5. Clinical Negligence

Question 1

Prendergast v Sam and Dee

Answer 1

Pharmacist owes customer duty

Question 2

Wilsher v Essex HA

Answer 2

Bodies such as health authorities owe duty of care

Junior doctors have same standard as more experienced doctors

6 possible causes of C’s injury - 1 tortious - can’t establish it is the cause on balance of probabilities

Question 3

Ex p B

Answer 3

No duty imposed on health authority in terms of allocation of scarce resources

Question 4

Bolam v Friern Hospital

Answer 4

1. Standard of care is that of ordinary reasonable professional in the field
2. Professional is not guilty if he acts in accordance with practice adopted by reasonable professional body

Question 5

Maynard v West Midlands HA

Answer 5

Courts will not favour one body of medical opinion over another

Question 6

De Freitas v O’Brien

Answer 6

Body of medical opinion consisted of 11 consultants out of over 1000

Question 7

Bolitho v City and Hackney HA

Answer 7

Opinion of body must have logical basis

Question 8

Sidaway v Bethlem Royal Hospital

Answer 8

No liability for not warning of risks, since this conformed to practice of readonable body

Question 9

Chester v Afshar

Answer 9

Liability for not warning, where C specifically asked about risks

Question 10

Pearce v United Bristol Healthcare

Answer 10

Courts will consider emotional state of patient when determining whether there is duty to disclose risk

Question 11

Bull v Devon HA

Answer 11

HA could be liable for putting junior dr in position with little or no supervision

Question 12

Roe v Minister of Health

Answer 12

No liability for injury resulting from unforeseeable contamination of anaesthetic

Question 13

N v UK Medical Research Council

Answer 13

Where medical knowledge suggested there was a risk, failure to take this knowledge into consideration resulted in liability

Question 14

Crawford v Charing Cross Hospital

Answer 14

Anaesthetist not expected to be aware of risks to patient from procedure on the basis of article published in Lancet six months earlier

Question 15

Cork v Kirby Maclean

Answer 15

‘But for’ test

Question 16

Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital

Answer 16

No liability where death from arsenic poisoning would have taken place even without D’s negligence

Question 17

Bailey v MoD

Answer 17

Even if ‘but for’ test cannot be satisfied, where tortious cause (here lack of post-operative care) is more than negligible, liability can be found

Question 18

Wright v Cambridge Medical Group

Answer 18

Liability imposed on GP for negligently failing to refer patient to hospital for 2 days, even though injury would still have arisen as a result of hospital’s further 3-day delay in making correct diagnosis.

Question 19

Scott v London and St Katherine Docks

Answer 19

Res ipsa loquitur

Question 20

Mahon v Osborne

Answer 20

Patient can use res ipsa loquitur where swab left inside body after operation

Question 21

Cassidy v Minister of Health

Answer 21

Doctor owes patient duty of care