GN-Involuntary manslaughter-Gross negligence

• Gross negligence manslaughter
• When is gross negligence manslaughter committed?

  When the defendant owes the victim a duty of care but breaches that duty in a way that is so criminal it is negligent, causing the death of the victim [Adomako]
• Can it be committed by an act, omission or both?


  It can be committed by an act or omission, neither have to be unlawful
• There needs to be an existing duty of care between 


  By the defendant towards the victim
• What does the breach have to cause?
• Wht did the breach have to cause?

  Breach in that duty that causes death and gross negligence which the jury considered to be so bad as to be criminal.
• The duty of care doesnt have to be contractual

  [khan and khan]
• what else applies to do with the "but for test"?

  Breaks in the chain of causation and the thin skull rule [Blaue] if they apply
• The duty of care must?

  Fall below the standard of care expected of ‘ordinary reasonable person.’ Doctor’s only need to meet a general standard of care
• The standard of care must?

  It must fall below the standard of care expected of ‘ordinary reasonable person.’ Doctor’s only need to meet a general standard of care.
• The negligence must be 'gross', meaning?


  The negligence has to be ‘gross.’ The jury must conclude that a reasonably prudent person would have foreseen a serious and obvious risk of death (the breach factor), and not merely a risk of injury.
• What did the case of [Rudling] hold?

  That serious risk of death is not the same as the inability to eliminate a possibility – there are many remote possibilities of very rare conditions, which cannot be eliminated but which do present a serious risk of death
• 'Obvious' was considered in [Rose] 


  As the obvious risk is a present risk which is clear and unambiguous, not one which might become apparent on further investigation