Doctor walks free after killing father-of-four, 56, with lethal overdose of anaesthetic

An experienced doctor yesterday escaped a jail term after killing a father-of-four when he gave him a lethal overdose of local anaesthetic.

The patient, Christopher Hales, 56, collapsed and died in hospital after the ‘catastrophic’ error by Shahid Khan, 63, before a routine procedure.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Khan’s professional conduct ‘fell so far below the standard to be expected of any doctor as to be criminal’.

However, the judge decided not to send Khan, who is in poor health, straight to prison.

He was given a 20-month jail sentence, suspended for two years after pleading guilty to gross negligence manslaughter.

Khan, a cardiothoracic surgeon for nearly 30 years, was also made subject to a ten-month curfew.

He is no longer employed by the hospital and could be struck off.

Mr Hales, a devoted family man, had developed smoking-related lung problems.

In May 2017, he was admitted to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester with a collapsed left lung.

He opted for ‘talc pleurodesis’, a procedure where talcum powder is introduced into the chest cavity to ‘stick the lung to the chest wall’ and to seal holes in the lung, the court was told.

The prosecution said Khan’s preparation for and execution of the anaesthetic plan was ‘disastrous’.

He decided to give two drugs both at their maximum dose and lost control of the amounts he was administering.

Mr Hales went into cardiac arrest with attempts to resuscitate him unsuccessful.

Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Yip told Khan from Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester: ‘For reasons which are still not entirely clear, you made a catastrophic mistake and administered a toxic dose of anaesthetics which killed him.’