Published: 21/02/2002, Volume II2, No. 5792 Page 4

Convictions for corporate manslaughter are likely to remain a rarity within the NHS, despite the launch of a police investigation last week into the death of a diabetic patient at Whiston Hospital, Merseyside, legal experts say.

Anthony Young, 24, died in December 1999 after a diabetic episode.His family alleged that he was left untreated for 80 minutes.

Merseyside Police confirmed that the hospital - part of St Helens and Knowsley trust - was being investigated for corporate manslaughter.

The trust is co-operating with the police and no charges have been brought. But it is believed to be one of the first investigations of its kind into an NHS organisation.

A spokesperson for Capsticks Solicitors, which specialises in NHS negligence claims, stressed that corporate manslaughter remains extremely difficult to prove. 'We cannot discuss the circumstances at Whiston Hospital.

But with corporate manslaughter it is crucial to demonstrate the individual identified as the 'controlling mind' of an organisation was guilty of manslaughter. But it is extremely difficult to identify who that controlling mind is.'

He said that given safety procedures in place across trusts, deaths were more likely to result from incidents of gross negligence by individuals.

There have only been two successful prosecutions for corporate manslaughter in Britain, and none within the NHS. But fears over the liability of trusts have been expressed following a government pledge to reform the law and to introduce a new criminal offence of corporate killing.

The move followed highprofile tragedies, such as the fire at King's Cross underground station, and the Paddington rail crash where prosecutors failed to secure convictions.

The offence of corporate killing has yet to reach the statute books, but it would be committed when death resulted from management standards falling below what could be reasonably expected.

And it would also ensure an organisation could be prosecuted, even though no single individual was responsible.