§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2025
HQA v Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
[2025] EWHC 2121 (KB)·High Court (King's Bench Division)·8 August 2025
A 25-year-old with congenital heart disease suffered a severe brain injury when her aorta was cut during a high-risk repeat sternotomy and it took around 24 minutes to get her onto full bypass. The judge found the surgeon should have exposed the femoral vessels in advance (saving around 13 minutes) and that consent was deficient; she would still have gone ahead with the operation, but with that precaution taken.
Outcome
Claimant succeeded
Sum stated in judgment
Not stated
Claim type
Cardiac Negligence
Decided
Liability decided at trial
§ WHAT HAPPENED
The facts, in brief.
Defendant: Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Freeman Hospital) · this trust’s claims data
Injury: Catastrophic haemorrhage when the aorta was cut during a third re-do sternotomy, with roughly 24 minutes before full cardiopulmonary bypass, causing severe hypoxic brain injury; the claimant now lacks litigation capacity
Specialty: Congenital cardiac surgery · England
§ WHAT THE COURT SAID
In the judgment’s own words.
“There was also a breach of duty in failing to advise the Claimant that prior to commencing the sternotomy the femoral vessels could be exposed and prepared in order to attempt to mitigate the severity of the injuries which might result from the foreseeable and known risk of aortic injury occurring.”
The money
Trial of preliminary issues on breach of duty only; no damages figure. The judge found about 13 minutes would have been saved but for the breach; causation of the brain injury and quantum were left for later determination.
§ WHY IT MATTERS
What this case shows.
Surgeons planning a known high-risk operation must take reasonable precautions beforehand and tell the patient about them; a court can find negligence in planning and consent even where the intra-operative error itself was not negligent.
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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