§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2008

Farraj & Anor v King's Healthcare NHS Trust & Anor

[2008] EWHC 2468 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·17 October 2008

A prenatal sample was cultured by a private laboratory and DNA-tested at an NHS laboratory, but the poor quality of the sample was not communicated and the report wrongly cleared the baby. The trial judge found both laboratories liable; the Court of Appeal later held the NHS trust was entitled to assume the sample was satisfactory and placed the whole liability on the private laboratory.

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: Cytogenetic DNA Services Ltd (laboratory) and King's Healthcare NHS Trust (the Trust's liability was later reversed on appeal, [2009] EWCA Civ 1203)

Injury: Wrongful birth: son born with beta thalassaemia major after a prenatal sample contaminated with maternal cells was reported as showing the fetus unaffected

Specialty: Clinical genetics / prenatal DNA testing · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“The findings I have made lead to the conclusion that the Claimants have established liability against both Defendants.”
[2008] EWHC 2468 (QB) at [95] · read the full judgment

The money

Liability only, damages to be assessed. On appeal the Court of Appeal held the NHS trust was not liable and placed sole responsibility on the private laboratory ([2009] EWCA Civ 1203).

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Laboratories in a testing chain must communicate doubts about sample quality; a report that overstates confidence in an unreliable result can be negligent. Who ends up liable can change on appeal, so the final position matters.

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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