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.

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.

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.

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.

Standard of care in a clinical setting during the Covid-19 crisis

In this article, Isaac Hogarth discusses the issue of the standard of care to be applied to redeployed doctors in a Covid-19 setting. He suggests that legislation would be required to lay down any proposed modifications to the standard of care.

COVID-19 and Clinical Negligence Claims

Here, Henry Charles, Michael Brace and Lizzie Boulden explain why they consider that COVID-19 related clinical negligence claims arising out of redeployed healthcare professionals are unlikely to succeed on the present law. This should provide considerable comfort to healthcare professionals who are not only bravely risking their lives, but who are also working in unfamiliar roles in the national effort to fight the pandemic.

Developing an ICU Triage Protocol for COVID-19

In this blog, Daniel Sokol of 12KBW talks of his experience as a barrister and medical ethicist developing an ICU triage protocol for COVID-19. Daniel writes for the British Medical Journal on medical ethics and has also written books on the subject.