Forty-four years in the wilderness: the Supreme Court finds the ‘lost years’ for child claimants

Clinical negligence specialists Anthony Searle and Allegra Enefer analyse the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on lost years damages for infant claimants in the case of CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5. Introduction On 18 February 2026, the Supreme Court allowed CCC’s appeal by a majority of four to one: [2026] […]

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Pleadings, Expert Evidence and QOCS: A Triple Warning

Clinical negligence specialist Anthony Searle analyses a recent decision on pleading deficiencies, expert evidence missteps, and costs consequences Introduction In Read v North Middlesex Hospital Trust [2025] EWHC 1603 (KB), Master Thornett delivered a judgment that should make clinical negligence practitioners pause. The case offers a triple warning for those undertaking claimant work: Inadequately particularised […]

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Causation in Clinical Negligence Cases: Can there be liability where the same injury would probably have happened anyway?

Introduction The approach to causation in clinical negligence cases has changed significantly over the past 20 years. In this article I consider whether as practitioners we are about to see another significant step forward or whether in practical terms little has changed. Life before Bailey Before Bailey v. MoD, most clinical negligence practitioners thought that […]

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