Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority [1997] UKHL 46 – Law Journals

Pure diagnosis cases: The test of breach of duty

Paul Sankey provides guidance on the appropriate test for breach of duty after negligence in diagnosis ‘The judge reached the right answer to the straightforward question “did the professional exercise reasonable care and skill?”, but had to use a route through Bolam and Bolitho to get there.’ The test of what amounts to breach of …

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Advocate’s Advice: Clinical negligence review

Bill Braithwaite QC analyses the most important cases of the year ‘A report setting out a diagnosis without any recommendation for treatment or any further diagnostic procedure is far from what McNair J had in mind when he directed the jury in Bolam.’ Although I only do clinical negligence claims involving the brain or spine, I …

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Eye Injuries: Getting the correct treatment

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Rushmi Sethi examines clinical negligence claims concerning ophthalmic injuries ‘A doctor is not negligent if there is another responsible body of medical opinion who would have acted in the same way as the treating clinician.’The purpose of this article is to consider the recent case law relating to eye injury claims, considering in particular the …

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Case Report: Montgomery (Appellant) v Lanarkshire Health Board (Respondent) [2015] UKSC 11

Patients’ rights; doctors’ duties; consent test ‘Patients should no longer be viewed as uninformed, incapable of understanding medical matters, or wholly dependent upon a flow of information from doctors.’The appellant, Nadine Montgomery, sought damages on behalf of her catastrophically injured son, Sam, born on 1 October 1999 at Bellshill Maternity Hospital, Lanarkshire, alleging negligent care …

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Clinical Negligence: What does a clinician have to tell the patient?

Julian Matthews looks at the case law and some recent illustrations ‘The touchstone for liability in clinical negligence claims remains the Bolam test, and Chester and Birch do not warrant a wholly different approach in cases concerning advice.’ The standard of care the law requires of a doctor has become well established using the terms …

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Case Report: Webley v St George’s Hospital NHS Trust and anr [2014] EWHC 299

Section 2 Mental Health Act 1983; duty of care; burden of proof ‘The case was determined based on the simple finding that the Trust, by its security personnel, failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the claimant; and that this failure caused him to suffer injury.’ The claimant sustained his head injuries …

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Tree Root Subsidence: Rooting out liability

Kelly-Louise Kirby considers the ramifications of a recent ruling ‘Bearing in mind the nature of the property, this case demonstrates the potential high financial consequences that a tree root subsidence claim can lead to.’ While many home owners across the country prefer to see warm and dry weather, those affected by tree root subsidence issues …

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Evaluating Claims: Successive causes of injury: the causation conundrum

Julian Matthews assesses the difficult legal issues that arise when multiple causes give rise to a compound injury ‘In clinical negligence cases, the complexity of the factual matrix means that the fine line between recovery and no recovery is regularly tested.’ Most clinical negligence litigation arises out of adverse outcomes secondary to medical intervention required …

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Negligence: Double standards

Geoff Clarke QC discusses the differing treatments of judgement by professionals at work and when they are driving home ‘Cases where claimants succeed in questions involving clinical judgement are restricted to those where the practice followed is indefensible. If a practice can be shown to be in operation, even if the balance of opinion is …

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