§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2017

McGuinn v Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

[2017] EWHC 88 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·26 January 2017

Repeated scans showed the baby's head growth dropping away along with other warning signs, but the mother was never referred to a specialist fetal medicine centre. The judge found the care at two of the scans fell below a reasonable standard because no reasonable clinician could have missed the risk of microcephaly.

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: Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Wrongful birth claim: daughter born with severe microcephaly after scans showing a falling head-circumference centile and other warning signs were not referred for specialist assessment

Specialty: Obstetrics / fetal medicine (serial growth scans) · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“In these circumstances, I am satisfied that the care provided by the defendant to the claimant at the 5th and 7th scans reflected inappropriately low standards of clinical care”

The money

Breach of duty only; causation and quantum remained in dispute and were not decided in this judgment. No figure printed.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Scan findings must be read together and over time, not in isolation; a pattern of concerning measurements calls for referral. This judgment decided breach only, so causation and damages were left for later.

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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