§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2024

Karen Spellman v Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

[2024] EWHC 2011 (KB)·High Court (King's Bench Division)·31 July 2024

Ms Spellman alleged a hospital radiologist missed cauda equina compression on an MRI scan taken the day after her fall, delaying diagnosis until private surgery six days later. Damages had been agreed at £300,000 if she won, but the judge found the scan showed only mild stenosis with no compression to be found, so the claim failed.

Outcome

Claim failed

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Cauda Equina Syndrome

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Alleged delayed diagnosis of cauda equina compression; urinary dysfunction requiring self-catheterisation, bowel dysfunction, neuropathic pain, back pain and adjustment disorder

Specialty: Radiology / spinal surgery · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“Since it was not there to be found the fact that it was not identified represents an accurate assessment of the scan and not a breach of duty.”

The money

Damages had been agreed at £300,000 net of CRU, contingent on the claimant proving breach and causation ([1]); the claim failed so nothing was recovered.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Parties sometimes agree the damages figure in advance and fight only liability, so a claimant who loses on breach of duty recovers nothing. Expert evidence on what the scan actually showed was decisive.

About cauda equina syndrome claims →

§ MORE CAUDA EQUINA SYNDROME JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

Rebecca Hepworth v Dr Amanda Coates

[2025] EWHC 1907 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial

A 27-year-old flight attendant saw her GP with severe back and leg pain, having mentioned perianal numbness in a message two days earlier; she had emergency surgery for cauda equina syndrome four days after the consultation. The judge accepted that the GP asked the right red-flag questions and that the patient answered no, so there was no breach of duty.

In cauda equina cases the court looks closely at what safety-netting questions the GP actually asked and what the patient answered on the day. Contemporaneous notes and messages matter greatly for both sides.

All cauda equina syndrome 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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