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Damages
Even
if you can show that there was a breach of the duty of care the case still
may not succeed unless it can be shown that the breach causing damage.
For
example, a doctor may miscalculate a drug dose so that a patient is given
an overdose. Clearly there has been a breach of duty of care, as no
reasonable doctor should make this type of mistake. However, the overdose may
have caused no harm. In that case the absence of damage would mean that
the claim would fail.
You
can only recover damages for damage caused by the breach of duty of care.
In one case a hospital failed to diagnose that a patient was suffering
from poisoning and the patient died. However, the court accepted that
the patient would have died even if his condition had been promptly
diagnosed and treated and the claim failed. The breach of duty had not by
itself caused death.
A
useful test is to ask yourself whether the damage would have occurred if
there had been no negligence. If it would have, it cannot have been caused
by the breach of duty and the Trust will not be liable for that damage and
you must consider very carefully your proposed action.
Please
submit an enquiry to one of the panel solicitors who will be able to
supply you with case histories and the benefit of his/her experience.
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