Category: Expert Evidence

Breach of duty, Causation, Duty of care, Expert Evidence

“But for” vs Material Contribution and the burden of proof – Andrews v Greater Glasgow Health Board [2019] CSOH 31

In this post Vanessa Cashman of 12KBW examines the recent decision of Lord Pentland [siting in the Outer House of the Scottish Court of Session] in Andrews v Greater Glasgow Health Board [2019] CSOH 31.

Summary

The deceased attended hospital with vomiting and diarrhoea, both black in colour and was discharged with a diagnosis of gastroenteritis. She was taken back to hospital the following day where extensive necrosis of her bowel was discovered. She died the next day.

Breach of duty, principally in relation to whether she should have been admitted on her initial attendance, and causation were in issue. D’s case on causation was that C couldn’t prove when her acute deterioration occurred and therefore couldn’t prove that admission would have prevented her death.

The Court considered the relevant test for causation and considered that both “but for” causation and the material contribution test were satisfied.

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Breach of duty, Duty of care, Expert Evidence

Early Chemo-prophylaxis in Neurosurgery and The Battle of The Experts: Lesforis v Tolias

In this post Daniel Sokol of 12KBW examines the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in YVONNE LESFORIS v CHRISTOS TOLIAS [2019] EWCA Civ 487.

In May 2018, Mr Justice Spencer found that Mr Christos Tolias, a consultant neurosurgeon, had been negligent in giving his patient heparin too early following spinal surgery. This led to the patient suffering a haematoma which, in turn, compressed the spinal cord and resulted in incomplete paraplegia.

Mr Tolias obtained permission to appeal on a single ground: that the judge failed to address the key question, namely whether giving antithrombotic medication to this particular patient within 3 hours of surgery was a breach of duty.

The appeal was dismissed.

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Causation, Expert Evidence

Mothers in Childbirth – Primary or Secondary Victims? Yah v Medway NHS Foundation Trust

In this blog Vanessa Cashman of 12KBW examines the recent decision of Whipple J in Yah v Medway NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWHC 2964 (QB), a case concerning a claim by a mother for psychiatric damage arising out of the birth of her daughter.

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Breach of duty, Causation, Expert Evidence

Witnesses of fact: to call, or not to call? Manzi v King’s College Hospital NHS FT [2018] EWCA Civ 1882

In this post Isaac Hogarth of 12 KBW examines the recent case of Manzi v King’s College Hospital NHS FT [2018] EWCA Civ 1882 in which the Court of Appeal considered whether to interfere with the trial judge’s findings in relation to whether there had been a negligent failure to detect and remove a portion of retained placenta following childbirth. The Court also considered in particular whether the trial judge ought to have drawn an adverse inference from the Defendant’s decision not to call a particular doctor as a witness.

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Expert Evidence, Inquests

Sepsis strikes again: administration of wrongly chosen and ineffective antibiotics materially contributes to patient’s death.

Before HM Senior Coroner Christopher P Dorries OBE, Sheffield Coroner’s Court. Narrative conclusion handed down on 11 December 2017.

Rory Badenoch represented the family of the Deceased, Kay Morrison, at a 4-day inquest into the circumstances of her death at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield on 21 June 2015. The Coroner concluded that the failure to take and act upon a proper history of multiple antibiotic treatments in the past materially contributed to her death from sepsis.

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