NHS hospital and manager to stand trial for manslaughter of 22-year-old woman

An NHS trust will become the first ever to be tried for the corporate manslaughter of a mental health patient after being charged over the death of a 22-year-old woman.

Alice Figueiredo died at Goodmayes hospital, run by North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), in July 2015.

Last year the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was charging NELFT with corporate manslaughter as well as a health and safety breach.

The ward manager at the time, Benjamin Aninakwa, will also stand trial for manslaughter by gross negligence and health and safety breaches for actions related to her death.

The trial opens on 29 October and is expected to last for nine weeks.

NEFLT will be the second ever NHS trust to be charged with corporate manslaughter after Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was charged following the death of a woman who underwent an emergency Caesarean in 2015.

However, it is the first mental health trust to be charged over the death of a patient in a psychiatric unit.

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Source: The Independent, 24 October 2024