The largest part is usually the dependency claim, which depends entirely on who relied on the person who died.
Claim failed
[2026] EWCC 50·2026·Liability decided at trial
A widow brought a dependency and bereavement claim against the hospital after her husband died from an infection picked up during heart surgery. Because he had already settled his own claim in full against the equipment manufacturer while alive, the court held no Fatal Accidents Act claim survived for his dependants.
A dependant's claim under the Fatal Accidents Act only exists if the deceased could still have sued at the moment of death. Settling a claim in the patient's lifetime can extinguish the family's later dependency claim, so settlement terms need careful thought where death is foreseeable.
Claimant succeeded
[2025] EWHC 3056 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial
A 49-year-old man saw his GP with breathlessness and a persistent cough; the GP ordered a chest X-ray on the computer system but the judge found she never told him to go to the walk-in radiology department. The court held he would have attended if told and was not himself at fault.
Ordering a test is not enough; the patient must be told clearly what to do. Courts are slow to blame patients for not chasing a test they did not know had been requested.
Claim failed
[2024] EWHC 1800 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial
A widower claimed that doctors at Southampton General misdiagnosed his wife's rare cerebral venous thrombosis as a stroke, gave her clot-busting drugs and delayed the correct treatment, leading to her death. The judge found the clinicians acted reasonably on the presentation and that even earlier correct treatment would probably not have saved her.
A tragic outcome after a rare condition is missed does not by itself prove negligence; the question is whether a reasonable body of doctors would have acted the same way on the information available. Causation must be proved separately.
Claimant succeeded£1.2M
[2024] EWHC 1360 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial
Mr Healey died nine days after bowel cancer surgery at a private hospital when a leak at the surgical join was not recognised in time. The hospital settled the widow's claim for £1.2 million and the court ordered the surgeon to bear 75% of it, finding his failure to diagnose the leak the principal cause of death.
Post-operative deterioration after bowel surgery must prompt urgent consideration of a leak. Both the private hospital and the individual surgeon can be liable, with the court apportioning responsibility between them.
Claim failed
[2024] UKSC 1·2024·Appeal decision
Three families sought damages for psychiatric injury after watching a relative die from a condition that doctors had negligently failed to diagnose. The Supreme Court (Lord Burrows dissenting) held that doctors do not owe relatives a duty to protect them from the shock of witnessing a patient's death or medical crisis.
Relatives who develop a psychiatric illness from witnessing a loved one's death caused by medical negligence generally cannot claim as secondary victims. Their remedies are limited to the Fatal Accidents Act dependency and bereavement claims.
Claimant succeeded£340,000
[2023] EWHC 2986 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
The Trust admitted it missed an aortic dissection that emergency surgery would probably have cured, and settled the fatal claim for £340,000. When the widow and children later sued for psychiatric injury from witnessing the death, the Trust tried to strike that out but withdrew after discovering the earlier settlement had never been court-approved.
Fatal claims involving children need court approval of any settlement or it may not bind them. A missed aortic dissection in a chest-pain patient was accepted as negligent and fatal.
Claimant succeeded
[2023] EWHC 2155 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
A skin sample taken in 2007 was reported as benign but in fact showed melanoma, which was only picked up in 2009 and caused the patient's death in 2014. His widow issued proceedings over five years late after her first solicitors let the case drift, and the court allowed the claim to proceed.
The clock can start later than the mistake itself, because it only runs once you know the injury is serious. Delay caused by former solicitors rather than by the claimant is far less likely to defeat a late claim, especially where the original slides and reports survive.
Claim failed
[2023] EWHC 1199 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
A baby born at James Cook University Hospital was discharged two days after birth and died of GBS meningitis and sepsis. The judge found only one limited breach (a missing piece of discharge advice) and that it did not cause the death because the mother would not have returned to hospital in time.
Even where a hospital gets something wrong, the claim fails unless the mistake is shown to have changed what happened. Record-keeping failings alone did not establish causation here.
Claimant succeeded
[2023] EWHC 191 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial
Dr Somoye died of abdominal sepsis and multi-organ failure a week after a myomectomy; the trust's own root cause analysis found failures to act on signs of infection and to follow the sepsis pathway, and it admitted liability before proceedings. The court refused to let the trust withdraw that admission and entered judgment for her husband, with damages to be assessed.
A pre-action admission of liability is binding unless the court permits withdrawal, and later-obtained expert evidence will not usually justify that. Failing to follow a hospital sepsis pathway is a recognised basis for a claim.
Claim failed
[2021] EWHC 643 (QB)·2021·Liability decided at trial
The executors of Mrs Neill argued her surgeon should have enlarged the aortic root to fit a larger valve rather than implant a 19mm mechanical valve, and failed to warn her about that option. Eady J found the valve choice was not negligent and, although the possibility of root enlargement should have been mentioned, it would have made no difference to her decision.
A consent failure only leads to compensation if the patient would have made a different choice with proper information. Surgical decisions supported by a responsible body of opinion are not negligent just because another surgeon would have done differently.
Claimant succeeded
[2021] EWHC 169 (QB)·2021·Liability decided at trial
Mrs Davies was admitted to Wexham Park Hospital with pneumococcal meningitis; the trust admitted intravenous antibiotics should have started by 10.40 but were not given until 13.20, and she died two days later. After a causation trial the judge found she would probably have survived with timely antibiotics.
In sepsis and meningitis claims a delay of even a few hours in giving IV antibiotics can be negligent, and the key dispute is often whether the delay changed the outcome. Here the family succeeded, with damages already agreed.
Claimant succeeded£271,901
[2019] EWHC 980 (QB)·2019·Damages assessed at trial
The baby died in the womb before induction and the mother had to labour for 18 hours to deliver her stillborn daughter; the Trust admitted negligence. Martin Spencer J found she had a genuine, continuing psychiatric illness and awarded £271,901 in total.
