‘Injury to doc’

One of the doctors accused of gross negligence in the death of Warren Mottley, the younger brother of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, is seeking judicial review of the decision by Coroner Graveney Bannister.

Through his legal team, Dr Sahle Griffith, principal surgeon at the privately-owned Surgical Solutions Inc. (SSI) where Mottley had a procedure done in 2021, also wants the entire coroner’s inquest quashed.

Last December, Magistrate Bannister found Dr Griffith and anaesthesiologist Dr Nigel Farnum, who were in charge of Mottley’s care leading up to his passing on June 29, 2021 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), to be grossly negligent in his death.

“Looking at the evidence and looking at the parties involved in the care of Warren Mottley, I find the conduct of Dr Griffith and Dr Farnum was so bad in all the circumstances to amount to a criminal act and omission and that it was grossly negligent and concerned in the cause of his death,” he said at the time.

But in an application for judicial review filed in the High Court earlier this month, Dr Griffith’s lawyers, led by King’s Counsel Ralph Thorne, have asked the court to invalidate the entire inquest and award compensation to their client.

Thorne, who was instructed by English law firm Weightmans LLP to take the case here, has included Attorney General Dale Marshall as a second defendant.

“The conduct of the proceedings and the unlawful verdict are capable of occasioning severe injury to a stellar career and to Dr Griffith’s high standing as a surgeon across several countries,” Thorne, who is working in association with Hal Gollop, KC and Emerald Griffith, told Barbados TODAY on Thursday.

Among the grounds on which the legal team is relying to succeed in their legal action are that the Coroner acted in a manner that was contrary to law; that he exceeded his jurisdiction; that he breached the principles of natural justice; and that he acted unreasonably in the exercise of his discretion.

The reserved date of hearing is April 25.

Mottley, 55, died at the QEH a week after a routine colonoscopy at SSI.

At the end of the inquest which stretched over six months, Magistrate Bannister took a dim view of the care meted out to Mottley by Dr Griffith and Dr Farnum.

“There was a breach of duty which gave rise to an obvious and serious risk of death. The conduct was egregious. It was an egregious failure to exhibit the minimum standard of care to Warren Mottley,” he had said.

“Warren Mottley went to SSI for a routine colonoscopy, a routine procedure, and he did not come out. That should not have happened if due care had been used in my view. Explain that if you can.”

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb