§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2016

Devonport v Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2016] EWHC 1729 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·13 July 2016

After a radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer the patient developed an abscess and a narrowed ureter, and later lost a kidney; she alleged the bowel was perforated at surgery and that urologists should have been involved in a second operation. The judge preferred the hospital's explanation for the infection and found no negligence in either operation.

Outcome

Claim failed

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Urology & Catheter Injury

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

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

Injury: Psoas abscess, ureteric stricture and eventual loss of a kidney (nephrectomy) after radical hysterectomy and later salpingo-oophorectomy

Specialty: Gynaecological oncology / urology · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“I have not found the Defendant to have been negligent in her treatment. It follows that this claim must be dismissed.”
[2016] EWHC 1729 (QB) at [105] · read the full judgment

The money

Claim dismissed; no damages.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Ureteric and kidney damage after pelvic surgery is not automatically negligent; the court will examine the most likely mechanism. Expert evidence on the cause of infection is often decisive.

About urology & catheter injury claims →

§ MORE UROLOGY & CATHETER INJURY JUDGMENTS

Claimant succeeded£195,888

Biggadike v El Farra & Anor

[2024] EWHC 1688 (KB)·2024·Liability and damages decided at trial

The patient had a hysterectomy, pelvic floor repair and incontinence tape fitted by one consultant, then mesh removal and a colposuspension by a second consultant. The court cleared the first surgeon but found the second performed the colposuspension without clinical justification, leaving the patient with severe bladder symptoms.

Performing an operation that is not clinically justified is a breach of duty even if it is technically done well. Damages are limited to the harm caused by the negligent procedure, not the patient's pre-existing symptoms.

Claimant succeeded£459,758

O'Connor v The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

[2015] EWCA Civ 1244·2015·Appeal decision

During surgery to repair a bladder-vagina fistula caused by an earlier hysterectomy, the surgeon damaged the femoral nerve while dissecting the sigmoid colon. The trial judge awarded £459,758 and the Court of Appeal upheld the finding that the injury was caused by negligent direct injury rather than retractor pressure.

Where a nerve is damaged in an area the surgeon was working on, a court may infer negligence from the mechanism of injury and the expert evidence. Appeal courts rarely overturn a trial judge's factual findings on how an injury occurred.

All urology & catheter injury 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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