30 November 2015
The ‘Weekend Effect’ – Babies born at weekend more likely to die
Babies born at the weekend are more likely to die within seven days than those born on weekdays, according to a study published last week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
This research adds further fuel to the continuing row over the alleged “weekend effect” (see our previous blog, "The ‘Weekend Effect’ – How to avoid dying in hospital"), which ignited following the publication of a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine suggesting that an extra 11,000 people died each year following admission to hospital on a weekend as opposed to a weekday.
20 November 2015
HIV – still a death sentence?
Earlier this week, Hollywood star Charlie Sheen took to national television to confirm that he is living with HIV.
After days of intense media speculation, the former star of sitcom Two And A Half Men appeared on NBC's Today show, stating "I am here to admit that I am HIV positive". Sheen revealed that he had paid "enough to take it into the millions" to keep people from going public about his illness. "I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths", he said. Sheen was apparently first diagnosed roughly four years ago, but doesn't know how he contracted the virus.
19 November 2015
Can the NHS reduce stillbirths and avoidable cerebral palsy cases?
The BBC’s Today programme headline “Health Service “ignores stillbirth”” highlights a series published by the Lancet (a UK medical journal). It gives rise to the question of why 1,200 of the 4,000 babies who are stillborn in the UK are normally formed babies of mothers who have low risk pregnancies and are born at over 37 weeks gestation (and therefore have a good chance of survival).
28 October 2015
What happens to claimants who suffer from a pre-existing weakness? The “egg shell skull” rule and challenges ahead
Regardless of the injury sustained, the frailty and fragility of a claimant is no defence in a tort claim. The thin skull rule, also known as the “egg- shell rule”, is a well-established principle in both English tort and criminal law. In Owens v Liverpool Corp [1939] 1KB 394, it was held that “it is no answer to a claim for a fractured skull that the owner had an unusually fragile one”.
23 October 2015
Cerebral Palsy - what are the triggers for investigating a clinical negligence claim?
For many children and adults there is no connection between their cerebral palsy and the circumstances of their birth. For others there is a direct causal link, and for them, their injury may have been avoidable.
