication.

 

On the day of David's death, his family called 999 when they realised he had taken an overdose, and an ambulance arrived quickly at their home.  The inquest heard evidence that David's family informed ambulance technicians that David had taken an overdose and that he needed to urgently attend hospital.

 

By this stage, the overdose was taking effect. David was becoming confused and aggressive as a result of the alcohol and medication. The ambulance technicians took him out to the ambulance and there was a struggle at the back of the vehicle. Police were called and on their arrival David was handcuffed. The ambulance technicians then refused to take David to hospital.  Police officers later gave evidence to the effect that the technicians had not conveyed the urgency of the situation to them.

 

David was placed in the back of the police van. By this stage his condition was deteriorating. The police left the scene to take him to the local police station but en route were redirected by the custody sergeant to Manchester Royal Infirmary. Within minutes of arriving at hospital David suffered a cardiac arrest. Attempts at resuscitation failed.

 

Expert evidence suggests that if the seriousness of his condition had been recognised and he had received medical treatment minutes earlier, he would have survived.

 

Simone Donohue, David’s sister, gave this statement:

 

“Today’s verdict of unlawful killing brings to a close an 8 and a half year wait in the pursuit of justice for our brother David. We would like to thank HM Coroner for his exhaustive enquiry into the circumstances that led up to David’s death on 21 Dec 2002. This inquest has finally provided answers and an understanding as to what really happened. If the prescription had never been given, David would never have died and we would have never had to go through all this.”

 

“While the investigation has been ongoing, we have lost both parents who were present on that fateful night and who never fully recovered from the shocking events that they witnessed concerning their much loved son’s final hours. We only hope that all the lessons that should be learned from how David died are in fact learned, so no one dies as David did in the future. We believe in particular that the ambulance service have lessons to learn following this hearing.”

 

The HM Coroner stated in his summing up of the inquest that the doctor who prescribed 60 tablets of Heminevrin should be referred to DPP following verdict of jury.

HM Coroner also referred the doctor and another GP at the same surgery to the General Medical Council.

HM Coroner was also minded to refer two doctors who gave expert evidence to the General Medical Council.

HM Coroner also suggested that he would be writing reports dealing with failures identified in the case to:

The General Medical Council, The Secretary of State for Health, The Primary Care Trust, Greater Manchester Police, National Lead for Primary Care Trusts, North West Ambulance Service

 

The Coroner specifically stated that he did not feel that North West Ambulance Service had begun to learn the lessons from David’s death.

 

Simone Donohue thanked her legal team.

 

“My heartfelt thanks go to Jocelyn Cockburn of Hodge Jones & Allen for her excellent instruction, knowledge and experience of such inquiries, and for her kindness and care in dealing with my parents and family. She has been our strength and stay over this long 8 and half year period, never giving up and persevering in what was at times a very complex and extremely difficult case. My grateful thanks also goes to Nick Brown of Doughty Street Chambers, for his outstanding advocacy, capacity for detail and unrelenting examination and persistence for the truth during this lengthy inquest. Finally, I thank the charity, INQUEST, for their direction in those early days and for their speed in acting during December of 2002 which gave a bewildered family hope.”

 

Ed Kirton–Darling, a solicitor and colleague of Jocelyn Cockburn, present at today’s verdict commented: “This very wide ranging and impressive enquiry by HM Coroner has resulted in the identification of a number of very important failings by people in positions of trust and care. If everyone had acted properly David would not have died.”

 

For more information on the case, please contact Ed Kirton-Darling on ekirton-darling@hja.net / 020 7874 8422.  Alternatively, please contact Andrew Ewbank on aewbank@hja.net / 020 7874 8345.