Court hearing for extradition

Feb 15 2008 By James Cartledge

A MIDLAND doctor charged with killing a British patient with an injection of adrenaline almost 10 years ago was due in court for an extradition hearing today.

Priya Ramnath, aged 39, moved to the US in 1998 days after allegedly killing 51-year-old Patricia Leighton, from Burntwood, near Lichfield, by injecting her with adrenaline against her colleagues' advice.

The mother-of-two, who is on bail of £153,000 but confined to house arrest, denies manslaughter.

She was due before Judge Earl Hine at the US district court at Lufkin, Texas, to fight her extradition to the UK.

Ramnath originally escaped prosecution because the Crown Prosecution Service missed a five-year deadline to apply for her extradition by three days.

But a treaty signed in April between the US and the UK enabled the US Marshals Service to arrest Ramnath at the Woodland Hills Hospital in Lufkin, Texas, where she was working as a licensed anaesthetist, on November 30.

Last month, Ramnath's lawyer Al Charanza told the district court there were a number of "special circumstances" in her case.

He told the court the extradition treaty could "subject other physicians to criminal liability in the United Kingdom".

Mrs Leighton was admitted to Staffordshire General Hospital in 1998 with a painful bunion and monitored by an intensive care team because of a shortage of beds in other wards.

A coroner ruled in 2004 she was unlawfully killed after hearing Ramnath injected adrenaline against her colleagues' advice when Mrs Leighton's blood pressure fell.

Ramnath, whose children are aged five and 12, is originally from India.

Her Texas medical licence was approved in 2004 but both Woodland Heights Medical Centre and the Memorial Health System of East Texas have suspended her privileges.

She completed her residency at the University of South Florida and has also worked in hospitals in Tampa and McAllen, Texas.