§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2004

P v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

[2004] EWHC 1392 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·18 June 2004

After a local scan found an abdominal wall defect, specialist scans reported a bladder was visible, ruling out the much more serious cloacal exstrophy; in fact there was no bladder. The judge held that a focused referral scan demanded a higher standard than a routine anomaly scan, and with proper persistence the error would have been exposed.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Wrongful birth: son born with cloacal exstrophy after specialist scans wrongly reported a fetal bladder as present and diagnosed a simpler abdominal wall defect

Specialty: Fetal medicine / obstetric ultrasound (tertiary referral) · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“There must be judgment for the Claimant for damages to be assessed if not agreed.”
[2004] EWHC 1392 (QB) at [14] · read the full judgment

The money

Judgment for the claimant with damages to be assessed if not agreed; no figure printed.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

When a patient is referred to a specialist centre to answer a specific question, the standard of care rises to match that focus. Failing to use the available checks to confirm a critical finding can be negligent even where a routine scan might be excused.

About misdiagnosis & delayed diagnosis claims →

§ MORE MISDIAGNOSIS & DELAYED DIAGNOSIS JUDGMENTS

Claimant succeeded£811,247

Daisy Lynch v The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

[2026] EWHC 657 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial

The trust admitted it negligently failed to diagnose Daisy Lynch's developmental hip dysplasia at birth, so it was not picked up until she was three, by which time simple non-surgical treatment was no longer possible. She went through repeated hip operations and a total hip replacement at 22, and the court assessed her damages after an eight-day trial.

Even where liability is admitted, damages can be heavily contested, and the court can add a provisional damages order letting the claimant return for more if a specified complication later occurs. The award covered pain and suffering, lost earnings, future care and future surgery.

Claim failed

Brady v Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

[2020] EWHC 158 (QB)·2020·Liability decided at trial

After an appendectomy a woman developed an abdominal mass that scans labelled a harmless omental infarction; it was actually a rare bacterial infection that later formed an abscess needing surgery. The judge accepted an early biopsy would have avoided this but held the doctors were not negligent in not doing one.

Hindsight showing that a test would have helped is not the same as proving it was negligent not to do it. Unusual infections that mimic benign findings on scans are a recognised trap for both clinicians and claimants.

Claim failed

Shaw v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2019] EWHC 2280 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial

The mother argued the consultant should not have confidently reported a normal brain structure on the anomaly scan when the images were unclear. The judge accepted the consultant had scanned carefully and that a responsible body of specialists would have reached the same view, so negligence was not proved.

A missed abnormality on an antenatal scan is not automatically negligence; the claimant must show no responsible specialist would have reported as the clinician did. Careful, well-documented scanning is a strong defence.

All misdiagnosis & delayed diagnosis 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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