header-logo header-logo

A moving target?

28 January 2010 / David Regan
Issue: 7402 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
printer mail-detail

David Regan considers the malleability of the language of causation

The determination of causation in clinical negligence proceedings leaves the court heavily reliant on expert evidence. The views of the expert witnesses will be grounded in the available clinical research. This will almost certainly not have been produced with the requirements of litigation in mind and is highly likely to be statistically based. It may very well also be in flux. Healthy scientific debate and the proliferation of research are likely to lead to views changing with time.

Where those views relate to issues of breach of duty, this creates few problems: the clinician can and should only be judged against a standard contemporary to the treatment. However, where they relate to issues of causation they attempt to address a more absolute issue. Changes in the balance of scientific opinion may produce different results with time:

Early development of the law

The limitations of available clinical evidence have led the court to tailor the questions it asks to those that can be answered. This

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
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
back-to-top-scroll