Doctor denies note acknowledged she caused daughter’s death

A doctor on trial, charged with the manslaughter of her profoundly disabled daughter by giving her too much sedative, has denied that a suicide note she wrote afterwards was acknowledgment that she caused the girl’s death, saying: “I had lost my reason for living”.

The 58-year-old was being cross-examined by the State yesterday on the eighth day of her trial.

The Offaly GP is charged with unlawfully killing 11-year-old Emily Barut, who was profoundly disabled, at their home at Emvale, Bachelor’s Walk, Tullamore. It is alleged she killed her by an act of gross negligence involving the administration of an excessive quantity of chloral hydrate on Saturday, September 15, 2012.