Thomas Lodwig

Thomas Lodwig was an English doctor, accused of murdering a patient with terminal cancer in 1990. He was acquitted after the prosecution offered no evidence at his trial. [http://www.actrtla.org.au/euth/bookeu/smith.htm#E12E18 "Killing the Willing ... And Others! Legal Aspects of Euthanasia and Related Topics", Greg Smith] ] [http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:J-fyh8EURoEJ:www.archividelnovecento.it/archivinovecento/CAPPATO/Cappato/Faldone61-9Deutanasia/eutanasia/eutanasia-5.pdf+%22Thomas+Lodwig%22+doctor&hl=pl&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=pl&client=firefox-a Euthanasia] ]

Case history

Lodwig was senior house officer at Battle Hospital, Reading. A 48 year old patient with terminal pancreatic cancer [ [http://books.google.pl/books?id=mDvBJ5J4tusC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=%22Thomas+Lodwig%22+doctor&source=web&ots=R80ZiEcWHz&sig=gH-zWmt19UQqzLNwa6x8WRbWucY&hl=pl&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result Margaret Otlowski, "Voluntary Euthanasia and the Common Law", Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 177] ] had been receiving regular and increasing doses of heroin for pain relief. Morphine was also administered. By 29 September 1988, the patient was in "continuous and uncontrollable pain and having fits". His family, expecting him to die, asked Lodwig to do "something - anything" to relieve his pain. Lodwig instructed a nurse to bring him some potassium chloride and lignocaine. When the nurse asked why, he said, "I'm sending someone out there". He then "drew a finger across his throat and pointed in the air" (an act his counsel later claimed was said as a joke). A few minutes later the patient died. The nurses on the ward became suspicious and the next day the hospital administration called the police.

Lodwig did not record in his notes the use of the potassium chloride or lignocaine, or the exact time of death.

A postmortem established that the patient also had "significant narrowing of the coronary arteries".

Trial

Lodwig's trial was held at the Old Bailey in London on 15 March 1990. The forensic pathologist advising the prosecution determined the cause of death to be acute potassium poisoning. In court though, the prosecution stated that its main medical witness was no longer convinced that the patient had died solely from a potassium overdose. In addition,Lodwig argued that his intention had been to "kill the pain and not the patient and that he had tried a method which had been the subject of experiments conducted by professors at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London - namely, the use of potassium chloride with pain killers to accelerate their analgesic effect". These trials had supposedly been "encouraging" but at the time had not been published. Taking both these factors into account, the prosecution decided to offer no evidence.

ee also

*John Bodkin Adams - British suspected serial killer acquitted in 1957 of murdering an elderly patient.
*Leonard Arthur - British doctor acquitted in 1981 of murdering a Down's Syndrome baby
*Nigel Cox - British doctor convicted of attempted euthanasia in 1992
*David Moor - British doctor acquitted in 1999 of murdering a terminally ill patient. Moor admitted to having killed 300 patients over 30 years

References