Law and Order: UK (2009) s05e01 Episode Script

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups - the police, who investigate crime, and the crown prosecutors, who prosecute the offenders.
These are their stories.
Taylor.
Ricky Taylor.
That's who you should have brought in.
I didn't do nothing.
Hold still, will you? Adrenaline.
And get a chest X-ray organised.
I need a doctor here! Get the crash trolley.
I need a line in, quick.
Everything OK? Check her blood pressure.
Charge to 150.
I was waiting for chest X-rays.
Back in a minute.
Go ahead, Control.
Listen to me.
I just Sir, it doesn't matter that you were here first.
Someone has a knife sticking out of their head, they take priority.
So just take a seat and you'll be called when they're ready.
I've been here 40 minutes.
I just need to know where she is.
I've told you! I have to check with admissions! What about my prescription? Take a seat! This is ridiculous.
Sir! Sir, you can't go through there.
Sir! Sir, you can't go through there! Still no pulse.
Adrenaline in.
I'm sorry, you can't be in here.
That's my daughter.
Sir, you really need to wait outside.
What's going on? Her condition's deteriorated.
We're doing everything we can.
Is she going to be alright? Dr Mills.
Time to call it.
Time of death is 23:17.
I'm very sorry.
What are you doing? I'm afraid your daughter had a total pulmonary collapse.
So do something! Do CPR, use the paddles! We already tried.
It didn't work.
No.
No, this is crazy! All she had was a sore throat.
You don't die from a sore throat.
You don't die from a sore throat.
Suzy.
So this girl comes in with flu And four hours later she was dead.
Right.
People can die unexpectedly.
There can be underlying conditions that aren't diagnosed properly.
I know all that.
But I've been doing this a long time, and I'm telling you, Nat, Suzanne Morton should not have died.
If you say something's wrong, I believe you.
I'm not sure what I can - This is the third unexplained death on my ward in the past six months.
Each time the administration fobbed the family off.
It all gets swept under the carpet.
This is the third one.
I mean one, maybe two a year with no obvious cause of death, that wouldn't be out of the question, but this, this isn't right.
Let me get this straight, Sinead.
You think someone on the ward is killing patients.
Yes, I do.
I can tell you how much her liver weighed and what she had for dinner.
Why she died, who knows? Not even a theory? I don't do theories.
She died because she stopped breathing.
There was some congestion, fluid on the lungs.
For cause of death, you'll have to wait for the tox screen and tissue samples.
Could you rush those? Standard post-mortem, standard tests.
They take the standard time.
It's the NHS, not CSI.
There was me thinking you were Gil Grissom.
We've tried the dead.
Let's see if we have any more luck with the living.
Who's the head honcho at the emergency department? Dr Edward Austen, senior consultant.
All right.
So, you weren't in the emergency department when Suzanne Morton died? No, no, I wasn't.
When I'm on call I grab 40 winks whenever the opportunity arises.
Saturday tends to be a long shift.
I thought consultants delegated that kind of thing and played golf.
Ha! Sadly those days are long gone.
It's all accountability, competition and choice, or slash and burn, depending on your point of view.
Your staff don't page you with cardiac arrests? I wouldn't expect it.
The crash team responds.
Christine Mills is a very experienced registrar.
Nothing I'd have done differently.
Except the girl still died.
Yes, she did.
Which is obviously a tragedy for the family.
But I'm not sure what you expect to find here.
These things are regrettable, but hardly a crime.
We understand there have been problems regarding other patients at the hospital.
Who told you that? A source.
I hate to tell you how to do your job, but unless your source makes these claims publicly, I'd hesitate to believe anything else they said.
Do you know who admitted Suzanne Morton? It was a Dr Simonson.
The nurses can help you find him.
Yes, she was my last patient before I went off duty.
Viral chest infection.
Dramatised her symptoms a little, but they often do.
I ordered a chest X-ray before I left.
Why? We're investigating her death.
Death? I guess she wasn't dramatising after all.
She died? You look surprised.
She had a chest infection.
She wasn't that sick.
What? You think it was my fault? You think I missed something? We've been asked to look into it.
Who treated her after you left? I'm not sure.
One of the registrars would have taken her charts.
I'm only a first year.
They don't let me do anything on my own.
You should talk to Dr Mills.
It was pneumonia.
The sputum examination and blood cultures were indicative, and the chest X-ray showed fluid on the lungs.
