Two recent cases involving NHS Trusts demonstrate the range of issues covered in such a complex area of the law as clinical negligence.
In the case of Garcia v East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, a successful defence on causation was mounted. This was a high-value case involving a brain-damaged baby. Solicitors are required to analyse the obstetric records of the mother, including the cardio-tocogram (CTG) trace, which monitors the baby’s heart rate, and the neonatal notes. In many such cases, the claimants have frequently persuaded the court that abnormalities of the CTG trace demonstrate evidence of hypoxia, which was the cause of the claimant’s damage. In this case, the defence established that the stroke was the sole cause of the claimant’s brain damage.
