Nurse fears her mother was ‘one of Dr Opiate’s first victims amid Gosport scandal

A nurse fears her mother may have been one of the earliest victims of the Gosport hospital scandal, claiming she was prescribed strong painkillers despite not being in pain.

Celia Fairbrother found a death certificate for her mother May which was signed by Dr Jane Barton, the medic at the centre of the Hampshire hospital scandal. 

Ms Fairbrother told the Daily Mirror she had raised her doubts about her mother’s treatment with Dr Barton but was told: ‘You wouldn’t want her to suffer, would you?.

More than 450 people had their lives shortened after being prescribed powerful painkillers at the Hampshire hospital, a damning report found last month. Dr Barton has said she was ‘doing her best’.

Celia Fairbrother (pictured) found a death certificate for her mother signed by Jane Barton

Ms Fairbrother raised doubts with Dr Barton about the treatment of her mother May (pictured) 

Ms Fairbrother raised doubts with Dr Barton about the treatment of her mother May (pictured) 

Ms Fairbrother said she had visited her mother at Gosport and found her on a drip receiving painkillers. 

She said: ‘I asked to see the doctor and Dr Barton came to see me. I found her brusque and cold. 

‘I asked what the drip was for and she told me it was for ‘the pain’. I asked what pain and she said, ‘You wouldn’t want her to suffer, would you?”  

She said she did not remember her mother having any underlying medical problems and doubted she had bronchopneumonia, which was stated by Dr Barton on the death certificate as a cause of death along with senile dementia. 

Ms Fairbrother said she wanted ‘recognition’ and said there were relatives ‘all round the country’ who had been affected by the scandal. 

She bought an official copy of the death certificate after reading the Gosport report last month. 

But Gillian McKenzie, who first went to police about the scandal in 1998, said it would be hard to investigate the case further because medical records would have been routinely destroyed by the hospital 10 years after Ms Fairbrother’s mother died.

Dr Jane Barton (pictured) has said she was 'doing her best' for her patients as a medic 

Dr Jane Barton (pictured) has said she was ‘doing her best’ for her patients as a medic 

More than 450 people had their lives shortened after being prescribed the powerful painkillers at the Hampshire hospital (pictured), a damning report found last month

More than 450 people had their lives shortened after being prescribed the powerful painkillers at the Hampshire hospital (pictured), a damning report found last month

In a statement last month Dr Barton’s family said: ‘Jane would like to thank her family, friends, colleagues, former patients and many others for their continued support and loyalty through this protracted inquiry. 

‘She has always maintained that she was a hard working doctor doing her best for her patients in a very inadequately resourced part of the health service.

‘We ask that our privacy is respected at this difficult time, she will be making no comment.’ 

Another 200 people were ‘probably’ similarly given opioids between 1989 and 2000 without medical justification, according to the Gosport Independent Panel report.

The report claimed ‘there was a disregard for human life and a culture of shortening lives of a large number of patients’ at the hospital. 

In 2010, the General Medical Council ruled that Dr Barton, who has since retired, was guilty of multiple instances of professional misconduct relating to 12 patients who died at the hospital.  



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