§ CASE LIBRARY

Real medical negligence cases,
every one linked to the judgment.

Published judgments of the courts of England and Wales, summarised in plain English: what went wrong, what the court decided, and the sum where the judgment states it. We include the claims that failed as well as the ones that succeeded, because they show what you have to prove.

Judgments

152

With the sum stated

33

Claimant succeeded

87

Claim failed

59

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§ WAYS IN

Sums stated (33)£1M and above (13)Claims that failed (59)Fault admitted (42)Court approvals (10)Periodical payments (30)Delayed diagnosis (95)Brain injury (32)Consent claims (13)Leading cases (6)Infection and sepsis (31)Surgery claims (64)Claims for children (39)Fatal claims (22)
AllSum statedClaimant succeededClaim failed
Every claim typeClinical Negligence (10)Surgical Errors (12)Cerebral Palsy (13)Birth Injuries (1)Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis (7)Erb's Palsy (1)GP Negligence (16)Maternal Birth Injury (4)Stillbirth & Neonatal Death (2)Neonatal Injury (5)Sepsis Negligence (5)Cauda Equina Syndrome (7)DVT & Blood Clot (2)A&E Negligence (16)Cancer Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis (6)Orthopaedic Negligence (4)Vascular Negligence (6)Cardiac Negligence (6)Brain & Spinal Surgery Negligence (13)Urology & Catheter Injury (5)Anaesthetic Negligence (2)Fatal Medical Negligence (9)
Claimant succeeded

Shaw v Stead

[2019] EWHC 520 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial

Two days after a back injury, Mrs Shaw attended an out-of-hours GP with severe low back pain, numbness and tingling in both legs, difficulty walking and a urinary accident. The judge found these red-flag signs of cauda equina syndrome were present and were missed, so the GP should have sent her straight to hospital.

An out-of-hours GP who fails to pick up cauda equina red flags (bilateral leg symptoms, bladder problems, leg weakness) and does not refer to hospital falls below the standard of a reasonable GP. A doctor's belief that he would not have missed it carries little weight if the records do not support it.

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.

§ HOW TO READ THESE

Most claims never reach a judgment. They settle privately, and settlement sums are confidential. Judgments surface when liability is disputed, when damages are fought over, or when a court must approve a settlement for a child or someone who lacks capacity. That is why approvals and damages trials are where the public figures come from.

Amounts are only what the judgment prints. Where a case shows a lump sum plus periodical payments, the yearly payments continue for life and can be worth far more than the lump sum. Where no figure is shown, the court decided fault but the money was settled or assessed elsewhere.

Plain-English guides built on these cases →

This guide is general information about the law in England and Wales, not legal advice about your case. ClaimGavel is run by Costart Projects Ltd on behalf of Tomlin & Partners, a specialist medical negligence firm regulated by the SRA. The free assessment on this page is an AI overview to show you roughly where you stand; a solicitor confirms the position in a free, no-obligation conversation.