Determining Causation in a Bacterial Meningitis Case

Davies v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 169 (QB) This was a claim brought by the widower of a woman who died of bacterial meningitis. She had been admitted to hospital two days earlier with a history of severe headache and middle ear infection. The Defendant admitted that…

Cauda Equina Syndrome

Jarman v Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust [2021] EWHC 323 In Hewes v West Hertfordshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust & Ors [2020] EWCA Civ 1523 (see Issue 8), the Court of Appeal considered, for the first time, a case of alleged delay in the treatment of Cauda Equina…

Non Delegable Duties

Hopkins v (1) Akramy (2) Badger Group (3) NHS Commissioning Board [2020] EWHC 3445 (QB) A preliminary issue was determined by HHJ Melissa Clarke on the issue of whether the NHS owed a non-delegable duty of care to a patient when care was outsourced to a private provider. The Claimant…

Article 2 and the Provision of Healthcare

R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool [2020] EWCA Civ 738 Where Article 2 of the Convention is invoked to allege inadequate provision of healthcare by the state, recent Strasbourg and domestic authorities suggest an increasingly restrictive approach. An expansive approach The 2015 Chamber decision of the Fourth Section…

Being BAME is a Major Risk Factor for Dying of Covid-19 – What Can Be Done About It?

Introduction  This article originally appeared in a Covid-19 Special Issue (July 2020). The Public Health England (“PHE”) review into the disparities in risks and outcomes of COVID deaths was published on 3 June 2020. It was intended to address increasing concerns, notably voiced by the British Medical Association, about the…

Professional Regulation

(1) General Medical Council (2) Professional Standards Authority for Health & Social Care v Asef Zafar [2020] EWHC 846  This article originally appeared in Issue 5 (May 2020). The Divisional Court substituted a sanction of erasure for a 12 month suspension in this appeal by the GMC and PSA arising…

Vicarious Liability – Child Sexual Abuse

Haringey London Borough Council v FZO [2020] EWCA Civ 180  DSN v Blackpool Football Club [2020] EWHC 695 (QB)  EXE v Governors of the Royal Naval School [2020] EWHC 596 (QB)  This article originally appeared in Issue 5 (May 2020). Three recent cases have illustrated the application of a number…

Vicarious Liability – Is It Still ‘On The Move’?

WM Morrison Supermarket plc v Various Claimants [2020] UKSC 12  Barclays Bank plc v Various Claimants [2020] UKSC 13  This article originally appeared in Issue 5 (May 2020). These parallel judgments, handed down on the same day by the Supreme Court, clarify the two stage approach to determining whether an…

Wrongful Birth

Mordel v Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust [2019] EWHC 2591 (QB)  This article originally appeared in Issue 3 (November 2019). The Claimant succeeded in establishing liability in this unusual wrongful birth claim before Mr Justice Jay.  Background  She alleged that the Defendant’s failure to carry out screening for Down’s syndrome…

Interim Injunctions and Disciplinary Proceedings

Smo v Hywel Dda University Health Board [2019] EWHC 1973 (QB) This article originally appeared in Issue 3 (November 2019). The High Court granted an interim injunction to a consultant colorectal surgeon facing disciplinary proceedings as a result of allegations about his capability and conduct.  Background  Suspended since 2016 pending…