So the first doctor who saw her got it wrong? No.
Dr Simonson made a provisional diagnosis based on her symptoms and ordered the X-ray to confirm it.
He did nothing wrong.
But pneumonia can be treated.
It doesn't kill people.
It can if complicated by chemical pneumonitis.
Which is? The lungs become inflamed by an irritant.
The patient was feverish and lost consciousness.
She must have aspirated some of her stomach contents.
And it can happen that quickly? One minute OK, next minute dead? If the registrar who was treating her recognised it sooner, we might have saved her, but there's no way of knowing.
You were the one treating her.
No, you want to speak to Dr Grant.
And I think he's at lunch.
This is starting to feel like pass the parcel.
If you see Mr Morton, please extend my condolences.
You were treating Suzanne in the ER.
Er, the ED.
Only briefly.
We were still waiting for her X-rays to come back.
Sadly, by the time they did So just exactly how ill was she? We were told it was a chest infection, possibly pneumonia, nothing immediately life-threatening.
No, she was extremely ill.
If we'd known what we were dealing with she'd have been moved to ITU.
But sadly Yeah, it's all pretty sad.
If that's everything you need Yes.
Thanks for your help.
What help? I was using the term loosely.
So she had mild bronchitis, she had chemical pneumonitis, she was dramatising her symptoms, she should have been in ITU.
The only thing that everyone agrees on is that no-one did anything wrong.
Is it any clearer in the notes? Oh, yeah, as mud.
Basically we could be dealing with another Dr Crippen and I would not have a clue.
Judging from some of the handwriting, I'd say half these doctors were serial killers.
Give me a shooting in an alley.
At least I can spot a smoking gun.
Look at this.
There's a word crossed out here that looks like it says 'codename'.
What, in the notes? No, on the chart.
Are you allowed to cross something out on a chart? Isn't it an official record? I've no idea.
I think we ought to arrange a rendezvous with Deep Throat.
Hm.
Not the porn film! Any mistake should be clearly initialled.
But if someone's in a rush, they might forget.
Would you ever get staff going back to amend the charts, correct something if they've got it wrong? They'd be tampering with hospital records, which is definitely illegal.
Could that be what's happened? It's possible.
Someone crossed 'codeine' out and wrote 'paracetamol'.
Not 'codename'.
They're common painkillers.
The prescribing doctor could have changed their mind.
So if Suzanne Morton was given codeine rather than paracetamol what difference would that have made? There are situations where codeine's contra-indicated.
Meaning? There's a good reason why you shouldn't prescribe it.
But that would have been noted on admission.
It should be at the beginning of her notes.
It's not there? There's a report by the triage nurse.
It stops halfway through.
There's a page missing.
Oh.
Looks like we've just found our smoking gun.
Do we have any idea who could have changed the name of the drug on this chart? Any of the staff could have had access, guv.
The handwriting looks a lot like Dr Grant's.
He was the registrar treating Suzanne Morton, so Why don't we bring him in and push him a bit? No.
I want to know what was in that missing patient history.
We've got to be sure this is a cover-up, not a coincidence.
Is that Suzanne's dad? Yeah.
He's been in every day.
Hi.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Go in and have a little chat? Suzie was an anxious young woman with a history of serious depression.
Sadly, we finally found a way of managing it effectively.
Was she on medication? I referred her to an adolescent psychiatrist in her early teens, and over the past five years, she'd been on every antidepressant with very little success.
As a last resort we tried her on phenelzine sulphate, and that really helped.
And would this phenelzine sulphate Can you take that along with other drugs? Painkillers? You have to be careful.
If you combine phenelzine with an opiate-based analgesic, then it would prove fatal.
Opiate-based? Morphine, codeine, that type of thing.
OK, the tox screen shows paracetamol, it shows aspirin and an antihistamine.
What about phenelzine sulphate? Not on this test.
But we know the girl was taking it.
She may have been, but it would not show up on the standard test.
Brilliant.
Does that go for codeine? Depends how long she was taking it for.
Why don't you order another tox screen that shows up whether phenelzine or codeine's in the girl's system, urgently? These tests don't come cheap.
You may not have heard we've had some budget cuts.
We'll have a whip round.
Fine.
But it won't be before tomorrow.
And you're wasting your time.
You'd have to be an idiot to take codeine with phenelzine.
