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18 October 2007 / B Mahendra
Issue: 7293 / Categories: Features
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NO FAULT TRAGEDY >>
HIDDEN VIOLENCE >>
CONFLICT IN CHILD PROTECTION >>
INTERIM DISCIPLINE >>

NO FAULT TRAGEDY

In Sutcliffe v BMI Healthcare Ltd (2007) EWCA Civ 476, Mr Sutcliffe had been a keen amateur rugby football player, aged 33, who underwent a routine operation on his injured knee. The operation was performed successfully and he appeared to be making an uneventful recovery—although naturally suffering pain which he controlled through standard self-administered doses of morphine. He spent a sleepless night and fell asleep at 6.00am, when the decision was taken to let him sleep undisturbed. At 8.15am he still seemed to be in untroubled sleep. At some point thereafter he appears to have vomited and, whereas the normal reaction would have been to have woken up, coughed and removed any obstruction to the airways, Mr Sutcliffe’s reactions, perhaps dulled by the morphine, had been impaired with the consequence that the vomited matter had entered his lungs, obstructing the flow of oxygen. As a consequence he suffered massive brain damage from which he will not recover.

Breaches in nursing care

Mr

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

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Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
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