Nurse failed to give patient drugs - claim

A “negligent” nurse failed to give a patient vital drugs or arrange emergency medical help for her during a fatal two-and-a-half hour epileptic fit, a court heard.

Deputy matron Harjinder Kaur Mangat, who denies manslaughter, was in charge at Richard House Nursing Home, in Aldridge, when 36-year-old Eileen Murphy suffered a fit in March 2003.

Mangat, 58, knew Miss Murphy had been having a fit and was told by several nurses the patient should be taken to hospital, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Speaking on the first day of the trial, prosecutor Kevin Hegerty said: “It was plainly obvious she was having a fit.

“She was still having a fit two-and-a-half hours later in the very same bed, in the same room, and then she died.”

Mr Hegerty said Mangat had also been discussing Miss Murphy’s fits with other members of staff and that attempts to locate drugs that can prevent fits had failed.

“What less could she have done? The negligence was so gross that Eileen Murphy was just left, left, left, until she died,” Mr Hegerty said.

Miss Murphy’s sister Christine Porter told the court Eileen had suffered from epileptic fits as a child and would often have serious fits where she would require diazepam or admittance to hospital for the night.

In her 30s, said Miss Porter, her sister developed multiple sclerosis which meant she was having trouble walking.

At the time she was living with her mother and was diagnosed with bowel cancer so was transferred into care.

But problems with funding for her care meant she did not go to a home with people of a similar age, and instead went to Richard House, now closed, in Stonnall Road, where many patients were elderly.

Miss Porter said: “She was quite down and didn’t want to be there.

“She wanted to be with more people her own age.”

Mangat, of Kingswood Drive in Sutton Coldfield, denies manslaughter and the trial will continue next week.

Her colleague, nurse Bernadette Marie Gerard, 44, of Florence Street in Hednesford, has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

By Lee Perry