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Insights / News
Robert appeared for the defendant NHS Trust in this clinical negligence appeal in the High Court arising from the death of a 33 year old man who was being treated for severe acute pancreatitis when, in the course of his hospital admission, he suffered an unexpected and fatal cardiac arrhythmia.
Breach of duty was admitted but the claim was successfully defended after an 8-day trial on causation involving expert intensive care and cardiology evidence. The claimants appealed, challenging the trial judge’s application of Bolitho and his assessment of the expert evidence and literature.
On 26 May 2023, Mr Justice Ritchie dismissed the appeal on all grounds, holding that the trial judge had not erred in his approach and that the challenges to his findings of fact and assessment of the expert evidence did not pass the high threshold required to permit intervention on appeal (as recently summarised by the Court of Appeal in Deutsche Bank AG v Sebastian Holdings [2023] EWCA Civ 191 per Males LJ at [48-55]).
The appeal judgment Masih v The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust [2023] EWHC 1280 (KB) is available to view here.
Robert was instructed by Browne Jacobson LLP.
Robert Dickason is consistently ranked as a leading junior in clinical negligence in both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.
He acts for patients, Trusts, private providers and individual clinicians alike in civil claims and at inquests. His practice spans the full clinical spectrum. He is instructed in the most complex liability and quantum disputes. He has particular expertise on matters of causation and in clinical negligence cases involving members of the Armed Forces or public law aspects. He was appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel in 2020 (formerly C Panel).
To find out more on Robert, contact Paul Barton on +44 (0)20 7427 4709 or Ben Fitzgerald on
+44 (0)203 758 4759.
News 31 May, 2023
Call: 2007