After a negligent stillbirth the main claim is usually the mother's psychiatric injury and its financial consequences, such as lost earnings and treatment. Awards can be substantial but the court scrutinises the recovery prognosis closely, and the parties' valuations here were very far apart.
Claimant succeeded
[2019] EWHC 283 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial
A woman with a previous pulmonary embolism saw her GP with chest pain and breathlessness and was diagnosed with a strained muscle; she died the next morning. The GP admitted he should have referred her to hospital, and Stewart J found she would on the clear balance of probabilities have survived with anticoagulation and monitoring.
Chest pain and breathlessness in someone with a past clot is a red flag needing same-day hospital referral. Where survival chances on admission would have been very high, the court will find the death was caused by the failure to refer.
Claimant succeeded£75,000
[2018] EWHC 3281 (QB)·2018·Liability decided at trial
Mr Bolton, 77, was brought to A&E by ambulance in respiratory failure and distress; after nebulised treatment he improved and the A&E doctor sent him home with antibiotics, without properly considering the paramedic and triage records. He collapsed at home hours later with an obstructed airway and died; the judge found he should have been admitted and awarded the agreed £75,000.
An A&E doctor must take account of the full picture, including paramedic and triage records, before discharging a patient who arrived in respiratory failure. Improvement after treatment does not make discharge safe if the underlying cause has not been identified.
Claimant succeeded
[2017] EWHC 2608 (QB)·2017·Appeal decision
A woman who had vaginal tape surgery in 2007 sued in 2015, saying she was never properly told about the product or the alternatives. The surgeon had died by then, but the court allowed the late claim to proceed and the High Court refused to interfere.
A late claim can still go ahead even where the doctor has died, if independent records and expert evidence mean a fair trial is possible. The court weighs the harm to each side rather than applying the deadline mechanically.
Claim failed
[2015] EWHC 2363 (QB)·2015·Liability decided at trial
A woman attending Medway Maritime Hospital A&E in March 2010 with an evolving stroke was not given aspirin promptly after she deteriorated, which the court found was negligent. The claim still failed because the evidence showed her outcome would have been the same even with aspirin.
Proving that A&E staff were negligent is not enough; the claimant must also show the negligence changed the outcome. Where the stroke was untreatable in time, the claim fails on causation.
Claimant succeeded
[2015] EWHC 18 (QB)·2015·Liability and damages decided at trial
An ambulance crew attending a man in a life-threatening asthma attack gave salbutamol and oxygen but recorded no observations, did not give the further drugs the guidelines call for, and he collapsed and died as they prepared to move him. The judge found these failures negligent and that with proper treatment he would probably have survived, so the ambulance trust was liable to his family.
Ambulance staff must follow the national guidelines for life-threatening asthma, including objective observations and escalating drug treatment. Causation can be proved where proper treatment would have given a better-than-even chance of survival.
Claim failed
[2013] EWHC 4088 (QB)·2013·Liability and damages decided at trial
A widower and four children claimed after Mrs Shah, who had collapsed with leg weakness days after giving birth, died from an undetected arterial tear. The court found the A&E doctor's failure to check leg pulses was not negligent and would not have changed the outcome, so the claim failed.
Fatal claims need proof both that care fell below a reasonable standard and that better care would probably have saved the patient. The judgment nonetheless shows how dependency damages for a spouse and children are built up from the deceased's earnings and services.
Claim failed
[2012] EWHC 2335 (QB)·2012·Liability decided at trial
Mrs Clements alleged that during bowel cancer surgery the surgeons twisted the bowel's mesentery before rejoining it and failed to check, causing obstruction, a second operation and catastrophic complications. The judge found the join was properly formed and the later obstruction was caused by adhesions, so there was no negligence.
Serious complications after surgery do not by themselves prove the operation was done negligently. The court will weigh the operating surgeons' evidence against what was found at the second operation.
Claimant succeeded£119,048
[2012] EWHC 1335 (QB)·2012·Liability and damages decided at trial
Paramedics attended Mrs Taaffe for severe chest pain, found it had subsided, took two ECGs (one flagged by the machine as abnormal) and left her to see her GP the next day; she died of a heart attack five days later. The judge found the paramedics failed to take a proper history or assess her risk factors and should have advised hospital attendance, where her condition would have been found and treated.
Ambulance crews owe a duty to take a proper history and weigh risk factors, not just current symptoms, before deciding not to convey a chest-pain patient. Where hospital assessment would have prevented the death, the ambulance trust is liable.
Claim failed
[2006] EWCA Civ 1028·2006·Appeal decision
A five-year-old whose overnight glucose pump failed had a hypoglycaemic fit; the GP who came to the house gave suppositories rather than the intravenous glucose he was carrying, and the boy suffered fatal brain damage. The trial judge found the GP negligent but not that IV glucose would have saved him, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision and refused to admit new evidence.
Proving a doctor was negligent is not enough; the claimant must also prove that correct treatment would have changed the outcome. The court also held that an expert's undisclosed link to the defendant's medical defence organisation did not by itself make his evidence inadmissible.
Claim failed
[2004] EWHC 780 (QB)·2004·Liability decided at trial
Mrs Mellor had years of chest pain with strong cardiac risk factors; a hospital cardiologist wrongly described her exercise test as negative and discharged her, and she died of a cardiac arrest a year later. The judge found the discharge negligent but that the claimant could not prove she would have reached angiography and treatment in time, so the claim failed; the claims against the two GPs also failed.
Proving a doctor was negligent is not enough: the claimant must also show that proper care would have changed the outcome. Where the deceased would only have had routine priority for investigation, a claim can fail on causation even with a clear breach.