Case report: Duce v Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 1307

Limits of the duty of informed consent; breach of duty; causation ‘The confirmation of the need to satisfy the but for test is consistent with a long line of recent authority.’ In Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] it was held that the doctor must take reasonable care to ensure that a patient is aware …
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Non-surgical cosmetic procedures: Not looking so good

Ruwena Khan analyses the effectiveness of government reform amid the growing number of complaints after cosmetic interventions ‘The guidance from professional bodies is more succinct than pre-review and sets out various codes of practices that should be adhered to by medical professionals carrying out cosmetic treatment.’ The origins of plastic surgery, a medical speciality concerned …
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Vaginal mesh claims: Finding liability

Mamta Gupta reports on complications caused by vaginal mesh treatment and highlights two litigation pathways ‘The two main areas of clinical negligence are first, a failure to obtain informed consent and secondly, substandard surgical placement of the mesh or tape.‘ The litigation of vaginal mesh is becoming more and more widespread. This may be as …
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Case review: Clinical negligence update

Dr Simon Fox QC provides a summary of all the important cases from 2017 ‘In ABC, the court considered the public interest, duty of confidentiality to the father, undermining of the doctor-patient relationship, pressure on patients to agree to disclosure, psychiatric harm to non-patients, burden on medical staff and incremental manner of development of the …
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Clinical negligence: Thrombosis and anticoagulation related claims

Julian Matthews examines some of the issues in this little-written-about area, with particular reference to the issues of patient consent which now arise following Montgomery ‘A proper and adequate supply of information to the patient and their relatives and carers at each stage is crucial in ensuring the safety of patients.‘ Issues related to blood …
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Case Report: Shaw v Kovac & anor [2017] EWCA Civ 1028

Measure of damages for wrongful invasion of personal autonomy; compensation; cause of action; recusal; alleged bias ‘The claimant argued that there is emphasis on the right of the patient not to be subject to treatment “interfering with [their] bodily integrity” without their informed consent and emphasis on the proposition that due protection should be given …
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Childbirth Injury: Liability issues

Rushmi Sethi examines clinical negligence claims concerning childbirth injury ‘The doctor’s obligation, other than in cases where it would damage the patient’s welfare, was to present the material risks and uncertainties of different treatments, and to allow patients to make decisions that would affect their health and well-being on proper information.’ Relatively few childbirth injury …
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Advocate’s Advice: Clinical negligence review

Bill Braithwaite QC analyses the most important cases of the year ‘A report setting out a diagnosis without any recommendation for treatment or any further diagnostic procedure is far from what McNair J had in mind when he directed the jury in Bolam.’ Although I only do clinical negligence claims involving the brain or spine, I …
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Consent To Medical Treatment: Changing priorities

Paul Sankey investigates a decision in the Court of Appeal after it had applied the Montgomery test ‘There have been a number of reported decisions from the lower courts since Montgomery but this is the first Court of Appeal decision to apply the new definition of a doctor’s duty in giving advice.’The recent decision in …
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Patient Autonomy: Montgomery in action

Julian Matthews looks at recent case law on the issue of consent to medical treatment including the recent Court of Appeal decision of Webster ‘The judge had expressly found that there was an expectation that the consultant should have informed himself about the unusual combination of features and the potential risks arising from them.’Legal and …
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