R v bawa-garba 2016

Medical controversy in Leicester, England

Jack Adcock, a 6-year-old child, was admitted to Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) on 18 February 2011.

He died later that day, in part because of failings in his treatment.

Dr. Hadiza Bawa-Garba, the junior doctor who treated him (under the supervision of duty consultant Dr Stephen O'Riordan) and a nurse, Isabel Amaro, were subsequently found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of gross negligence.

Both were subsequently struck off their respective professional registers, although Bawa-Garba had that decision overturned at appeal.

There is an ongoing debate about the judgements against Bawa-Garba,^[1] partly around Bawa-Garba's personal culpability versus a context of systemic failures, and partly around the possible use of her reflective notes about her own practice as evidence.^[2]

Background

In 2010, the Medical Programme Board demonstrated almost a quarter of junior doctors dr