The prosecutor in the trial of an Offaly GP accused of killing her disabled daughter says she “broke all her own rules” on the administration of a sedative.
Bernadette Scully has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Emily Barut at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk in Tullamore in 2012.
Ms Scully admits giving her daughter Emily four doses of the sedative Chloral hydrate on Sept 15th 2012.
The two final doses were given at around 11am to try and control a seizure and she stopped breathing after the final dose.
In her closing speech this morning, Tara Burns, who is acting for the DPP, challenged the defence’s suggestion that she died from that fit by saying the evidence just wasn’t there to support it.
She asked the jurors to consider Ms Scully’s attempted suicide afterwards as a clear acceptance of her responsibility for Emily’s death.
As her doctor, she said she owed her a duty of care and was grossly negligent in the administration of an excessive dose of chloral hydrate.
Mr Ken Fogarty, who is representing Ms Scully, said it was incredible that we as a society can dump all that responsibility on one person and then accuse that person of killing her when it goes wrong.
