Claimant succeeded
[2026] EWCC 26·2026·Liability decided at trial
A theatre nurse with worsening palpitations saw a hospital physician who admittedly failed to arrange 24-hour ECG monitoring. The judge found monitoring would have caught her atrial fibrillation in time for anticoagulants to prevent the stroke she suffered.
Palpitations that keep coming back need proper heart-rhythm monitoring. Where a missed test would have led to blood-thinning treatment, a later stroke can be laid at the hospital's door.
Claimant succeeded
[2025] EWHC 2121 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial
A 25-year-old with congenital heart disease suffered a severe brain injury when her aorta was cut during a high-risk repeat sternotomy and it took around 24 minutes to get her onto full bypass. The judge found the surgeon should have exposed the femoral vessels in advance (saving around 13 minutes) and that consent was deficient; she would still have gone ahead with the operation, but with that precaution taken.
Surgeons planning a known high-risk operation must take reasonable precautions beforehand and tell the patient about them; a court can find negligence in planning and consent even where the intra-operative error itself was not negligent.
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
[2015] EWHC 3540 (QB)·2015·Liability decided at trial
Mr Crammond went to A&E with four days of central chest pain radiating to both arms, but an A&E doctor streamed him to the same-day treatment centre on the strength of an essentially normal ECG without taking a history, and a GP there diagnosed gastritis. The judge held that a competent A&E doctor would have taken a short history and ordered tests that would have revealed his heart disease, avoiding the severe heart problems he suffered four years later.
An A&E doctor cannot rely on a normal ECG to send a chest-pain patient away without taking a proper history. Redirecting a patient to a lower-acuity service without assessing their risk factors can itself be negligent.
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
[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.