§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2015

Hayes v South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

[2015] EWHC 18 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·15 January 2015

An ambulance crew attending a man in a life-threatening asthma attack gave salbutamol and oxygen but recorded no observations, did not give the further drugs the guidelines call for, and he collapsed and died as they prepared to move him. The judge found these failures negligent and that with proper treatment he would probably have survived, so the ambulance trust was liable to his family.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Fatal Medical Negligence

Decided

Liability and damages decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Death of a 41-year-old man from respiratory then cardiac arrest during a severe asthma attack while being attended by an ambulance crew

Specialty: Paramedic / pre-hospital emergency care; respiratory medicine · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“In the circumstances the Claimant succeeds on the issues of negligence and causation and therefore liability.”

The money

No total award is printed. The judge found liability and decided the disputed heads (including a financial dependency of £408,955 subject to a 20% deduction), leaving the parties to agree the final figures.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Ambulance staff must follow the national guidelines for life-threatening asthma, including objective observations and escalating drug treatment. Causation can be proved where proper treatment would have given a better-than-even chance of survival.

About fatal medical negligence claims →

§ MORE FATAL MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

Ritchie v The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

[2026] EWCC 50·2026·Liability decided at trial

A widow brought a dependency and bereavement claim against the hospital after her husband died from an infection picked up during heart surgery. Because he had already settled his own claim in full against the equipment manufacturer while alive, the court held no Fatal Accidents Act claim survived for his dependants.

A dependant's claim under the Fatal Accidents Act only exists if the deceased could still have sued at the moment of death. Settling a claim in the patient's lifetime can extinguish the family's later dependency claim, so settlement terms need careful thought where death is foreseeable.

Claim failed

Runciman v University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

[2024] EWHC 1800 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial

A widower claimed that doctors at Southampton General misdiagnosed his wife's rare cerebral venous thrombosis as a stroke, gave her clot-busting drugs and delayed the correct treatment, leading to her death. The judge found the clinicians acted reasonably on the presentation and that even earlier correct treatment would probably not have saved her.

A tragic outcome after a rare condition is missed does not by itself prove negligence; the question is whether a reasonable body of doctors would have acted the same way on the information available. Causation must be proved separately.

Claimant succeeded£1.2M

Healey v McGrath & Anor

[2024] EWHC 1360 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial

Mr Healey died nine days after bowel cancer surgery at a private hospital when a leak at the surgical join was not recognised in time. The hospital settled the widow's claim for £1.2 million and the court ordered the surgeon to bear 75% of it, finding his failure to diagnose the leak the principal cause of death.

Post-operative deterioration after bowel surgery must prompt urgent consideration of a leak. Both the private hospital and the individual surgeon can be liable, with the court apportioning responsibility between them.

All fatal medical negligence 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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