§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENT · 2024

Paul and another v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust; Polmear and another v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust; Purchase v Ahmed

[2024] UKSC 1·Supreme Court of the United Kingdom·11 January 2024

Three families sought damages for psychiatric injury after watching a relative die from a condition that doctors had negligently failed to diagnose. The Supreme Court (Lord Burrows dissenting) held that doctors do not owe relatives a duty to protect them from the shock of witnessing a patient's death or medical crisis.

Outcome

Claim failed

Sum stated in judgment

Not stated

Claim type

Fatal Medical Negligence

Decided

Appeal decision

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§ WHAT HAPPENED

The facts, in brief.

Defendant: Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust; Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust; Dr Ahmed · this trust’s claims data

Injury: Psychiatric illness suffered by close relatives who witnessed deaths from undiagnosed heart disease, pulmonary veno-occlusive disease and pneumonia

Specialty: Cardiology / Paediatrics / General practice · England

§ WHAT THE COURT SAID

In the judgment’s own words.

“the claims for compensation made in these cases do not satisfy the legal requirements for the recovery of damages by secondary victims who suffer injury as a result of the death of another person”

The money

No sum stated; all three secondary-victim claims failed.

§ WHY IT MATTERS

What this case shows.

Relatives who develop a psychiatric illness from witnessing a loved one's death caused by medical negligence generally cannot claim as secondary victims. Their remedies are limited to the Fatal Accidents Act dependency and bereavement claims.

About fatal medical negligence claims →

§ MORE FATAL MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE JUDGMENTS

Claim failed

Ritchie v The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

[2026] EWCC 50·2026·Liability decided at trial

A widow brought a dependency and bereavement claim against the hospital after her husband died from an infection picked up during heart surgery. Because he had already settled his own claim in full against the equipment manufacturer while alive, the court held no Fatal Accidents Act claim survived for his dependants.

A dependant's claim under the Fatal Accidents Act only exists if the deceased could still have sued at the moment of death. Settling a claim in the patient's lifetime can extinguish the family's later dependency claim, so settlement terms need careful thought where death is foreseeable.

Claim failed

Runciman v University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

[2024] EWHC 1800 (KB)·2024·Liability decided at trial

A widower claimed that doctors at Southampton General misdiagnosed his wife's rare cerebral venous thrombosis as a stroke, gave her clot-busting drugs and delayed the correct treatment, leading to her death. The judge found the clinicians acted reasonably on the presentation and that even earlier correct treatment would probably not have saved her.

A tragic outcome after a rare condition is missed does not by itself prove negligence; the question is whether a reasonable body of doctors would have acted the same way on the information available. Causation must be proved separately.

Claim failed

Shah v North West London Hospital NHS Trust

[2013] EWHC 4088 (QB)·2013·Liability and damages decided at trial

A widower and four children claimed after Mrs Shah, who had collapsed with leg weakness days after giving birth, died from an undetected arterial tear. The court found the A&E doctor's failure to check leg pulses was not negligent and would not have changed the outcome, so the claim failed.

Fatal claims need proof both that care fell below a reasonable standard and that better care would probably have saved the patient. The judgment nonetheless shows how dependency damages for a spouse and children are built up from the deceased's earnings and services.

All fatal medical 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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