§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2016

Williams v The Bermuda Hospitals Board

[2016] UKPC 4·Judicial Committee of the Privy Council·25 January 2016

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.

Outcome

Claimant succeeded

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Sepsis Negligence

Decided

Appeal decision

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: The Bermuda Hospitals Board

Injury: Sepsis from a ruptured appendix after negligently delayed CT scan and surgery, causing myocardial ischaemia and lung damage requiring intensive care

Specialty: Emergency medicine / General surgery · UK

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“it is right to infer on the balance of probabilities that the hospital board's negligence materially contributed to the process, and therefore materially contributed to the injury to the heart and lungs”

The money

No sum stated. Privy Council appeal from Bermuda; persuasive (not binding) authority in England and Wales on 'material contribution' causation.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

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.

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

Davies v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

[2021] EWHC 169 (QB)·2021·Liability decided at trial

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.

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.

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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