Rhodes medics cleared of UK tourist’s death
Three doctors who were convicted two years ago of the manslaughter through neglect of a British man in a Rhodes hospital, yesterday had their three-year jail sentences quashed by the island’s appeals court. Stergios Pavlidis, Giorgos Karavolias and Michalis Sokarelos had been found guilty of negligence after 24-year-old Christopher Rochester from County Durham died in the hospital they were working at in June 2000. Rochester fell 12 meters from a balcony at a hotel in the popular tourist resort of Faliraki, suffering serious injuries, including a ruptured kidney. His family argued that he was left unattended for several hours in hospital but the doctors said they had done everything possible to save him. Kevan Jones, an MP representing the North Durham constituency, said the appeals court’s decision sent a message to all British tourists not to travel to Rhodes.
