§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2016

XYZ v Warrington & Halton NHS Foundation Trust

[2016] EWHC 331 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·22 February 2016

A teenager with back pain had a lumbar microdiscectomy and afterwards developed cauda equina syndrome. She argued the surgeon should have sought a second opinion and consented her properly; the court rejected the criticisms and found the CES was a non-negligent complication.

Outcome

Claim failed

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Cauda Equina Syndrome

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Warrington & Halton NHS Foundation Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Cauda equina syndrome (loss of bladder and bowel function, lower limb weakness) after lumbar microdiscectomy

Specialty: Orthopaedic spinal surgery · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“I am satisfied that the defendant should succeed and the claimant’s case be dismissed”
[2016] EWHC 331 (QB) at [58] · read the full judgment

The money

Claim dismissed; no damages.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Cauda equina syndrome can be a recognised complication of spinal surgery rather than evidence of negligence. Consent claims fail if the court accepts the surgeon gave adequate advice.

About cauda equina syndrome claims →

§ MORE CAUDA EQUINA SYNDROME JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

Rebecca Hepworth v Dr Amanda Coates

[2025] EWHC 1907 (KB)·2025·Liability decided at trial

A 27-year-old flight attendant saw her GP with severe back and leg pain, having mentioned perianal numbness in a message two days earlier; she had emergency surgery for cauda equina syndrome four days after the consultation. The judge accepted that the GP asked the right red-flag questions and that the patient answered no, so there was no breach of duty.

In cauda equina cases the court looks closely at what safety-netting questions the GP actually asked and what the patient answered on the day. Contemporaneous notes and messages matter greatly for both sides.

Claim failed

Karen Spellman v Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

[2024] EWHC 2011 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial

Ms Spellman alleged a hospital radiologist missed cauda equina compression on an MRI scan taken the day after her fall, delaying diagnosis until private surgery six days later. Damages had been agreed at £300,000 if she won, but the judge found the scan showed only mild stenosis with no compression to be found, so the claim failed.

Parties sometimes agree the damages figure in advance and fight only liability, so a claimant who loses on breach of duty recovers nothing. Expert evidence on what the scan actually showed was decisive.

Claim failed

Jarman v Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust

[2021] EWHC 323 (QB)·2021·Liability decided at trial

A teacher with a back injury attended A&E and was referred for a routine MRI; the scan two weeks later showed a disc prolapse and she had emergency surgery but was left with permanent damage. The court found the registrar was not negligent in not suspecting cauda equina at that visit, and that her condition had not materially worsened during the delay.

Not every back-pain patient with some red-flag features must be scanned urgently; the court looks at the full picture presented at the time. Claimants must also prove the delay itself made the outcome worse.

All cauda equina syndrome 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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