Purshouse, Craig ORCID: 0000-0002-0432-119X
(2019)
The Impatient Patient and the Unreceptive Receptionist: Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2018] UKSC 50.
Medical law review, 27 (2).
pp. 318-329.
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Darnley commentary draft 3.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (56kB) |
Abstract
In Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2018] UKSC 50, the Supreme Court held that a hospital receptionist's misleading statement about A&E waiting times constituted a breach of duty and that the claimant's decision, based on this misinformation, to leave the hospital did not break the chain of causation when he was left paralysed as a result of a head injury. In this commentary, I argue that while the Supreme Court's treatment of duty of care and breach is, for the most part, a model of doctrinal clarity, its treatment of the causation issue is problematic as it elides the test of whether there has been a break in the chain of causation with that for remoteness. I then comment on the Supreme Court's construction of the patient in medical negligence cases.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Humans, Brain Damage, Chronic, Hematoma, Epidural, Cranial, Paralysis, Communication, Decision Making, Causality, Liability, Legal, Malpractice, Medical Receptionists, Inpatients, Emergency Service, Hospital, Health Services, Standard of Care, United Kingdom |
Divisions: | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
Date Deposited: | 07 Jun 2021 15:50 |
Last Modified: | 18 Mar 2024 01:37 |
DOI: | 10.1093/medlaw/fwy042 |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3125450 |