The two Gozitan cancer patients who died of chemotherapy toxicity more than 15 years ago may have been victims of manslaughter but criminal action against the perpetrator is “most likely” time-barred, according to criminal lawyers.

Last week Stephen Brincat, ex-head of Mater Dei Hospital’s Oncology Department, said two patients in Gozo died of chemotherapy toxicity, side effects of cancer treatment, due to lack of expertise.

It later emerged that he was talking about two patients who died “more than 15 years” ago.

Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Stephen Tonna Lowell agreed that if it could be proven that the person who administered the chemotherapy acted in breach of professional rules and ethics, then that was a case of involuntary homicide.

However, Dr Tonna Lowell added that even if a perpetrator was identified, the case was “most likely” time-barred.

The length of time after which a case becomes time-barred depends on the punishment for that crime at the time it was committed.

Over 15 years ago, the punishment for involuntary homicide was two years’ imprisonment and the prescription period was of five years. Today, the same crime is punishable by four years’ jail.

Dr Tonna Lowell and Dr Azzopardi added that there was an element of legal interpretation due to a provision in the law stating that prescription did not start running when the offender was “unknown”.

In the past, courts had interpreted “unknown” as meaning the person was entirely unknown to anyone. In this case, it seemed someone – Prof. Brincat – knew about it, Dr Tonna Lowell said.

Prof. Brincat brought up the cases of chemotherapy toxicity to back his argument that he did not agree chemotherapy should be offered in Gozo without the necessary expertise.

He said the Government was ignoring his advice on the matter and this was one of the reasons why he resigned from his post.

Prof. Brincat also spoke of interference in terms of which patients to treat.

Health Minister Joe Cassar is investigating the Gozo deaths and, like Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, added he had not heard of the cases before Prof. Brincat spoke up. The police are also investigating. Dr Cassar also stressed the Health Department never told doctors to give preference to a patient when it came to treatment.

Labour Party justice spokesman José Herrera has called for an amendment to the Criminal Court to empower magistrates to carry out independent inquiries into such cases on their own initiative.

Currently, a magistrate can only do so if a formal report is filed, with backing documentation, by the police or an interested party.