It could kill you.
Deep breaths, son.
Come on, let's go.
It was a busy night.
I wrote codeine but I gave her paracetamol.
Why didn't you put your initials to the correction? It was busy.
I must have forgotten.
It was a simple mistake.
Did you know that some of Suzanne Morton's patient history notes had gone missing? Notes go missing in the emergency department all the time.
Anyway, the girl died of pneumonia-related complications that had nothing to do with her history.
Not even the heavy duty antidepressants she was on? Sorry? She'd been taking phenelzine sulphate for the last six months.
Surely that was on the history.
Um, no.
No, it wasn't.
That is odd, because the triage nurse is pretty sure that she included a full history, including current medication.
Either way, I wrote the wrong drug on the chart, that's all.
Haven't you ever made a mistake? Yes, of course, Dr Grant.
Difference is, when you make one, people end up dying.
This is crazy! I didn't cause Suzanne Morton's death.
Fine.
We'll see if the tox screen agrees with you, shall we? I thought they'd already done the post-mortem.
We decided to dig deeper.
I thought he was going to throw up.
Sounds like a guilty conscience.
Even if the drugs show up on the tox screen, no-one witnessed Grant give her the injection.
It makes sense, though.
He messed up, she died, he panicked, tried to cover it up.
Scratched out her name, tore a page out and hoped for the best.
Not exactly a mastermind.
Still, if we hadn't have gone looking no-one would have noticed.
Makes you wonder what else he's got away with.
Cheers.
Positive for phenelzine, positive for codeine.
OK.
This is not a coincidence.
Bring him in.
So it's Dr Grant.
We'd just like another chat with him.
I should have known.
What makes you say that? The nurses know when someone's out of their depth.
Half the time he called in Dr Austen cos he hadn't a clue.
Maybe he's on his rounds in CDU.
Cathy.
Yes.
Do you have Dr Grant with you? OK.
He didn't turn up for his shift and nobody's seen him since yesterday.
Checked his flat, no sign, but his car is still outside.
Got uniformed trying the neighbours but they're mostly at work.
We've stationed officers at the hospital, but no-one's seen him since yesterday.
Spoken to the family? Trying to track them down.
If we didn't think he was guilty before, we do now.
We've got a hit on Grant's credit card.
He's bought a ticket at St Pancras International.
Paris? Bruges.
The next train's in 45 minutes.
Come on.
Exits are covered, but no platform announcement yet.
He could be anywhere.
Fan out.
I wonder if you could help us.
Do you recognise this man? Excuse me.
All units, got eyeballs on the suspect.
He's halfway down the concourse outside international arrivals in a blue cagoule with a holdall.
Suspect is on the move.
He's heading back along the concourse towards me.
Suspect on the move.
Excuse me, ladies.
Dr Adrian Grant, this is DS Matt Devlin.
I need you to open up.
Right.
Seriously, doc, either you come out or I'm coming in, yeah? Dr Adrian Grant, I'm arresting you on suspicion of the manslaughter of Suzanne Morton.
Hope you let him wash his hands first.
I really don't think I want to say anything at this stage.
I'd say trying to skip the country speaks volumes, wouldn't you? I panicked.
I didn't know what else to do.
They'd been too clever.
Sorry - 'they'? Who's 'they', Dr Grant? Austen, Mills, the nurses, the whole lot of them, they're all in on it and they've lied to make me take the fall.
So it's all one big conspiracy? Yes, yes, it is.
And what, they put a gun to your head? Made you give Suzanne Morton the codeine? I didn't give her anything.
It was Austen.
He gave the injection.
I just filled in the chart.
I didn't know it was wrong, not till the girl had died.
When you changed 'codeine' to 'paracetamol'.
You're not listening.
I didn't change anything.
That was Christine.
Christine Mills.
I see.
They really are all in on it.
Yes.
Yes, they are.
Hm.
Funny you never mentioned that before.
Christine told me to keep quiet and it'd be OK.
She said they'd tell the family it was pneumonia.
You told Morton it was pneumonia.
Didn't you speak to him the next day? Yes.
But only because I had to go along with it.
They gave me no choice.
Let me get this straight.
Dr Edward Austen just walks onto the ward and randomly gives your patient, Suzanne Morton, an injection of codeine.
He's erratic sometimes.
Ask anyone.
Everyone in the hospital knows he's a drinker.
