Doctor on killing charge over cancer drug blunder

A doctor was charged with unlawful killing yesterday over the death of a teenager who died after being incorrectly injected with an anti-cancer drug.

Dr Feda Mulhem, 35, from Leicester, was charged over the death of 18-year-old Wayne Jowett who died after the drug was injected into his spine rather than a vein at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham in February last year.

The teenager, from Keyworth, near Nottingham, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of 16 and was in remission on the final stages of his treatment when he was given the injection.

The apprentice mechanic died when Dr David Morton, a junior doctor with only five weeks' experience on the ward, injected Vincristine into his spine. Dr Mulhem, a registrar of three days' experience, was allegedly asked to supervise the administration of the drug.

Mr Jowett was unconscious for almost a month before dying slowly from a creeping paralysis that stopped his heart. The hospital admitted liability and a "substantial" compensation settlement was accepted by his parents, Stella and Wayne Jowett.

The two doctors were suspended from duty after the incident and Dr Morton was reprimanded by the General Medical Council. A coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death last year.