§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2021

Davies v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2021] EWHC 169 (QB)·High Court (Queen's Bench Division)·29 January 2021

Mrs Davies was admitted to Wexham Park Hospital with pneumococcal meningitis; the trust admitted intravenous antibiotics should have started by 10.40 but were not given until 13.20, and she died two days later. After a causation trial the judge found she would probably have survived with timely antibiotics.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Sepsis Negligence

Decided

Liability decided at trial

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (Wexham Park Hospital) · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Death from acute pneumococcal meningitis secondary to otitis media, two days after admission

Specialty: Emergency medicine / infectious disease (pneumococcal meningitis) · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“I therefore conclude that but-for causation is made out on the balance of probabilities; and this claim, for that reason, succeeds.”

The money

Trial of causation only; negligence (delay in IV antibiotics from 10.40 to 13.20) was admitted and quantum had been agreed before trial, but the agreed figure is not stated in the judgment ([2]).

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

In sepsis and meningitis claims a delay of even a few hours in giving IV antibiotics can be negligent, and the key dispute is often whether the delay changed the outcome. Here the family succeeded, with damages already agreed.

About sepsis negligence claims →

§ MORE SEPSIS NEGLIGENCE JUDGMENTS

Claimant succeeded

Gbolahan O Somoye v North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

[2023] EWHC 191 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial

Dr Somoye died of abdominal sepsis and multi-organ failure a week after a myomectomy; the trust's own root cause analysis found failures to act on signs of infection and to follow the sepsis pathway, and it admitted liability before proceedings. The court refused to let the trust withdraw that admission and entered judgment for her husband, with damages to be assessed.

A pre-action admission of liability is binding unless the court permits withdrawal, and later-obtained expert evidence will not usually justify that. Failing to follow a hospital sepsis pathway is a recognised basis for a claim.

Claimant succeeded

Williams v The Bermuda Hospitals Board

[2016] UKPC 4·2016·Appeal decision

A patient with appendicitis waited hours for a CT scan and surgery; by the time his appendix was removed it had ruptured and sepsis had damaged his heart and lungs. The Privy Council held the hospital was liable because its delay materially contributed to the injury, even though some harm would have occurred anyway.

Where negligent delay makes an existing condition worse in a cumulative way, a claimant need not prove the whole injury would have been avoided, only that the delay made a more-than-negligible contribution. This is often relied on in sepsis and delayed-treatment claims.

All sepsis 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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