The family of a man who died after a GP gave him an overdose of painkillers have been awarded £40,000 medical negligence compensation.

70-year-old David Gray passed away after he was injected with a fatally high dosage of the diamorphine drug – an opioid used to treat those suffering with severe pain.

German-registered GP Daniel Ubani, was working his first on-call shift in the UK on behalf of independent healthcare provider Take Care Now, who had been contracted by NHS Cambridgeshire.

However, it’s believed that he had previously been rejected by other NHS trusts due to his poor level of English.

His poor language skills, a lack of sleep, along with Dr Ubani’s own admission that he was unfamiliar with the drug were blamed as the main reasons that Mr Gray was given 10 times the recommended dose before his death.

Mr Gray’s son Stuart said: “My father was killed and £40,000 does seem a small sum for the loss of a life, especially when compared to countries like the US. It is disappointing, the value that is put on a life.

“However, we’ve never been interested in the money. The major issue for us is pressing for a change to regulations in this country to prevent a repeat of the situation that led to my father’s death.”

Since his death, NHS Cambridgeshire had stopped using Take Care Now. Dr Ubani was given a nine-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay 5,000 euros by German authorities for causing death by medical negligence.