Author: Imogen Hildred

The Court of Appeal in XX v Whittington Hospital NHS Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 2832 has overturned the High Court’s decision ([2017] EWHC 2318 (QB)) by awarding damages to an infertile claimant for the costs of commercial surrogacy in California. The first instance decision In a previous blog post from September 2017 entitled ‘Surrogacy: The […]

Read More… from Damages for the costs of commercial surrogacy: public policy is not rigid

When is a doctor responsible for losses suffered after they have given bad advice? According to the Court of Appeal, if the loss is “coincidental”, it’s not recoverable. On 23rd November 2018 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the case of MNX v Khan [2018] in which it considered the extent to which […]

Read More… from Scope of the duty – Avoiding the avalanche

This is the clear takeaway from Whipple J’s powerfully reasoned judgment in YAH v Medway Foundation Trust, judgment 5th November 2018. The facts are typical of many cerebral palsy cases. The Claimant’s daughter was born after a negligent delay in intervention in the face of signs of fetal distress. The Claimant suffered psychiatric injury. In […]

Read More… from Primary victim claims for mothers in childbirth are alive and kicking

On 10 October 2018, the important Supreme Court judgment in Darnley (Appellant) v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust (Respondent) [2018] UKSC 50 laid to rest any suggestion that non-medical hospital staff do not owe a duty of care to patients. On the facts, the Appellant was wrongly advised by an A&E receptionist that he would have to […]

Read More… from Non-medical staff owe a duty of care to hospital patients

The issue of illegality as a defence in clinical negligence actions is controversial. It typically arises in a rare category of cases in which alleged failures of medical care results in a patient (the Claimant) suffering a psychotic episode. As a result of the psychotic episode, the Claimant then commits a criminal act. This leads […]

Read More… from Illegality and insanity: Defending (or appealing) claims for damages arising out of criminal acts