Suspicious deaths of ten elderly patients in Gosport War Memorial Hospital in 1998 are at last going to be examined by the Coroner.

Gosport hospital deaths: Who's to blame?
Read the Independent on Sunday's investigative article.

Extract:

"An unprecedented inquest will this week begin to examine the suspicious deaths of 10 elderly patients who died unexpectedly after being given high doses of powerful painkillers and sedative drugs at a hospital in Hampshire.

"The hearing, granted last year by the Justice Secretary Jack Straw, despite the fact that seven of the people concerned have already been cremated, highlights nearly 100 other cases at Gosport War Memorial Hospital which may be related.

Relatives of at least 92 patients involved in the case have fought for the past 10 years to have the matter investigated thoroughly. They believe the deaths have never been properly explained and want those involved to be held to account. They want to know whether their relatives died as a result of accidents, incompetence or what some fear might be something more sinister. They believe that there was a culture of treating patients with palliative care – as though they were dying – rather than rehabilitating them.

They point out that this week's jury hearing at Portsmouth Combined Court comes seven years after a damning report by the NHS watchdog which identified systemic failings in medication prescribing.

The Government has so far rejected relatives' calls for a public inquiry into the deaths, despite stinging criticisms about the way they were handled by the police and the General Medical Council (GMC). Three police investigations have failed to shed light on why the patients died. The GMC, in particular, has been lambasted by the relatives for its failure to act promptly and decisively."

The GMC is notorious for protecting negligent doctors and doing little if anything for their innocent patient victims and their families. It should be abolished and the money that is wasted on it should be put to good use. The NHS, disgracefully, is also notorious for protecting negligent doctors and doing little if anything for their innocent patient victims and their families...)o: - It too should be scrapped. - Sadly that is unlikely to happen since the NHS is the biggest employer in the country and if any government had the courage and decency to scrap it, it would be, in effect, voting itself out of office.

I do hope the long-suffering relatives of the dead patients get an honest and satisfactory outcome from the inquest/s and that they get it without further long delays.