I want justice over my father’s death at Gosport hospital

Ex-serviceman Stanley Carby was 65 years old when he died at Gosport War Memorial Hospital under the care of Dr Jane Barton.

A long-awaited inquiry into deaths at the Hampshire hospital found 456 patients died through opioids prescribed “without medical justification”.

Among its findings, the inquiry concluded Mr Carby had been given the powerful drugs “without appropriate clinical indication”.

Here, Mr Carby’s daughter Cindy Grant explains why she is hoping a police investigation will be launched to bring “justice” over her father’s 1999 death.

My dad was a jolly, happy, loving man. He was always up for a laugh, singing to his grand-kids with a smile on his face. He was the life and soul of the party.

Trying to get justice for him over so many years has been a rollercoaster of emotions. It’s heartbreaking.

The day before he died, he was sat up in bed and seemed in good spirits, asking my aunt and uncle to place a bet on the horses for him.

The next morning, we had a phone call saying he had taken a turn overnight.

When my sister and I arrived at the hospital, he had been moved to a private room. He was unconscious.

Dr Barton told us she suspected he had suffered another stroke and that we should “let nature take its course”.

She said she would make him comfortable with a syringe driver of morphine and midazolam, a powerful sedative.

We didn’t ask any questions. She was the medical professional so we accepted what she said.

My family were distraught. We were in shock seeing my father like that.

The hospital staff wanted to give me an injection to calm me down but I refused.

We asked why we weren’t contacted in the night. Why hadn’t he been transferred to another hospital?

After my father passed away, Dr Barton signed the cause of death as a cerebrovascular accident – a stroke.

But other doctors, nurses and pharmacists have told us the last thing you give to a stroke patient is morphine with midazolam.

We know what Jane Barton did was wrong. She was very abrupt, cold and uncaring. There was no emotion on her face whatsoever.

It is a farce that she was never struck off and I’m hoping the outcome of the report leads to her prosecution.

My mum was very poorly before she passed away in 2007 and my sister promised her we would keep fighting.

After the pain and anguish that we, and other families, have been through, we are going to get justice.

:: Hampshire Police concluded in 2006 that no-one would face prosecution over the deaths of patients at the hospital after a four-year inquiry. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said at the time that negligence could not be proven to a criminal standard and that there was no realistic prospect of conviction of healthcare staff.

:: In 2010, the CPS announced that no criminal charges were to be brought against Dr Barton after finding there was insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution for gross negligence manslaughter in 10 key cases.

(c) Sky News 2018: I want justice over my father’s death at Gosport hospital