Who gets to go to theatre for urgent surgery first?

Matthew Donmall Middleton v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWHC 2981 (KB) Deputy High Court Judge Jonathan Glasson KC heard this case concerning the timing of revascularisation surgery at Frimley Park Hospital, and whether it was mandatory for the Claimant to be operated on within 6 hours of the…

Third Party Costs Orders and Experts: Order Restored

Miss Martine Robinson v Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust v Mr Christopher Mercier [2023] EWHC 21 (KB) Sweeting J in the High Court allowed a medico-legal expert’s appeal against a Third Party Costs Order (“TPCO”) made against him. The TPCO had awarded the Defendant NHS Trust the full sum of…

High Court Finds Long Waiting Times for Trans Healthcare are Lawful

R. (on the application of AA (A Child)) v National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHS England) [2023] EWHC 43 (Admin) Background The demand for young people receiving gender identity development services (‘GIDS’) and for adults receiving gender identity disorder services (also, helpfully, ‘GIDS’) has increased substantially from 2012 to 2017,…

Departing from Guidelines and Balancing of Risks in Different Medical Settings

Mrs Marion O'Brien (Administratrix of the Estate of Mr John Berry (Deceased)) v Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust [2022] EWHC 2735 (KB) At [99] HHJ Tindal (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) summarises aptly that “this case turns not on debates about causation – or indeed the…

Cancer and Contributory Negligence: Who is the Objectively Reasonable Patient?

Otu v Vivek Datta [2022] EWHC 2388 (KB) When will a patient be partly at fault for not following up when their doctor negligently fails to arrange an appointment? That was the question asked of the High Court in Otu v Datta, a case concerning the death of the Claimant’s…

An end to the Plus of Galbraith in Inquests?

R (Police Officer B50) v HM Coroner for East Yorkshire and Kingston Upon Hull [2023] EWHC 81 (Admin) The Divisional Court (Stuart-Smith LJ and Fordham J) considered a challenge to a Coroner’s application of the Galbraith test as to what conclusions can safely be left to a jury in an…

Fresh Inquest into Death by Suicide Following Cessation of Benefits is Granted

Joy Dove v (1) HM Assistant Coroner for Teesside and Hartlepool and (2) Dr Shareen Rahman [2023] EWCA Civ 289 In Issue 10 of QMLR, I considered the judgment of the Divisional Court that refused the Applicant’s four grounds seeking an order to quash the Coroner’s determination. That article, and…

Consent and Factual Causation – Two Recent Cases

Watts v North Bristol NHS Trust [2022] EWHC 2048 (QB) Snow v Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust [2023] EWHC 42 (KB) Two cases from the past year illustrate the importance of factual causation as an issue in litigation concerning consent to treatment and provide various reminders on points…

Montgomery and Material Contribution

CNZ v Royal Bath Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (2) Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Background In January 2023, Mr Justice Ritchie handed down an important decision dealing with Montgomery and causation in birth injury claims. The relevant findings of fact: The Claimant was born in a…

The Supreme Court provides authoritative guidance on the application of Article 2 to Coronial investigations and inquests

R (Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde and another [2023] UKSC 20 Introduction The advent of the Human Rights Act 1998, and the incorporation into domestic law of the Article 2 right to life, has transformed coronial investigations and inquests over the last two decades. Lord Bingham’s magisterial…