Tort - Clinical Negligence Flashcards
Duty of care between doctor and patient
Cassidy v MOH; Rv Bateman
Once emergency treatment has been undertaken a DOC is owed
Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington HMC
No general duty to assist
Re F
Duty includes preventing patients from harming themselves and others
Osman
Mental hospital did not owe DOC to non-sectioned patient as else they would effectively have to imprison him
Clunis v Camden and Islington
Doctor and pharmacist jointly liable for incorrect dispensing of a drug due to indecipherable handwriting
Prendergast v Sam & Dee
Duty of care owed by solicitor
White v Jones
Health Authorities have duty to provide services of medical professionals with sufficient skill and experience.
Wilsher; Griffiths v Kent Ambulance
Hospital has DOC - must be reasonable organised and competent
Bull v Devon
No absolute duty on a HA to provide every treatment available
R v Cambridgeshire HA ex p Child B
No DOC to patient’s wife who became pregnant years after husband’s vasectomy - too remote
Goodwill v British Pregnancy
Claimant must show that doctor has taken course of action which would not be acceptable to any reasonable body of medical opinion
Bolam (limb 2)
HL refused to choose one professional opinion over the other; possible to have conflicting professional opinions
Maynard v West Midlands HA
Doctor failed to warn claimant of small risk of damage to spine. Not liable as a reasonable body would not have warned of the risk
Sidaway v Board of Governors
Claimant specifically asked about risks and surgeon failed to disclose small risk of paralysis - breach of duty
Chester v Afshar
Body of 11 consultants out of 1000
De Freitas
Judge can decide whether specific body of opinion is reasonable
Lybert v Warrington - warning that sterilisation may fail was inadequate, despite being a standard practice
Bolam is not conclusive, court can hold that a body is neither responsible nor reasonable
Bolitho v City
Junior doctor must meet standard of reasonably competent doctor, but may discharge this duty by asking advice from a more experience colleague
Wilsher
HA may be liable for putting junior doctor in situation with little supervision
Bull v Devon
Unforeseeable risks cannot be anticipated and failure to guard against them will not be negligence (state of the art defence)
Roe v MOH
No liability as unrealistic to expect professional to know every new development in his field at any given time
Crawford v Charing Cross Hospital
Factual Causation
Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington
Courts will move away from but for test if necessary
Bailey v MOD
Courts will consider a patient’s mental state when deciding the level of risks to be disclosed
Pearce v United Bristol Healthcare
Difference between clinical negligence and error of judgement
Whitehouse v Jordan
Where there has been a failure to inform of risks, causation will not fail simply because it is impossible to say that the patient would not have gone through with the operation had they been warned - this would render duty meaningless
Chester v Afshar
