Getting your teeth into non-delegable duties and vicarious liability

Mary Newnham considers Hughes v Rattan [2021 EWHC 2032 (QB), an important decision for the dental sector on the issue of legal responsibility of practice owners providing NHS dentistry services via associate dentists, but of interest to all clinical negligence practitioners with its guidance on non-delegable duties and vicarious liability.

Appeal allowed in Bell v Tavistock: the scope of declarations in the judicial review of clinical treatment decisions

In this blog post, Megan Griffiths considers the Court of Appeal’s recent judgment which overturned the High Court’s issue of a declaration and guidance on the ability of minors to consent to puberty-blocking treatment.

AB v Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust: settlement approved in short life expectancy clinical negligence claim

William Audland QC and Isaac Hogarth of 12 King’s Bench Walk, instructed by Victoria Williams of Stewarts successfully represented the claimant (“C”), a protected party, in her claim against Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (“D”). A compromise was reached on the basis of an offer made at a video Joint Settlement Meeting (JSM) which was subsequently approved by Master Sullivan.

Wrongful Birth Revisited: Khan v Meadows [2021] UKSC 21 – the Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court handed down its decision in this case on Friday, discussed by Ted Cunningham in this post. Helen Waller has previously provided a comprehensive summary of the factual and legal background to this case, which is available here.

The criminal prosecution of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust for the unsafe clinical care leading to the death of baby Harry Richford

In this post, Vanessa Cashman discusses this recent criminal prosecution regarding the failings in maternity care from East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. It is a landmark case, being the first time that the CQC has prosecuted an NHS Trust over failings in clinical care.

Breakingbury v Croad: non-delegable duty in dental negligence

Ted Cunningham discusses this case concerning a dental practice’s owner’s non-delegable duty, where judgment was handed down in April by His Honour Judge Harrison, sitting at Cardiff County Court. The judgment can be accessed here, on the website of the solicitors for the claimant. In short, the Learned Judge held that Mr Croad, a former dentist who had been retired for 20 years and who had sold his practice many years before the litigation commenced, owed a non-delegable duty of care to the Claimant at the material time.

Wrongful Birth Revisited: Khan v Meadows [2021] UKSC 21 – a reminder

To get us all up to speed ahead of this Supreme Court judgment, which is due to be handed down on Friday 28 May, Helen Waller has helpfully set out the background to this case, the decisions of the lower courts, and a summary of the law on wrongful birth claims. We will update this blog post in the next few days with the result of the Supreme Court decision and our analysis of it.

Fundamental dishonesty and clinical negligence: a fraud on the taxpayer?

Here, Charlotte Reynolds discusses some recent clinical negligence cases involving allegations of fundamental dishonesty, and some key points that can be taken from these.