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Doc Brief

24 April 2008
Issue: 7318 / Categories: Features , Child law , Professional negligence , Mental health
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Protecting the detained patient >>
Misreading signals >>
Births and injuries >>
Madness in child care >>

Protecting the detained patient

One  common misconception, now being rapidly dispelled, is that a hospital is always a safe place to inhabit. Mental disorder poses particular risks; some 150–200 in-patients are believed to kill themselves each year while being in hospital. Human rights legislation has added a new dimension to considerations of a hospital’s duty of care to protect patients. The matter came up for discussion in Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Another [2007] EWCA Civ 1375, [2007] All ER (D) 316 (Dec).

Mrs Savage had suffered from a mental illness which led to her being compulsorily detained under s 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA 1983). It transpired she had had a long history of mental illness and had made numerous attempts to leave hospital. One day she absconded from the hospital holding her, walked to a railway station and jumped in front of a train and was killed. Her daughter sought damages against

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

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Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

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Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

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Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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