Doctor guilty of killing patient

Indian-born Priya Ramnath was given a suspended six-month jail sentence after being found guilty of killing Patricia Leighton in 1998 following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

The four-week hearing was told that Mrs Leighton, from Burntwood, near Cannock, Staffordshire, died of heart failure shortly after being given adrenaline by Ramnath at Stafford District General Hospital.

Passing sentence following the jury's 10-2 guilty verdict, Mrs Justice Rafferty ruled the interests of justice did not require her to take away Ramnath's liberty.

The judge said Ramnath, a 40-year-old mother of two who lives in the United States, panicked in the "pressure cooker" of the Stafford hospital's intensive therapy unit.

The judge told Ramnath: "The jury has found that Mrs Leighton would have lived longer, perhaps days, but for your gross negligence."

Mrs Justice Rafferty said the hospital registrar's defining error was that she had chosen not to listen to a sister working alongside her.

"Arrogance has cost you your reputation," the judge told the defendant.

Ramnath, whose sentence was suspended for two years, administered the adrenaline against the advice of three colleagues, the trial was told.

The doctor - who came back to the UK last February after being threatened with extradition - also failed to speak to a consultant anaesthetist at Stafford District General before injecting the drug into Mrs Leighton.