As the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the death of six-year-old Jash­er Fran­cois nears com­ple­tion, con­sul­tant in­tensivist Dr Anand Cha­toor­goon says it is not al­ways pos­si­ble to know for sure how a per­son may re­act when a drug is be­ing ad­min­is­tered.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Cha­toor­goon ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly. Al­though he is al­so a di­rec­tor at South­west Re­gion­al Health Au­thor­i­ty, Cha­toor­goon said he was speak­ing not as di­rec­tor but as a con­sul­tant in­ten­sivist and anaes­thetist.

He said: “Jash­er’s death was painful and stress­ful to the par­ents, to the doc­tors, to the nurs­es, to the para­med­ical per­son­nel. As doc­tors and nurs­es, we are not there to hurt. And we are not there to de­stroy or kill. We are re­al­ly there to help and heal. But some­times pa­tients may not re­act in a way we ex­pect them to re­act.”