And Dr Mills, is she a drinker too? No, of course not.
But she'll do anything to protect Austen.
She's got a thing for him.
Has done for years.
You've no idea what it's like.
They all stick together.
A code of silence.
It's like dealing with the medical Mafia.
Cosa Nostra and the NHS.
I swear I'm telling the truth! So basically Dr Grant is going for the Shaggy defence.
It wasn't me.
Exactly.
What? Young person's music, Matty.
My girls keep me with it.
You were doing really well till you said 'with it'.
It still may not be enough to charge him.
What? You are kidding, right? The only real evidence is his handwriting on the chart.
And the drugs in Suzanne Morton's system.
And the one-way ticket to Belgium.
Come on, Alesha, if he's not guilty, why does he run? There's someone I think you should meet.
Just flown in from Milan, wants to know why we're looking for him.
And are we looking for him? I believe we are, yes.
That's Dr Adrian Grant.
If that's Adrian Grant Then who the hell is he? I was at an MSF conference in Italy when I got this crazy phone call from my mum saying that the police were looking for me.
And you've been working in Haiti for the last year? Yeah.
And Burkina Faso before that.
I joined the Medecins Sans Frontieres when I finished my foundation training.
I wanted to do my bit.
And you haven't worked in this country since? No.
Try telling my mum.
She's convinced I've been lying the last two years.
Do you recognise this man? Yeah.
Yeah, it's Ian.
Ian Naylor.
And how do you know Dr Naylor? We shared a flat together for a couple of months just before I went away.
But Ian's not a doctor, he's a chiropodist.
Ian Naylor and Adrian Grant were medical students together at Durham until Naylor failed his second-year exams and dropped out.
They lost touch, but Grant was looking for a place two years back and Naylor had a room going.
Naylor trained as a chiropodist but never practised.
Can't blame him.
All those feet.
When Grant went to Africa he left some stuff in storage with Naylor - personal papers, medical qualifications, birth certificate.
And Naylor just helped himself? Yeah.
Borrowed the birth certificate, applied for a new passport and licence, then got a job at the Alderman with Grant's qualifications.
Passing himself off as a doctor at a major London teaching hospital.
Reassuring, isn't it? White coat, stethoscope, people believe anything you say.
Bit like a wig and a gown.
Too right.
I've been getting away with it for years.
The Prime Minister had his adenoids removed at the Alderman.
He was very impressed by the staff's professionalism.
That's come back to bite him.
Well and truly.
A rogue chiropodist stalking the wards.
The stuff of PR nightmares.
A lot of people would like this to go away ASAP.
Have to wait for the medical negligence inquiry.
So far we've got Naylor on at least ten counts.
Fraud by false representation, forgery, false instruments, manslaughter.
We've had the call from the defence.
Robinson wants to meet.
I'm expecting a straight guilty plea on the fraud.
Take it.
We can prosecute for the rest down the line.
So long as we do.
Naylor wasn't just playing doctor, he killed someone.
When we can, we will.
For now let's focus on the fraud.
It's not like Naylor's got a foot to stand on.
Foot.
Chiropodist.
No? My client will plead to two main counts of fraud.
What about the other eight counts? A guilty plea would eliminate the need for a long, costly trial.
Very cost conscious.
And bearing in mind my clients mental state - What mental state is that? Mr Naylor's seeing an expert in delusional behaviour.
She's helped him understand what triggered the events.
Really? Some kind of deep-seated trauma, I presume.
I had some emotional problems when I was a medical student.
I now see that I had some kind of breakdown.
Mr Naylor, in this case, your mental state can't be used as a defence.
Can we agree to drop this groundless manslaughter charge? I'd hardly call it groundless.
My Naylor has identified an alcoholic colleague as responsible for Suzanne Morton's death.
No-one supports his allegations, leaving him holding the syringe.
No! You're not pinning that girl's death on me.
It was Austen.
I don't care what his cronies have told you.
Talk to the junior doctors.
Simonson nearly lost a patient because of him.
It was about six months ago.
This guy, 25, basically healthy, walks in with the worst headache of his life.
Slight soreness in the neck.
But it was ambiguous.
And Dr Austen treated him? He prescribed morphine.
Probably the worst thing.
It masks the symptoms of meningitis, which is what the guy had.
Dr Mills found it in time and he was OK in the end, but - It could have ended very differently.
