Manslaughter charges against consultant dropped

The Attorney General has dropped charges against a pædiatric consultant charged with the manslaughter of a seven-year-old boy who died of peritonitis after he was operated for appendicitis.

Dr Anthony Borg Barthet yesterday confirmed that his office had decided that the doctor had no case to answer and had stamped the case nolle prosequi.

The pædiatrician, whose name cannot be published by court order, had been charged with the manslaughter of Andrea Massa, 7, at St Luke's Hospital between February 20 and 28, 2001, and committing a crime he was duty bound to prevent. Dr Borg Barthet said this had been an unfortunate incident but "medicine was not an infallible science and with all the care in the world, one still loses patients".

He said, when asked, that his office had no plans to prosecute any other person on the hospital staff.

The Magistrates' Court had heard that the consultant had left on sick leave two days before the death of the boy on February 28, 2001. He had been off sick between February 26 and March 2, 2001.

The doctor had been represented by Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr Hugh Peralta.

Dr Sciriha yesterday expressed his satisfaction at the Attorney General's decision. "We're glad that things have turned out this way. There was no way that anyone could deduce from the evidence that our client was the person responsible for what happened to the child.

"Our client was never guilty. He is a man known for his dedication and professional integrity and his prosecution was extremely unfortunate, more so because he was actually hardly involved in the care of this patient.

"We're talking of a doctor who carries out his duties in an extremely able and professional manner, a doctor who goes out of his way to perform his duty to the best of his ability."