header-logo header-logo

Update from the courts

01 January 2009 / Elizabeth Wale
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Features , Professional negligence
printer mail-detail

How far should doctors go to inform patients about alternative procedures? Elizabeth Wale reports

In Birch v UCL Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2008] EWHC 2237 (QB), [2008] All ER (D) 113 (Sep), Mrs Birch suff ered a stroke caused by a cerebral catheter angiogram on 21 June 2003. The claimant contended that the decision to undertake the angiogram was negligent and that the investigation of her condition should have been by (noninvasive) MRI, and that the diff erent imaging methods—catheter angiography and MRI—and their comparative risks should have been discussed with her as a result of which she would have declined catheter angiography.

The claimant was admitted to Watford General Hospital on 18 June 2003. She was noted to have diabetes which was under very poor control. A CT scan was required and a neurological opinion was requested to rule out sub-arachnoid haemorrhage. Th e neurologist’s view was that she was likely to be suffering from “vascular third nerve palsy”, a benign condition which usually healed itself spontaneously with time. However, because of some

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

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

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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
back-to-top-scroll