Suspension for optometrist cleared of gross negligence manslaughter

An eight-year General Optical Council fitness to practise process involving locum optometrist Honey Rose, who successfully overturned a conviction for gross negligence manslaughter, concluded last week with a sanction of suspension for a period of nine months.

The committee ruled Rose’s failure to carry out adequate internal eye examinations on eight-year-old Vincent Barker and four-year-old Amber Barker in February 2012, and failure to keep accurate records, amounted to misconduct and fitness to practise was impaired because of what it deemed ‘wider public interest.’

Vincent Barker died in July 2012 following a build-up of fluid on the brain, later confirmed to be acute on chronic hydrocephalus secondary to gliotic obstruction of the rostral part of the fourth ventricle.