Blog
Anti-Bullying Week: Understanding the Legal and Cultural Risks
Emmanuelle Ries
26 August 2016
At long last – government to start cracking down on dodgy cosmetic surgeons
In a long overdue but very welcome development for patients of cosmetic surgery, the government is finally taking steps to tighten regulation surrounding cosmetic surgeons.
8 July 2016
New body to conduct patient safety investigations
Most NHS organisations around the United Kingdom (UK) have a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) in addition to a process for the reporting and investigation of serious untoward incidents. When patients have concerns about treatment they have received, PALs is often their first port of call.
15 June 2016
Delay of reckoning
The material contribution test for causation in clinical negligence has been maintained and clarified following Williams and John.
6 June 2016
Bereaved and belittled: an unmarried woman’s fight for bereavement damages
Background
John Bulloch died when the doctors treating him failed to identify an infection which eventually spread to his brain. He was survived by his partner, Jakki Smith, with whom he had shared 16 years of his life. Following his death, Jakki discovered that she was ineligible for the statutory bereavement award/bereavement damages on the basis that she and John had not been married. She is now bringing a challenge against the government on the grounds that this rule:
-
interferes with her right to a private life (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human rights (ECHR)); and
-
discriminates against her due to her marital status (or lack thereof) (Article 14 ECHR).
28 April 2016
Case Update: Brain injured man awarded full damages from Trust whose delay in his emergency treatment materially contributed to his pre-existing injury
Dr Sido John v Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2016] EWHC 407 (QB)