UR TV CAST

School trips are being cancelled and parks locked up because Britain was gripped by a “culture of fear” over unjustified compensation claims, the Lord Chancellor warned. Lord Falconer of Thoroton announced moves yesterday to protect teachers and volunteers from being sued over an accident beyond their control and to bring “ambulance-chasing” insurance companies under control. An investigation by the Royal College of Anaesthetists called in by the Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust highlighted 45 cases, of which seven were investigated as samples. The cases – which did not include that of Mr Symons – were sent to the GMC, but the council initially decided not to press charges.The GMC changed its mind after seeing an expert report prepared by solicitors for Edna, Mr Symons’ widow.Mr Symons had been rushed to the hospital after a toxic reaction on 22 January 1999. He was put on a ventilator when his condition worsened four days later, and died on 16 February, 20 minutes after being taken off the ventilator and given an injection of 20mg of a sedative drug that depresses breathing.Experts are reported to have said that the combination of sedation and removal of ventilation shortened his life. But Dr David is understood to have been backed by another expert who said death was inevitable and the dose of sedative was modest.She was sacked from her £90,000-a-year post in 2003, after being on full pay during the three-year suspension.The case has been adjourned until next week..

She was interviewed by police over claims that she was involved in the “mercy” killing of dozens of terminally ill patients, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press charges in 2002. Having lost her income from prostitution, she became a small-time dealer, selling heroin to neighbours. As well as the money from drug sales, she also received social security benefits, much of which went on crack and heroin.When arrested, she told police it was fair enough as she had been dealing for more than a decade and had never been caught.. A consultant anaesthetist who removed a comatose patient from a ventilator and injected him with a sedative that led to his death has been charged with serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council

Ann David, 46, a consultant in the intensive care unit at Basildon Hospital, is alleged to have brought the life of Robert Symons, 60, a milkman, to an end “earlier than would have occurred naturally”.
Dr David was suspended from her job on full pay in 2000, after colleagues raised concerns about her performance.

He took crack two or three times a week as a “treat” on top of his regular heroin dose. His shoplifting sprees were becoming more frequent and whenever he off-loaded stolen gear at a second-hand shop, he used to splurge on extra crack.At his peak he was spending about £100 a week on crack and £350 on heroin. To supplement his income he started acting as a runner for a drug dealer. Other crack and heroin users would ring him and order their drugs.His job was to pick up the drugs from the main dealer and drop them off.

His reward would be to keep one wrap of heroin or crack rock for every 10 deliveries.Sally, 41Sally moved to Ilkeston from Derby where she had been a prostitute since the age of 18.She had previously been a drug user but it was when she arrived in Ilkeston that she became seriously hooked. By the time he was 18 he was involved in the town’s drinking culture.To fund his drug habit he started shoplifting. By the time he was 20 he had become one of the estimated 400 people among the 15,000 population of the market town who took heroin.In 2001, one of his dealers offered him some free crack with his usual heroin.Next time, the crack was on offer at £7 a rock, rather than the usual £20 By now Alex had been hooked. We have some very early indications of middle-class professionals using crack cocaine.”The reality of addictionAlex, 26Alex was born and brought up in Ilkeston and started his drug habit at the age of 15 with amphetamine, or speed. We have seen and had reports of a broader audience which have begun using it.