Doctor 'gave drug against advice'

A doctor accused of unlawfully killing a patient with a dose of adrenalin ignored the advice of senior medical colleagues, a court was told.

Birmingham Crown Court heard anaesthetist Priya Ramnath, aged 40, also failed to speak to the consultant in charge at Stafford Hospital before injecting Burntwood woman Patricia Leighton, who was suffering from septic shock, with adrenalin in July 1998.

Ramnath, who now lives in the United States but is residing in Birmingham for the duration of the trial, denies a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.

On the first day of the trial yesterday Mr Michael Burrows QC, prosecuting, told the jury that at the time of Mrs Leighton's death Ramnath was working as a registrar at Stafford Hospital.

On July 22, she was called to the intensive care unit to assist with the treatment of Mrs Leighton, aged 51, of Dewsbury Drive, who was very ill but was not expected to die.

Mr Burrows said that when Ramnath, an Indian national, injected the mother of two with a large dose of adrenalin she acted "against the express instructions of her colleagues and without reference to the consultant in charge".

"The effects of adrenalin are unpredictable and can be fatal," Mr Burrows said. "In the case of Mrs Leighton, they were fatal."

The court was told that within moments of the injection being administered Mrs Leighton sat bolt upright in her bed and shouted: "What's happening to me? I want to get out of here, I'm going to die".

Mr Burrows said: "Mrs Leighton lost consciousness and, despite the efforts of the other doctors and nurses, and of Dr Ramnath herself, she could not be resuscitated and she died.

"The prosecution say that death was caused by that injection of adrenalin."

Mrs Leighton had gone into hospital for a routine operation to have a bunion removed.

Dr Ramnath, who moved to the US shortly after Mrs Leighton's death, waived her right to an extradition hearing and voluntarily returned to the UK on February 28 last year, when she arrested at Gatwick airport.

The trial continues.