Editor’s note: This story has been updated, including the removal of references to a third trial, to better distinguish between the initial defamation trial, the appeal to the Full Federal Court of Australia, then the retrial scheduled for later this year. 

A GP who worked at Chelmsford Hospital, where a controversial 1970s therapy allegedly caused 23 patient deaths, is heading for a retrial of his defamation case later this year. 

Dr John Gill has been locked in a six-year legal battle over his involvement in ‘deep sleep therapy’, during which patients were sedated with barbituates for up to 14 days at a time to treat mental health conditions at Sydney’s Chelmsford Hospital decades ago.  

The treatment was blamed for at least 23 patient deaths and was subject to a Royal Commission, which condemned the practice.