Killer driver sues GP for £∏m ‘as pills made him faint at wheel’
A BUSINESSMAN jailed for killing a pensioner in a car crash is suing his doctor for £500,000, claiming prescribed medication made him faint behind the wheel.
Vincent Friel, 47, was given three years’ jail after hitting Charlotte Collins, 68, at a pedestrian crossing near Glasgow’s Silverburn shopping centre.
Her 69-year-old cousin Margaret Haldane was seriously injured in the smash.
Friel’s defence for the January 2014 crash was that he passed out at the wheel of his 4x4 and went through a red light.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, his lawyers claimed Friel, of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, was taking blood pressure pills, Viagra and headache medication – and the combination caused his blood pressure to drop to such a low level he fainted.
Jurors rejected the claims and found him guilty of causing death and injury by driving dangerously.
Now Friel has instructed lawyers to go to the Court of Session in a bid to claim half a million pounds of damages from his GP, Dr Iain Brown. He claims Dr Brown was negligent to prescribe blood pressure medication Tildium on top of his other prescriptions and that the actions of the doctor caused him to pass out at the wheel.
On Wednesday, lawyers acting for Dr Brown, who is based at the Fernbank Medical Centre in Springburn, Glasgow, attempted to have the case thrown out.
Advocate Malcolm McGregor told judge Lady Carmichael the claims had previously been heard and rejected by a jury.
He said: ‘The pursuer ultimately seeks to prove that he ultimately suffered a blackout. It is wholly contrary to what was found at the criminal trial. He is using a civil court to challenge the findings of a criminal court. He is challenging his conviction and therefore it is an abuse of process.
‘I would ask your Ladyship to dismiss this action.’
Friel’s High Court trial in 2016 heard he had been treated by consultant cardiologist Dr Adrian Brady for high blood pressure. Dr Brady told jurors that it was ‘likely or possible’ Friel had suffered a vasovagal attack – the medical expression for fainting.
But cardiologist Dr Andrew Flapan told the court he thought it ‘extremely unlikely’ that Friel had fainted. He said he based his opinion on evidence Friel was able to do a number of things within seconds of the car colliding with the pensioners, such as reversing and calling for an ambulance.
He argued that someone who had just fainted would not have been able to do these things.
Friel, who owns a property letting business, told the court he had passed out, adding: ‘I’m just devastated. It has affected me greatly. I can’t believe any of this. It could have been my own mother.’
Yesterday, his lawyer Lauren Sutherland, QC, said her client was not using the current action
‘It is an abuse of process’
to challenge his criminal conviction. She added: ‘There is no abuse of process here. He is not trying to overturn his conviction. He has brought this action in a bid to recover damages. He is not trying to sue people who were involved in the accident.
‘Your Ladyship shouldn’t dismiss this action. Your Ladyship should allow this case to go to proof before answer.’
Legal papers lodged with the court say Friel is seeking damages over being prescribed Tildium. They claim it was not suitable given his health and that ‘no ordinarily competent general practitioner’ would have prescribed it.
Dr Brown denies any wrongdoing.
Lady Carmichael will issue her judgment on whether the case should progress in the near future.