The 2010 Dr Foster’s Hospital Guide published on 28 November 2010 confirms that many adverse medical events still go unrecorded. Now in its tenth year, the Guide is a joint venture with the Department of Health and provides a valuable public service by researching and analysing the data recorded by NHS hospital trusts in England in relation to adverse medical events.   This years Gui... [Continue Reading]

Laws LJ suggested in Molloy v Shell UK Limited [2001] EWCA Civ 1272 that lying or grossly exaggerating claimants could be guilty of “a cynical and dishonest abuse of the court’s process” and questioned whether, when “faced with manipulation of the civil justice system on so grand a scale, the court once it knows the facts should entertain the claim at all save to make the c... [Continue Reading]

The cerebral palsy case of Goncalves v. Newham University Hospital Trust (QBD, Mr. John Leighton Williams Q.C. sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge 24.11.10) discusses the important question of how quickly an emergency caesarean section should be performed. The Claimant, Macmillan, a second twin, was born at 19.47 hrs on 19.01.96 at Newham University Hospital and suffers from teraplegic dyskineti... [Continue Reading]

In Anna Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust [2010] EWHC 865 (QB), the Claimant claimed a declaration and damages under the Human Rights Act 1998 after her mother Carol Savage (“CS”), a patient detained in a psychiatric ward under the Mental Health Act 1983, absconded and committed suicide in July 2004.  The case had already been to the House of Lords on a prelimi... [Continue Reading]