Administration of wrong dosage by a newly-qualified community nurse costs an elderly patient her life. Diabetic pensioner Margaret Thomas was injected with ten times more insulin by Community nurse Joanne Evans. Mrs Thomas, 85, from South Wales died on June 2, 2007 within six hours of the overdose.

Fellow nurses informed the court that Ms Evans was upset before she visited the pensioner as another patient had been difficult and "sexually inappropriate" with her that morning and the previous day.

Ms Evans said Mrs Thomas gave her an insulin "pen" which she had never used one before as they used a syringe and needle where she normally worked.

She added that she converted the amount wrongly in her mind and injected Mrs Thomas four times with the syringe, but mistakenly gave 10 times the dose of 36 units.

Ms Evans said she was "in a tizz" when it struck her in bed that night that she had given Mrs Thomas too much insulin.

She said she immediately reported her mistake to a doctor but by that time Mrs Thomas had already died.