Facts
David Sellu convicted of gross negligence manslaughter and
jailed for two and a half years for killing a patient, James Hughes. He “simply
ignored” his condition and instead of operating on him carried on with his
appointments. Court decided his actions were negligent not errors.
The actus
reus of this case is when Sellu “simply ignored” the urgency of the condition.
This is an omission as he failed to act with a duty to act.
The mens rea
is oblique intent as Sellu did not intend for Hughes to die but knew it was a
virtual certainty as not operating when there is a life threatening condition
will most likely cause death.
Negligence
Negligence is when
someone breaches their duty of care towards another person, for example a car
driver has a duty of care towards the pedestrian.
David Sellu’s actions were negligent as he ignored Hughes
perforated bowel, which is life threatening when untreated. His ignorance of
the condition stops the death from being a mistake and makes the death a
criminal offence. Sellu had a duty of care towards Mr Hughes as he was
transferred over to Sellu’s care. He breached this duty as soon as he knew of
the condition and did nothing about it.
Conclusion
David Sellu was jailed for two and a half years for the
death. He denied gross negligence manslaughter. He was found not guilty of
perjury after being accused of lying to the victim’s inquest under oath.
What were the survival odds of Sellu's patient had he been promptly operated upon?
ReplyDeleteThe patient was left for 40 hours and reports say that had he been operated on the night before or earlier on in the day he would have most likely survived. He doctor only acted when it was clearly too late. The standard of care was described by the CPS as falling "far below the expected standard, with terrible consequences."
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