I don't want to get anyone into trouble.
It's just one of those things.
Is that the only time Austen made a mistake like that? Yes.
I mean, I don't know.
People make mistakes.
And Dr Austen is getting older.
He gets tired.
Especially since his accident.
Naylor's sticking to his story but no-one will back him up about the drinking.
Even with one confirmed incident of misdiagnosis, the general attitude is you win some, you lose some.
Yeah, well, Dr Austen may well have been losing a few more than his share.
What do you mean? We looked into those deaths.
Naylor was attendant registrar for both, but the night Anna Jeffries died, he had an upset stomach and went home.
Austen stepped in.
And Carl Hobbs - his daughters reckon Naylor had a word with their dad and then handed over to 'some posh old bloke with grey hair'.
Austen.
So we got onto the Medical Negligence Team, who cross-reffed patients that they'd flagged up and it turns out that Austen's name comes up on another five files.
So, what, Austen's been slowly losing his marbles and nobody's noticed? That is one explanation.
However, there is another.
Austen was done for drink driving several times in the late '80s, finally disqualified from driving in 1990, and his blood alcohol level was off the charts.
The ward sister mentioned the car crash.
He's been teetotal since.
Could have fallen off the wagon.
This sister's sharp.
She'd notice someone smelling of booze.
Although you'd be amazed what a person can hide.
There was another crash.
Austen came off his bike three years ago.
Sister Logan said he was on painkillers to work.
Simonson says Austen's never been the same.
He was in pain, having trouble coping with work.
Couple of Nurofen Plus taken in the right or the wrong state of mind, well, that's nearly as good as a stiff whisky.
And a lot easier to hide.
Very straightforward.
Some hooligan in a van turned left without indicating, and Teddy took the brunt of it.
I understand he was prescribed painkillers for his back injury.
Of course.
The man was in agony.
Even with the codeine he was bed-bound for nearly a month.
Do you prescribe codeine for a patient with a history of alcohol abuse? History of what? Dr Austen lost his licence after a string of drink-driving offences.
That was years ago! Teddy sorted himself out after that.
I wasn't going to withhold pain relief because he used to like a few drinks.
Did Dr Austen ever ask for a repeat prescription? I can't discuss that.
Well, might he have continued prescribing it for himself? You'd have to ask him.
If he did, it would have been perfectly legal.
The man's a doctor.
Well, that's all right then.
GMC guidelines say a doctor should avoid self-prescribing, but there aren't statutory restrictions.
He can write as many as he likes.
He'd still need to get them filled.
The hospital pharmacy? If he has a drug problem, he's not getting them from there.
And the staff? I got more of the same.
Austen's highly competent, sometimes patients die, blah-blah.
Pushed about medical errors, everyone clammed up.
Not everyone.
So you now want to question Mr Naylor as a potential witness? It's one simple question.
My client would be happy to answer, assuming you're dropping the manslaughter charge.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Then perhaps we should discuss my previous proposal about fraud.
You realise I was the only one who saw Austen give the injection? I'm not here to bargain with you, Mr Naylor.
Of course not.
It's just easy to get confused about things.
Especially with all these different charges hanging over me.
At the moment, your entire defence against killing Suzanne Morton is based upon your accusation against Dr Austen.
Withdraw that statement and you'll go back to being the prime suspect.
But hey, it's up to you.
Who knows, you might enjoy the extra time in prison.
You could have dropped the manslaughter charge.
Wasn't that what we agreed? Then we still thought Naylor was guilty.
But now we don't.
No.
And now he's trying to blackmail us.
Sometimes criminals can be less then ethical.
Still, life's all about compromise.
There was no need to compromise.
Naylor was bluffing.
The only thing linking Austen to Suzanne Morton's death is Naylor's statement.
He won't go back on it.
He's got too much to lose.
Doesn't that worry you? He could be pointing the finger to save his own skin.
He could be telling the truth.
First time for everything.
Either way, could we lose the manslaughter charge before you end up in court with no evidence? Appalachian Mist.
Autumn Sonata.
They're all quite Grey.
Mm.
Something you'd like to share? Naylor's pleading guilty to all counts relating to the fraud.
Three years, which means he'll be out in 18 months.
The going rate for impersonating a doctor? Apparently so.
With a good sob story.
This should cheer you up.
Dr Austen gets regular prescriptions filled at 13 different places, all for codeine, all in his own name.
