Nigerian-born doctor was cleared along with two nurses of killing a woman who bled to death after travelling from Ireland to the UK for an abortion.
Dr Adedayo Adedeji, 63, Gemma Pullen, 32, and Margaret Miller, 55,were formally acquitted of the gross negligence manslaughter of Aisha Chithira, 32, after the prosecution offered no evidence.
According to Daily Mail, the deceased was 22 weeks pregnant when she underwent the operation at the Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing, west London, on 21 June 2012.
She collapsed several hours later while travelling in a taxi in Slough, Berkshire, and died of ‘extensive internal bleeding’.
Prosecutor Sally O’Neill QC told the Old Bailey the decision to drop the manslaughter charge was taken following a review of the case.
No detailed reasons for the decision were given in court.
Dr Adedeji was also cleared of the remaining health and safety charge and will take no further part in the case.
But both Pullen and Miller still face the charge under the Health and Safety Act and are due to stand trial at the Old Bailey on June 8 this year. Their barristers urged the prosecution to reconsider their decision to pursue the allegation. They both remain on bail.
Adedeji, a father of four from of Hornchurch, Essex, Pullen, of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs and Miller, of Camberley, Surrey, were not in court when the decision was taken.
In June, 2015, CPS prosecutor Colin Gibbs had told magistrates it was a ‘very serious’ offence, adding that “The circumstances are it was […] during the professional activity of the defendants.”
“The defendant Adedeji is a doctor and the defendants Pullen and Miller are nurses. They were practising in a private clinic, the Marie Stopes Clinic, which is a chain of clinics that deal with terminations and abortions,”
“The victim in this case was someone who lived in Ireland at the time. She took a decision to have a termination at 22 weeks. She came to the clinic in the Ealing area on January 21, 2012, and things were fairly normal until the procedure took place at 4.30pm that day.
“It became apparent she was quite unwell as a result of the procedure. She actually suffered an internal tear and that was causing internal bleeding and blood loss.
“All her symptoms, which included falling to the floor, hyperventilating and many other things, were not properly dealt with.”
In his defence, Adedeji’s lawyer Mr Kevin McCartney, said at the time that his client was a ‘professional’ who had been working as a doctor since 1991.
The court also heard that Pullen was a ‘professional of good character’.
And Katy Thorne, defending Miller, said she lived with her son and ‘is a nurse of unblemished character.
Source: Dailymail
