When should the finger be pointed at employers rather than medical staff? Andrew Harris investigates
A short while after childbirth in an NHS hospital, Mayra Cabrera died of a heart attack, caused by mistakenly being given the drug Bupivacaine intravenously, instead of the similarly styled saline drip. The two infusion bags looked identical and were stored in the same unlocked drawer; similar incidents have occurred in other hospitals. The coroner‘s inquest ruled that Mrs Cabrera was unlawfully killed after gross negligence by the trust; the widower called for a prosecution against the midwife. What should the test of negligence be in such cases? Do we apply the Bolam test, ie “not acting in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical men, skilled in that particular art” (Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118), to the hapless midwife, who put up the infusion, or a test of primary liability of the trust?
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