Mother of insulin victim baby calls for tighter controls on the drug

Published on Tuesday 4 March 2008 21:00

A WOMAN whose baby daughter nearly died when a former nurse injected her with insulin has called for tighter controls on the drug.

Veronica Duncan is currently on probation for administering the massive dose, which left the child – the daughter of a family friend – minutes from death.

Her victim's mother – who cannot be named for legal reasons – last night spoke out about the dangers of the drug as another nurse, Colin Norris, was jailed for life for using insulin to murder elderly patients.

The mother's calls for stricter controls were backed by the Patients Association, who insisted that "stricter records should be made mandatory and regularly inspected".

Last October, Duncan, from the Borders, admitted endangering the life of a four-month-old baby by administering a potentially fatal dose of insulin.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard she had been suffering from an "abnormal guilt reaction" at the time of the offence, brought on by the death of her own baby daughter. The following month she was placed on probation for three years.

Speaking last night, almost a year after the attack, her victim's mother said: "We just think, 'when is this going to stop?' When is insulin not going to be so easily accessible that nurses will not be able to do this sort of thing?'

"I certainly feel insulin should be a controlled drug along with the likes of diamorphine. It should have to be signed for and there will be a tried and tested control if levels go missing.

"It's a drug and it's a drug that is lethal if given in the wrong quantities or under the wrong circumstances. I think that gets lost along the way, because so many people rely on it as an everyday lifeline for diabetes control."

She is acutely aware that had it not been for the quick thinking of a young doctor at Borders General Hospital, her daughter could have suffered the same fate as Norris's victims. And if it were not for the work of laboratory staff, the cause of her illness might not have been detected.

Today, her daughter is a happy, alert one-year-old, who giggles delightedly as she plays with her six-year-old brother.

She toddles around the house confidently, sometimes pushing her dolls in little buggies, and is beginning to talk. Her mother said: "She's really, really funny and she knows it. She's not a baby any more; she's very independent and plays happily on her own."

However, although she appears to be developing normally, the toddler still has to go for regular hospital check-ups and will continue to do so for years.

Last night, Michael Summers, vice-chairman of the Patients Association, backed the calls for stricter insulin controls, saying: "It seems to us that stricter records may need to be retained and verified."

However, he added that cases such as that of Duncan and Norris were isolated and should not damage patients' faith in the nursing system.

Rose-Marie Parr, chairman of the Scottish Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, said: "Tighter controls on medications such as insulin would be unlikely to stop people who are intent on causing patient harm and any changes would need to be carefully considered by all parties involved."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said insulin was kept in locked fridges in hospitals and administered by nurses or patients when prescribed.

She added: "Good governance arrangements at NHS board level allow for the review of safe handling, storage and administration of medicines. If there are concerns at local level, these arrangements would support any review of local processes."

KILLER NURSE JAILED FOR AT LEAST 30 YEARS

A NURSE who murdered four frail patients after becoming crazed by the power to kill was put behind bars for at least 30 years yesterday by a judge who branded him "evil and dangerous".

Relatives of the elderly women given fatal doses of the diabetes drug insulin by Colin Norris, right, called for a public inquiry into how he was able to kill with impunity.

The judge, Mr Justice Griffith Williams, told

Norris, 32, of Egilsay Terrace, Glasgow, that he probably gave the women the injections while they were being treated at two Leeds hospitals because he was lazy and they were a burden.

The serial killer showed no emotion as he was handed down four life sentences at Newcastle Crown Court for murdering Doris Ludlam, 80, Bridget Bourke, 88, Irene Crookes, 79, and Ethel Hall, 86, in 2002.

The judge told Norris: "You are, I have absolutely no doubt, a thoroughly evil and dangerous man.

"You are an arrogant and manipulative man with a real dislike of elderly patients. The most telling evidence was that observation of one of your female patients, Bridget Tarpey, who said 'He didn't like us old women'."

Mr Justice Williams went on: "I suspect you enjoyed the power that ending a life gave you, choosing the elderly because they were defenceless."