TWO major healthcare companies have been fined more than £500,000 for supplying a faulty batch of pre-filled insulin syringes which led to the death of a diabetic Barnsley man.
Neil Judge, 58, died at the Northern General in Sheffield in November 2010 after being treated with a batch of intravenous insulin syringes that actually contained no insulin.
He suffered multi-organ failure triggered by a serious episode of diabetic ketoacidosis because his body was deprived of insulin for more than 13 hours.
The faulty syringes were supplied to Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by Fresenius Kabi Ltd as a wholesaler for its sister company Calea UK Ltd, which manufactured the product.
Fresenius Kabi Ltd, of Runcorn, was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay a further £5,900 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Medicines Act 1968; Calea was fined £50,000 with £5,900 costs after also pleading guilty to similar breaches.
Both companies were fined at Sheffield Crown Court after being prosecuted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
• Mr Judge's wife Linda, of Firth Street, Barnsley, is continuing to take legal action.
