§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2020

Brady v Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

[2020] EWHC 158 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·31 January 2020

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.

Outcome

Claim failed

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: Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Injury: Abdominal actinomycosis infection diagnosed as omental infarction on CT, leading months later to a psoas abscess, emergency surgery and scarring

Specialty: General surgery / radiology · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“Accordingly, the Claimant’s claim is dismissed.”

The money

Quantum agreed at £56,000 subject to liability; claim dismissed so nothing payable.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

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.

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.

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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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