§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2024

Biggadike v El Farra & Anor

[2024] EWHC 1688 (KB)·High Court (King's Bench Division)·2 July 2024

The patient had a hysterectomy, pelvic floor repair and incontinence tape fitted by one consultant, then mesh removal and a colposuspension by a second consultant. The court cleared the first surgeon but found the second performed the colposuspension without clinical justification, leaving the patient with severe bladder symptoms.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

£195,888

Claim type

Urology & Catheter Injury

Decided

Liability and damages decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Sohier El-Neil (second defendant; claim against Kamilia El Farra dismissed)

Injury: Chronic overactive bladder and incontinence after an unjustified colposuspension operation

Specialty: Urogynaecology · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“There is judgment for the claimant against the second defendant in the sum of £195,887.66 with interest to be calculated.”

The money

Judgment against the second defendant for £195,887.66 plus interest to be calculated. Quantum as against the first defendant had been agreed at £500,000 but that claim was dismissed.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Performing an operation that is not clinically justified is a breach of duty even if it is technically done well. Damages are limited to the harm caused by the negligent procedure, not the patient's pre-existing symptoms.

About urology & catheter injury claims →

§ MORE UROLOGY & CATHETER INJURY JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

Devonport v Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2016] EWHC 1729 (QB)·2016·Liability decided at trial

After a radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer the patient developed an abscess and a narrowed ureter, and later lost a kidney; she alleged the bowel was perforated at surgery and that urologists should have been involved in a second operation. The judge preferred the hospital's explanation for the infection and found no negligence in either operation.

Ureteric and kidney damage after pelvic surgery is not automatically negligent; the court will examine the most likely mechanism. Expert evidence on the cause of infection is often decisive.

Claimant succeeded£459,758

O'Connor v The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

[2015] EWCA Civ 1244·2015·Appeal decision

During surgery to repair a bladder-vagina fistula caused by an earlier hysterectomy, the surgeon damaged the femoral nerve while dissecting the sigmoid colon. The trial judge awarded £459,758 and the Court of Appeal upheld the finding that the injury was caused by negligent direct injury rather than retractor pressure.

Where a nerve is damaged in an area the surgeon was working on, a court may infer negligence from the mechanism of injury and the expert evidence. Appeal courts rarely overturn a trial judge's factual findings on how an injury occurred.

All urology & catheter injury judgments →

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

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