Facts
- The defendant, a doctor, failed to notice that a respiratory tube had become disconnected from the patient during an operation
- The disconnection would have been obvious, and the patient died from cardiac arrest
Issue
- Did this satisfy the requirements for an offence of gross negligence manslaughter?
Decision
Reasoning
- Gross negligence manslaughter requires: a duty of care based on the tort of negligence; a breach which caused death and a breach which was serious enough to be a crime
- The doctor was under a duty to take reasonable care of the patient, which was clearly breached
- The jury is to decide whether the breach is serious enough, and so it was correct to uphold the conviction