Is the bar too low for Human Rights Act cases against NHS trusts? Matthew McGrath and Mark Ashley
Since the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force, public bodies, particularly NHS trusts, have faced possible claims for loss of the right to life where a person in their care has died. The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust [2007] EWCA Civ 1375, [2007] All ER (D) 316 (Dec) provides guidance on how to assess such claims, but in so doing poses more questions than it answers.
Carol Savage had been detained for treatment for paranoid schizophrenia on an open acute psychiatric ward. On 5 July 2005 she absconded and, while out of hospital, committed suicide. A claim was brought by Savage's daughter, in which she alleged that there had been a breach of the deceased's right to life contrary to Art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) and also a breach of her own right to respect
