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.
Author: Editor - Elizabeth Boulden
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.
Lacking capacity for certain decisions – East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust v GH and what clinical negligence practitioners can learn from it
In this blog post, Henry King discusses the issue of capacity to consent to medical treatment, in light of comments made in the recent Court of Protection case of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust v GH [2021] EWCOP 18.
Brennan and others v (1) City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (2) Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2021]: healthcare litigation and human rights
In this post, Megan Griffiths looks at the recent case of Brennan and others v (1) City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (2) Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust [2021]1 WLUK 429, a very sad case concerning the decomposition of a woman's body in a hospital mortuary.
Provision of medical services to NHS patients by a third party – does the NHS Trust owe a duty of care?
In this post, Henry King discusses the case of Hopkins (A Child) v Akramy [2020] EWHC 3445 (QB), in which the court held that an NHS Primary Care Trust did not owe a non-delegable duty of care to protect NHS patients from harm, including harm from the negligent provision of primary medical services by a third party. This case provides useful insight into the court's considerations in a situation where the alleged negligence is by a third party with whom the NHS has contracted to provide healthcare services.
A case on congenital disabilities: Toombes v Mitchell [2020] EWHC 3506 (QB)
In this post, Thea Wilson looks at the recent case of Toombes v Mitchell, which considered arguments about wrongful life in the context of the Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1976.
The Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 and the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine
In the first post of the second instalment of this two-part series looking at COVID-19 vaccinations, Elizabeth Boulden and Cressida Mawdesley-Thomas consider no-fault compensation under the Vaccine Damage Payment scheme. This article was first published as a News Analysis article on Lexis®PSL.