To relieve suffering is admirable

---or is it?

Police investigate patient deaths

Friday June 23, 2006
Police are to investigate a further eight deaths among patients of an elderly GP who was cleared of murdering three men with massive doses of painkillers last year. Detectives will analyse the cases in detail, following widespread disquiet about the verdicts at Teesside crown court last December, which the senior police officer involved called 'the most disappointing' of his career.
Durham police have selected the eight from 16 cases referred to them by relatives and Sedgefield primary care trust, in an investigation parallel to checks on a further 16 by the county's coroner, Andrew Tweddle. All were patients of Dr Howard Martin, 71, who has been suspended since he was first charged with the murders.
A spokesman for Durham police said: 'It has been decided that further and more detailed investigations by detectives from the major crime team are necessary. They will be carried out over the next two months. During that time we will also be consulting with medical specialists.'
Dr Martin, a practising Christian and former army officer, was accused of 'playing God' at his murder trial by deciding when and how to end the lives of seriously ill patients. He denied the charges, but did not give evidence.
Relatives of the three men, all from the Newton Aycliffe area, Co Durham, where Dr Martin practised, were shocked by the not-guilty verdicts. The head of the police inquiry, Det Supt Harry Stephenson, called the acquittal the most disappointing day of his 31-year career.
Dr Martin's solicitor, Sara Mason, said after the trial: 'He has always maintained that he was doing no more doing his best to relieve the suffering of these three patients. Being prosecuted came as a bitter blow as he has spent nearly 50 years caring for others, at personal sacrifice.'