Inez Brown, acted for the family of man who died from overdose by a EU doctor
Who? Inez Brown, 44, associate solicitor at Birmingham firm Anthony Collins.
Why is she in the news? Acted for the family of 70-year-old David Gray, who died from an overdose of diamorphine administered by a European Union doctor on his first locum shift in the UK. A ten-day inquest in Cambridgeshire heard that Dr Daniel Ubani, from Germany, injected Gray with 100mg of diamorphine, ten times the maximum recommended dose. Ubani was working for a company that employed EU doctors to supply out-of-hours medical care. His command of English was limited and he had not been properly inducted into his new role. Crucially, he was also not a trained and experienced general practitioner, but a cosmetic surgeon. The coroner, William Morris, returned a verdict of unlawful killing through gross negligence.
Inez is now seeking compensation for the family. She has also lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that Gray was denied the right to life and his family the right to family life.
Thoughts on the case: ‘The case has raised critical questions about patient safety and the provision of out-of-hours care in this country. The current vetting and monitoring processes used by primary care trusts and out-of-hours agents to check EU doctors are simply not robust enough. In the UK, GPs are required to train for a further three years after qualifying as a doctor, whereas GPs in the EU do not need to undergo additional training, yet they are still able to apply for registration as a GP in the UK. There have been systemic failures.’
Dealing with the media: ‘It has been a real roller-coaster. The media has helped make the public aware of the flaws in out-of-hours care services.’
Why become a lawyer? ‘I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since the age of 12, but spent 14 years as a legal secretary. The law is often a mystery to clients and I want to explain it in layman’s terms.’
