Friday 6 May 2005

Writes Simeon Brody, Amy Taylor and Derren
Hayes
 
Health trust is fined after mentally ill patient kills
nurse
South West London and St George’s Mental Health
Trust has been has been fined £28,000 plus £14,000 costs
for one of the most serious breaches of health and safety
regulations after a psychiatric nurse was killed by a
patient.
Eshan Chattun had been left alone in 2003 to supervise an
aggressive and potentially violent patient but had no walkie talkie
or personal alarm, while the wall alarm was also broken, a court
heard.
Source:- The Independent Friday 6 May 2005 page 14
Seven parents arrested after mass school brawl
Seven people, all thought to be parents, were arrested
after a mass brawl outside a primary school in Birmingham.
The confrontation was the second outside the school within 24 hours
and witnesses said it followed allegations of bullying. 
Source:- The Independent Friday 6 May 2005 page 28
£20 council tax rise to pay workers’
pensions
Council tax payers will have to pay an extra £20 next
year to meet the pension demands of local government
employees.
Figures leaked yesterday showed that the cost of paying local
authority pensions will rise to £3.75 billion this year.
Source:- Daily Mail Friday 6 May 2005 page 31
Move towards autism test at birth raises fears
Scientists in California have moved nearer to creating a
test that could allow young children to be screened for autism at
birth.
However, many experts doubt whether there is much that can be done
to help children with autism at a young age and warn such tests
could just cause new parents to become stressed.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 6 May page 1
Life for killer who mistook victim for child
abuser
A man who battered a man to death after mistakenly thinking he was
a paedophile was given a life sentence yesterday.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how Brian Kearney, 21, had killed Barry
Sewell, 49, after overhearing gossip in a social club that Sewell
was a paedophile, a claim subsequently ruled out by police.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 6 May 2005 page 12
Bullies drove girl to death – mother
A teenager killed herself because she was being bullied at school,
her mother has claimed.
Anna Marie Averill, 15, hanged herself at her home in the Quinton
area of Birmingham on Sunday. She was found by her mother
Annette.
Lynda Roan, head teacher at Hillcrest School, Bartley Green, where
Anna Marie was a pupil, said she was unaware of any bullying
allegations.
Source:- The Guardian Friday 6 May 2005 page 13
Baby ordered to tribunal
A 10-month old boy has been summoned to a Home Office
tribunal as an illegal immigrant.
The boy’s father, a stroke specialist at Newcastle General
Hospital, has been told he can stay in the country but his wife and
two Tyneside-born children must leave.
Source:- The Times Friday 6 May 2005 page 27
Cleared on appeal
Two men convicted of the death of a four-year-old boy, who
fell into a cesspit near Newquay, Cornwall, have been cleared on
appeal.
Michael Kelly, 69, a camp manager, had been given a suspended
12-month sentence for manslaughter and Alan Frear, 56, had been
fined £12,000 for neglecting safety.
Source:- The Times Friday 6 May 2005 page 29
Treatment for elderly not always worth it, say
advisers
Older patients could be denied some treatments because of their
age, under proposals set out by the National Institute for Health
and Clinical Excellence.
Members of NICE’s citizens’ council said discrimination
would be justified in cases in which age could affect the benefits
or risks of treatment.
Source:- The Times Friday 6 May 2005 page 28
Scottish Newspapers
Scots doctors ‘will never use age bias’

Doctors in Scotland will never discriminate between patients on the
basis of age, according to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS).

It said it would not be considering guidelines outlined by its
English equivalent, the National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE). NICE had said there are occasions discrimination
would be appropriate, such as when age could affect the benefits or
risks of treatment.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 6 May
Welsh Newspapers
Police step up baby deaths probe
The garden of a third property is due to be searched by police
investigating the deaths of three babies.
South Wales Police are questioning grandmother Ann Mahoney who is
being held on suspicion of murder.
She was originally arrested after the body of a baby was found in a
property near her Merthyr Tydfill home, and the suspected remains
of a further two babies were later found by police when they
searched the house.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 6 May