11 November, 2016

Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of Antony Storrie

Ampersand advocate Una Doherty represented Greater Glasgow Health Board at the Fatal Accident Inquiry which took place at Paisley Sheriff Court over eight days. There was no finding or criticism directed against the Board or its medical staff in the Sheriff Principal’s determination – the Sheriff Principal commended the efforts of the medical staff to save Mr Storrie’s life.

The Inquiry was into the death of Mr Storrie who had been arrested and so was in legal custody when taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital on 29 June 2013, having ingested drugs. He had taken n-bomb which was a ‘legal high’ at the time but has since been classified as a controlled drug. He was diagnosed as being in multi-organ failure due to drug ingestion, was given intensive therapy but died the next day on 30 June 2013. The post mortem revealed an unexpected finding of liver laceration due to blunt force trauma, which caused the death rather than the drug ingestion. No history of trauma had been given to the police or medical staff.

The actions of the police and the medical staff were considered at the Inquiry. The Sheriff Principal concluded that the diagnosis made by the medical staff was entirely reasonable and he commended their efforts to save Mr Storrie’s life. He had no criticism of the police. He found that the cause of the blunt force trauma resulting in the death was probably an accidental injury sustained by Mr Storrie while under the influence of n-bomb (under section 6(1)(b)). A reasonable precaution by which the death might have been avoided would have been if Mr Storrie had refrained from the consumption of n-bomb (under section 6(1)(c)). The Sheriff Principal made no finding under section 6(1)(d). In terms of section 6(1)(e) which relates to any other facts relevant to the circumstances of the death, he found that had Mr Storrie not consumed n-bomb, probably he would not have sustained the trauma to his liver. He would have been able to provide an accurate history of injury to medical staff to enable them to identify the liver injury and undertake treatment for this injury. The consumption of n-bomb was a critical factor in his death.

The full Determination can be found on the Scottish Courts website here.

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