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Posted on 23rd May 2014 |
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I find this story really rather strange. The doctor in question, Dr. Daniel Ubani, practices medicine in Germany, but was working as a locum in the UK when he killed a patient by prescribing 10 times the safe dose of a morphine-based pain killer to David Gray. Dr. Ubani was tried in Germany, and convicted of causing the patient's death by negligence in 2008. He was also struck off in the UK, meaning that he can no longer practice medicine in Britain. Mr. Gray's family are not happy with the punishment, a nine-month suspended sentence, and I can understand why. They want him brought to trial in the UK, but The European Court of Human Rights says no. The bizarre thing is that the family of Mr. Gray say that the court in Germany "don't even know if Dr Ubani is qualified", because no "effective investigation" was conducted. Germany is one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world, including requirements to provide documentary proof of qualifications (usually the original certificates), and the idea that the court could not or did not check Dr. Ubani's qualifications is simply mind-blowing. The other oddity is that normally cases are tried in the jurisdiction where the supposed crime is committed, which is the main reason why extradition treaties exist, but in this case, because legal proceedings were started in Germany first, Germany seems to have had jurisdiction, which has been confirmed by The European Court of Human Rights. If this creates precedent for other types of case, it may create loopholes for many criminals. |