Arthur Henry Douthwaite
Arthur Henry Douthwaite (13 February 1896 – 24 September 1974)[1] was a British medical doctor, Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians[2] and a prolific medical textbook writer. He was described as the foremost expert on heroin in Britain in the 1950s,[3] or as a leading authority on opiates[4] and he was called as an expert witness for the prosecution in the trial of Dr John Bodkin Adams for the murder of Mrs Edith Morrell.
Career
Douthwaite was a senior physician at Guy's Hospital,[5] and an Honorary Physician at All Saints' Hospital for Genito-urinary Diseases.
Douthwaite was Britain's foremost expert on dangerous drugs, and was instrumental in dissuading the Home Office from banning heroin for medical use.[5]
Dr Douthwaite was greatly respected for his diagnostic skills. One story told of how he had walked into the
Bodkin Adams trial
In 1957 Douthwaite gave evidence as an
Adams had been arrested the previous year for the murder of two widows,
At the start of his cross-examination, Douthwaite accepted the gravity of the murder charge against Adams, but claimed that he could think of "no legitimate reason" for Adams' to prescribe opiates, and could only surmise that it suggested "a desire to terminate life".
Douthwaite was also criticised by Lawrence for what seemed to be a change in his hypothesis half-way through the trial, when he selected a different date for when Adams had begun his attempt to kill Morrell. Lawrence put it to him thus:
"The truth of all this matter is this, Dr Douthwaite, that you first of all gave evidence on one basis to support a charge of murder and then thought of something else after you had started?"
Douthwaite replied:
"That is quite likely. In fact, I think it is probable. I had been turning it over in my mind but at what time it crystallised and became clear I do not know."[3]
The historian Pamela Cullen defended Douthwaite, basing her defence on the hypothesis that Manningham-Buller had intentionally given up possession of vital evidence, the nurses' notebooks, which detailed Adams' treatment of the patient, adding that he actually gave them to the defence, which allowed defence
Douthwaite gave the impression that he was being inconsistent and changing his evidence speculatively, to avoid admitting he might be wrong. Devlin made a cogent criticism of the prosecution team, but aimed at Melford Stevenson rather than Manningham-Buller. This was that, as Douthwaite and Ashby were not experienced at being expert witnesses, they should have been warned to avoid speculation and prepared by the prosecution until their evidence was purged of uncertainties.[4] The underwhelming impact of Douthwaite's evidence, coupled with defence witness John B. Harman's evidence in favour of Adams and Ashby's refusal to rule out a natural cause for Mrs Morrell's death, helped secure Adams' acquittal.
Douthwaite's performance at the trial however did not endear him to his fellow doctors, who resented his attempt to convict one of their peers. Douthwaite had previously been greatly respected within the profession, but his involvement is widely considered to have cost him the presidency of the Royal College of Physicians.[2][3][5] As Devlin later wrote in his account of the trial, the case was "a very important one for the medical profession, which was naturally worried by the thought that the prescription of drugs might lead to a charge of murder".[4]
Adams was only ever convicted on 13 counts of
Publications
Douthwaite wrote many textbooks:[8]
- The injection treatment of varicose veins, London, H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., 1928
- The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, London, H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., 1929
- The treatment of chronic arthritis, London, Cape, 1930
- The treatment of asthma, London, H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., 1930
- A guide to general practice, London, H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., 1932
- The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and sciatica, London, H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd., 1933
- An Index of Differential Diagnosis of Main Symptoms (with Herbert French), Bristol, John Wright, 1945 (6th edition)
- French's Index of Differential Diagnosis, Williams & Wilkins, 1960
- The use of heroin, S.I., 1956
- Materia medica, pharmacology and therapeutics (with Sir William Hale-White), London, Churchill, 1949, 1959, 1963.
References
- ^ "Lives of the fellows: Arthur Henry Douthwaite". Retrieved 2 November 2016.
- ^ a b Ockham's Razor – 23 July 2006 – The Strange Case of Dr John Bodkin Adams
- ^ ISBN 1-904027-19-9
- ^ a b c d e f g h Devlin, Patrick. Easing the passing: The trial of Doctor John Bodkin Adams, London, The Bodley Head, 1985.
- ^ a b c d The teacher who influenced me
- ^ Robins, Jane. The Curious Habits of Dr Adams: A 1950s Murder Mystery. London, John Murray, 2013.
- ^ a b c British Medical Journal, The. Trial of Dr. J. Bodkin Adams: Expert Evidence., London, No 5012, 1957.
- ^ Worldcat