PERFORMANCE: Three staff at a Sussex hospital have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the death of a 77-year-old patient from a suspected overdose.

The patient died at St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester, on 19 October last year.

Joan Dixon, of Findon, in West Sussex, allegedly died due to being administered with an overdose of the heart medication digoxin by hospital staff, said Sussex Police.

The three hospital workers arrested are a woman aged 23 and a man aged 37, both from Chichester, and a man aged 40 from Emsworth, Hampshire. They were questioned and released on police bail until 29 November.

Pathologists confirmed that death was due to digoxin toxicity, said a police spokesman. The hospital is assisting police with the investigation, he added.

Source

Press Association

Source date

September 2011

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