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Doctor escapes being struck off Doctor escapes being struck off
(10 minutes later)
A doctor who prescribed "potentially hazardous" levels of drugs to elderly patients who later died has escaped being struck off.A doctor who prescribed "potentially hazardous" levels of drugs to elderly patients who later died has escaped being struck off.
Dr Jane Barton will be allowed to continue working despite being found guilty of serious professional misconduct. Dr Jane Barton will be allowed to continue working under certain conditions despite being found guilty of serious professional misconduct.
She was accused of a series of failings in her care of 12 patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire. She was accused of a series of failings in her care of 12 patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s.
Relatives of the patients reacted angrily to the decision.Relatives of the patients reacted angrily to the decision.
They walked out of the hearing in central London. They shouted at the General Medical Council panel when the ruling was delivered and walked out of the hearing in central London.
Iain Wilson, the son of Robert Wilson, shouted: "You should hang your head in shame." 'Had been warned'
The General Medical Council (GMC) panel had already made a string of findings against Dr Barton. Iain Wilson, the son of Robert Wilson, one of the patients that died, shouted: "You should hang your head in shame."
The panel had previously heard that many of Dr Barton's failings were "positively harmful" to her patients' welfare.
Tom Kark, counsel for the GMC, submitted that Dr Barton had demonstrated "almost no insight" into her failings and pointed out that she was warned in 1991 that she needed to change her practice.
Three patients were given painkillers inappropriate for their condition
The hearing follows an inquest into 10 patients' deaths which found drugs to be a factor in five cases.
In April last year, a jury inquest at Portsmouth Coroner's Court decided that in the cases of patients Robert Wilson, 74, Geoffrey Packman, 66, and Elsie Devine, 88, the use of painkillers had been inappropriate for their conditions.
Arthur Cunningham, 79, and Elsie Lavender, 83, were prescribed medication appropriate for their condition, but in doses which contributed to their deaths, jurors found.
Dr Barton left the Hampshire hospital in 2000 but still practises as a GP in Gosport.
But she has been under certain conditions since July 2008.