In 1991 Lillian Boyes, then 70, entered the Royal Hampshire County Hospital. Cox was her consultant and had been treating Boyes for 13 years. According to the hospital
chaplain, 'When anyone touched her you could hear the bones move about in their joints. The sound will stay with me to the grave'. Five days before Boyes death, she had pleaded for doctors to end her life. They refused, and she decided to stop her steroid treatment. However her pain became worse and she was unable to absorb the
diamorphine that Dr Cox prescribed as pain relief. Boyes was administering 50 mg an hour but a nurse stated, "She howled and screamed like a dog" when anybody touched her. By 16 August, Boyes was not expected to last the day. Dr Cox administered 100 mg of diamorphine. However Boyes was still crying out in pain. Dr Cox ultimately injected her with the potassium chloride. After she died, Patrick, one of her sons, thanked Cox. In Cox's view, he probably shortened her life by "between 15 minutes and an hour." Cox entered the amount used in the hospital
log, twice the amount needed to cause death. It was then noticed by a nurse, who reported it. Cox signed the cause of death as having been
bronchial pneumonia. Cox was arrested for attempted murder and suspended for 18 months by the hospital, though he was allowed to teach at another hospital and continue his private practice. ==Trial==