One hell of a backache.
He's got a nice little system going.
Keeps them on rotation so no-one gets suspicious.
Picks up only a month's worth from any one place at a time, but it's ramped up - in the last six months he's popping them in like Smarties.
A wonder the man can stand up.
This is insane.
Edward Austen is not an addict! We have records from 13 different pharmacies dating back over three years which strongly suggest otherwise.
We've already got what we need to prosecute Austen for gross negligence manslaughter.
You need to start thinking about yourself.
We know that Austen persuaded you to lie for him.
At the least you're looking at a charge for perverting the course of justice.
It wasn't like that.
Then tell us what happened.
I wasn't called until the girl arrested.
When I looked through her notes I saw that she'd been on phenelzine and I confronted Dr Grant.
Naylor.
He said that he'd asked Dr Austen to take a look at her.
And that he'd been the one to give her the codeine.
So what did you do? Dr Austen was asleep in the on-call room.
He was very groggy when I woke him.
He had no idea he'd done anything wrong.
He admitted giving the injection? I don't think he even noticed the phenelzine in her history.
Any half-decent registrar would have flagged that up immediately.
But he didn't have a half-decent registrar.
He had Ian Naylor.
I couldn't see him hung out to dry for one mistake.
So I altered the chart and I removed the notes.
So Austen told you to lie for him.
He didn't have to.
I wanted to help.
But if I'd known about the addiction - You'd have thought twice about protecting a killer.
When they searched Austen's house they found pills everywhere.
Jacket pockets, behind radiators.
He put a lot of them in aspirin bottles.
His wife was oblivious.
Her and the rest of the world.
Medical degree from Oxford, trained at UCLH.
One of the first registrars in his year to be made consultant.
Alesha, I don't think you know Philip Nevins, Dr Austen's defence.
Regular contributor to the Lancet and British Medical Journal on emergency medicine.
Given the Halliwell Award for conspicuous services to health care in 2003.
Does he walk on water too? He's a good man, Jacob, and a dedicated doctor.
Not like the trash you usually spend your time prosecuting.
The guy's two years off retirement and he's given his life to the NHS.
Why destroy that? A patient died having been given the wrong drug.
Manslaughter - drug administered by a consultant high on prescription medication at the time.
Manslaughter, gross negligence.
I guess we know where we stand.
Guess so.
Suzanne Morton was still complaining about muscle pains when Dr Austen arrived.
He examined her briefly, but he seemed tired and distracted.
He only glanced over the patient history.
He then administered an injection of codeine for the pain and left me to fill in the chart.
Thank you.
No further questions.
Mr Naylor.
That is your correct title, isn't it? Not Dr Naylor.
'Mister' is fine.
Because you never qualified as a medical doctor.
No.
You're currently serving a three-year custodial sentence for fraud by false representation, are you not? That's correct.
We're expected to believe the word of a convicted conman and professional fraudster.
Dr Austen gave that patient the wrong medication.
You stood by and let it happen.
I didn't realise it was wrong.
Of course you didn't, because you weren't a doctor.
Given your complete lack of medical knowledge, you must have been a liability on the ward.
That's not true.
Who knows how many wrong prescriptions you made, how many misdiagnoses.
My lord - I knew what I was doing.
You thought you knew what you were doing.
My lord, the witness is not on trial.
I was as good as the other registrars.
That was so frustrating.
No further questions, my lord.
If I may, my lord.
My Naylor, you say it was frustrating.
In what way? I knew I could treat the patients just as well as they could.
But unlike them, I couldn't risk making a mistake.
That's why I paged Austen.
That's why I only ever did exactly what I was told, and I never prescribed a drug without checking with someone else.
That's how I got away with it for so long.
If I'd have messed up, I'd have lost everything.
I wasn't that stupid.
Dr Mills, you say Dr Austen admitted to having given the codeine injection.
Yes.
And what did he say when you asked him if he'd seen the reference to phenelzine sulphate in the patient's notes? I-I didn't ask him that question.
So is it possible that, having asked for a second opinion, Mr Naylor simply gave a verbal summary of the patient history? Yes, it's possible.
And is it also possible that he failed to realise the significance of the phenelzine sulphate, maybe even failed to mention it by name? I suppose so, yes.
And you have worked closely with Dr Austen for the past eight years.
Have you had reason to believe that he was suffering from any form of addiction? No.
