§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2015

Mulholland v Medway NHS Foundation Trust

[2015] EWHC 268 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·12 February 2015

A man seen at Medway Maritime Hospital A&E in January 2010 with neurological symptoms was discharged without a CT scan or TIA clinic referral, and a brain tumour was diagnosed seven months later. The court held the triage nurse and A&E doctor acted within acceptable practice, so the claim failed.

Outcome

Claim failed

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

A&E Negligence

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Medway NHS Foundation Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Seven-month delay in diagnosing a grade III brain tumour

Specialty: Emergency medicine / neurology · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“Accordingly, the claim necessarily must fail.”

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

An A&E doctor who makes a reasonable assessment and relies appropriately on specialist input is not negligent just because the diagnosis later proves wrong.

About a&e negligence claims →

§ MORE A&E NEGLIGENCE JUDGMENTS

Claimant succeeded

JBX v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] EWHC 2294 (KB)·2026·Damages assessed at trial

An eight-year-old brought to Frimley Park Hospital in January 2018 with severe breathing difficulty was discharged the same afternoon instead of being admitted and given steroids; the next day he had a cardiac arrest and catastrophic brain injury. The Trust admitted negligence and causation and this judgment decides disputed heads of damages.

Sending a child home from A&E with signs of life-threatening asthma, rather than admitting and treating, was admitted to be negligent. Once liability is admitted the dispute moves to how care and lost earnings should be valued.

Claimant succeeded

Phoebe Charmaine Pickering v Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2022] EWHC 1171 (QB)·2022·Liability decided at trial

Ms Pickering, who had atrial fibrillation, attended A&E with a cold, white leg; doctors diagnosed a resolved ischaemic event and sent her home on aspirin without heparin or a warning about her stroke risk. She had a major stroke 67 hours later, and the court found that anticoagulation would have prevented it.

A transient blockage in a limb can signal a clot from the heart, and discharging such a patient without anticoagulation or advice was admitted to be negligent. The case turned on causation, with the court accepting expert evidence that heparin would have stopped the clot progressing.

Claim failed

Watson v Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2022] EWHC 148 (QB)·2022·Liability decided at trial

A 29-year-old with sudden facial droop, speech problems and arm weakness was told by a junior A&E doctor she had migraine and was not referred to the TIA clinic, which the Trust admitted was a breach. Ritchie J found her March symptoms were in fact hemiplegic migraine, not mini-strokes, so the missed referral did not cause her later stroke.

Admitted breach of duty is not enough; the claimant must prove the correct pathway would have prevented the injury. Detailed findings about the exact sequence of symptoms decided this case.

All a&e 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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