Spared jail, optician who missed boy’s fatal illness
AN OPTICIAN who failed to spot signs of a fatal brain condition in an eight-year-old boy was spared jail yesterday. Vincent Barker, known as Vinnie, died from a dangerous build-up of fluid in his brain.
Boots optometrist Honey Rose, 35, performed a routine eye test on the youngster five months earlier, but did not notice ‘obvious’ signs of the lifethreatening condition.
Rose was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence after she told Vinnie’s mother that he needed ‘no treatment whatsoever’. She was yesterday handed a two-year jail term suspended for two years. Photographs taken by another Boots staff member of the back of Vinnie’s eyes – shortly before Rose examined him – suggested he had bilateral papilloedema. This meant optic discs at the back of each eye had become swollen because of raised pressure within the skull.
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees, QC, said this ‘would have been obvious to any competent optometrist’ and should have led to an urgent referral which could have saved Vinnie’s life.
The pressure in the boy’s skull was due to hydrocephalus – a build-up of fluid on the brain – which ultimately caused his death in July 2012.
During her trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Rose said her examination was difficult because Vinnie had closed his eyes to the light and looked away during tests.
Judge Jeremy Stuart-Smith said an immediate prison sentence was not necessary, noting that the Barkers did not want Rose’s three children to suffer as a result of the tragedy.
Mr Rees told the court that her failure to carry out a proper examination had been ‘criminal’. He read a statement from Vinnie’s mother, saying: ‘The knowledge our loss should have been prevented is intolerable to live with.’
Rose, originally from India, was working as a locum when she examined Vinnie at a Boots in Ipswich in February 2012. She told the court she had conducted all required tests. Her lawyer, Ian Stern, QC, described the oversight as a ‘tragic lapse’.
Her husband, Lewis Kennedy, held back tears as he described how his wife had come home crying when she learned of Vinnie’s death.
As well as the suspended sentence, Rose, of Newham, East London, was handed a 24-month supervision order and 200 hours community service.
‘Intolerable to live with’