And this self-prescribed medication that m'learned friend has repeatedly drawn our attention to, these were painkillers for a genuine and serious injury, were they not? Yes.
Yes, they were.
And finally, Dr Mills, do you consider Dr Austen to be a good doctor? He's the best I've ever worked with.
He's an inspiration.
We were worried about the wrong witness.
So what if Austen didn't read the history? He was still negligent.
He prescribed without due care because his judgment was impaired by his addiction.
I'm not sure the jury believes he has an addiction.
My Suzy was 18.
18, with her whole life ahead of her.
Security! And you took that away.
Mr Morton - You put that needle in her arm, no-one else.
And you won't admit you messed up.
I'm truly sorry for what happened to your daughter.
It wasn't my fault.
There were a number of contributing factors.
You have to understand.
Get off me! You killed my Suzy, you murderer! You could see it when he talked to the dad.
He knows he's to blame.
He's hidden his addiction for three years.
I'd say he's good at denial.
Maybe this time.
What about last time? When I asked Austen's doctor about the drink-driving, he said Teddy had sorted himself out.
Not many people can give up drinking overnight.
Maybe he had help, went into rehab.
First step to recovery? Admitting you have an addiction.
If Austen knew he was an addict when he started taking codeine, he knew the risks and what it could mean for his patients.
In which case the crime happened before he even stepped onto the ward.
Dr Austen, are you aware of an establishment called the Colson Clinic? I, erm, I don't know.
You spent three months there in 1990, isn't that right? Yes, it is.
Can you tell the court what kind of clinic it is? It's a centre for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
A centre that specifically caters for medical professionals with addiction problems.
So you considered yourself to be an alcoholic.
I considered myself to have a drink problem.
Meaning that you couldn't control your drinking and needed professional help in order to stop.
I suppose.
I think that's what's meant by the term 'alcoholic'.
Dr Austen, could you tell me the advice on prescribing codeine to patients with a history of alcohol abuse? It's generally avoided.
Why is that? Actually, I have the information here.
'Codeine is habit-forming and should not be prescribed to any patient with a history of drug or alcohol abuse due to high risk of addiction.
' Does that sound about right? Yes.
So, knowing you had a history of addiction, you chose to start taking a habit-forming drug.
I hadn't had a drink for 17 years, I was in a great deal of pain.
The benefits outweighed the risks.
Yet, three years on, you are still taking that same drug.
And we're not talking about a couple of headache pills here and there.
You've been on doses way above the recommended guidelines.
A closer equivalent would be half a bottle of vodka before work.
It's hardly the same.
Could you tell the court the common side effects of prolonged codeine use? They vary.
But a patient may become distracted.
Their responses dulled.
They can experience fatigue or nausea, isn't that right? Mm-hm.
It could affect someone's professional judgment.
It might, but as I explained - They might read a document and miss crucial information.
They might, but as I've explained - What's the correct dosage for diamorphine for a 50-year-old male? What? Er, yes.
Yes.
No.
Sorry.
I meant ten.
10mg.
Just like that, a 50-year-old male dies of an overdose.
My lord - The dosage for a woman in her 20s? Or a ventilated newborn infant? I'd have to check.
You can't think clearly under pressure anymore, can you? Which means that, because of your dependence on codeine, you are a danger, not only to yourself, but to every patient under your care.
No! It was a mistake.
It could have happened to anyone.
Dr Austen, it happened because of your addiction.
I am not an addict.
I-I haven't taken any medication in-in months.
Then you won't mind emptying your pockets.
This is outrageous.
I'm offering Dr Austen the chance to prove his point.
No addiction, then no need for tablets.
Very well, I'll allow it.
Dr Austen, if you'd be so good as to place the contents of your pockets where we can see them.
Dr Austen, can you confirm for the court that those are prescription codeine tablets? Yes.
And can you tell the court how many of those tablets you've taken today.
I'm not sure.
I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I don't know how many I've taken today.
Well, more than two, more than five? More than 20? I never meant to harm anyone.
A guilty verdict after only 20 minutes? You must have done something right.
They still only gave him a two-year suspended.
Elderly judge nearing the end of his career.
Hardly surprising.
You could appeal the sentence.
I don't think so.
Not going soft in our old age, are we? No, just don't think I'd win.
What? Thought I'd seen a glimmer of humanity.
But no, my mistake.