Although this is a dental/maxillofacial negligence case, it is of importance for all healthcare experts instructed in cases where consent may be an issue. It highlights points about which experts should enquire when there may be an issue as to consent to a surgical or other procedure. In this case it was found that the consent process was deficient in a number of respects. It is also a case which illustrates how expert evidence can separately assist the court on the issues of breach of duty, causation, condition and prognosis.

Winterbotham v Shahrak (Rev1) [2024] EWHC 2633 (KB) 

NHS have announced the implementation of a new Clinical Negligence Claims Agreement for 2024. The agreement builds on the Covid-19 Clinical Negligence Protocol established in 2020 with the aim of improving claims management practices. Members who act in clinical negligence cases should note the new agreement, although it does not directly affect expert witnesses. 

“A negligent failure to perform a costotransversectomy?” The detail of this judgment will be of interest to neurosurgeons and spinal surgeons. However, particularly as the judgment quotes C v North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust [2014] Med. L.R. 189 which gives meaning to the adjectives ‘responsible’, ‘competent’ and ‘respectable’ in Bolitho, this is a useful judgment to have to hand when preparing a report in a case of alleged clinical negligence. 

Topic:             Analysis of evidence

The case:        An obstetric negligence case in which there was an issue as to possible competing priorities on the ward on the night in question.     

Relevance:      General

Topics:            Glossary         

Nature of case:            Clinical negligence

Relevance:       General

                        Clinical negligence                       

Topics:            Life expectancy

                        Delayed diagnosis

                        HIV

                        Causation