An appeals court confirmed the innocence of six doctors who were charged with causing the death of a two-year-old girl in 2011. 

The child died in hospital after she was diagnosed with gastric flu which later turned out to be meningitis. 

The doctors, who cannot be named by court order, were found not guilty of involuntary homicide through negligence and misdiagnosis in July 2023, however, the Attorney General appealed that decision. 

Originally seven doctors were charged in connection with the incident, however, the AG only chose to pursue an appeal against six of them. 

In the appeal, the AG argues that the first court had failed to consider expert testimony that concluded that had the child's diagnosis not been missed, she could have benefitted from timely treatment through antibiotics.

As the diagnosis had been missed and this opportunity denied, this amounted to a clear case of negligence, the court expert had testified. 

However, in her appeal judgement, Madam Justice Edwina Grima agreed with the conclusions of the first court and found no reason to change the sentence.

A different court expert had testified that, while acknowledging the misdiagnosis, this was an “unfortunate case” where the patient had not been exhibiting the most common symptoms associated with her ailment. 

This should not result in the punishment of the doctors, particularly when the typical signs of meningitis were not present in this case, Grima said. 

None of the accused were faced with a situation in which they could have reasonably believed the toddler to have meningitis. 

The judge also observed that from a general perspective, the prosecution hadn’t sufficiently proven criminal guilt, such as if one of the accused had failed to properly complete an exam or failed to provide the appropriate care based on the symptoms and clinical history of the patient. 

It is not the case that the child was ever neglected by any of her doctors, the judge said. 

Clinical exams had been carried out on the child regularly, blood tests were ordered and she was kept under regular observation. 

Judge Grima also said that the prosecution had failed to prove that the girl’s death had been preventable.

Given her medical history, all her symptoms indicated acute infection that remained consistent with the diagnosis of gastric flu and that ergo any other action may have been necessary. 

The court said it was satisfied that every single one of the doctors had done everything that was reasonable and expected from them and found that at no point was their guilt proven to a satisfactory degree. 

For these reasons, the court denied the appeal and found them not guilty. 

Lawyers Joe Giglio, Michaela Giglio, Michael Sciriha and Lucio Sciriha appeared for the doctors.