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.
Author: Editor - Elizabeth Boulden
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.
COVID 19 Vaccine – questions of safety and civil liability
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”) has given Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 temporary authorisation under regulation 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, which enables temporary authorisation to be granted in response to situations such as pandemics. In this blog, which is the first of a two-part series, Cressida Mawdesley-Thomas considers when there could be civil liability for an unlicensed vaccine. It also considers the conditions imposed by the MHRA for the granting of the temporary authorisation to Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Informed consent in children and young people
In this blog post, Megan Griffiths summarises and analyses the High Court’s recent decision in Bell v Tavistock NHS Trust. This judicial review decision looks at informed consent practices for children and young people with gender dysphoria, whether they can achieve Gillick competence for consenting to puberty blocking treatment, and what such consent processes would require in practice. This decision is likely to impact on guidance specific to gender dysphoria, but the findings on the types of information required for informed consent in young people are also likely to be relevant to other areas of clinical practice.
R (on the application of Maughan) (Appellant) v Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire (Respondent) [2020] UKSC 46
In this blog post, Ed Ramsay and David Sharpe QC examine the recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Maughan. This case concerns an inquest, and we feel that updates in inquest law would be of interest to readers given that inquests often feature in clinical negligence cases involving a fatal incident.
Clinical Negligence Law 