Derek Dimmock, an 86-year-old man from Putney, UK, was admitted to the Royal Trinity Hospice in June 2020 with gout and later died under controversial circumstances. His family is alleging he was involuntarily euthanised using midazolam, a sedative often used in end-of-life care.
His family claims he was given a cocktail of end-of-life drugs, including midazolam, which they argue was inappropriate and hastened his death. Derek was given enough midazolam to “kill an elephant,” a source close to the family said.
The case is currently under investigation, with an inquest examining whether his death was a natural occurrence or an unlawful killing. The case was heard by a Senior Coroner in March; the inquest resumes in August 2025.
During an interview, the barrister for the Dimmock family explained how midazolam is used by the NHS to end someone’s life and said, “If you want to kill somebody, get a doctor or a nurse to do it, because it’s very, very difficult to pin the blame on them.”
Barrister James Bogle, who specialises in clinical negligence, is representing the Dimmock family in a legal capacity. Bogle is familiar with the state’s abuse and misuse of drugs to end people’s lives. In 2023 he provided the legal analysis for the report titled ‘When end of life care goes wrong’, which examined the excessive and inappropriate use of midazolam and morphine in the UK. The report is available from Voice for Justice UK, see HERE.
At the end of June, Bogle joined Peter McCormack’s podcast, during which he said “the favoured way of shortening a life” is the use of a combination of midazolam and morphine. In the following, Maajid Nawaz explains more.
Hellbound and Down 