News & Events
News & Events
Clinical negligence barrister, Tom Gibson, comments on the dramatic end to the secondary victim claims saga. The Supreme Court has now handed down judgment on three conjoined appeals on the ‘secondary victim’ criteria for psychiatric injury claims in a clinical negligence setting; Paul v Wolverhampton, Polmear v Cornwall and Purchase v Dr Ahmed. The judgment [2024] UKSC 1 brings the secondary victim claims saga to a dramatic end. The Supreme Court dismissed the Claimants’ three appeals by a 6-1 majority. The judgments (running to 256 paragraphs over 76 pages) are complicated. However, as a very brief summary: There is a crucial difference between ‘accident’ cases and ‘medical crisis’ cases: The three previous key House of Lords authorities – McLoughlin v Brian, Alcock v…
News 12 Jan, 2024
Matthew Phillips KC and Tom Gibson represented a successful claimant who received compensation with a capitalised value of over £24million. The claimant suffered from four limb dystonic cerebral palsy as a result of the defendant hospital’s negligence at the time of her birth. The claimant’s family spent almost 9 years pursuing the claim, first establishing a full admission of liability, and then preparing for a quantum trial. The case involved complicated issues surrounding the claimant’s future care and accommodation needs in particular. A settlement, involving a £6,550,000 lump sum plus stepped periodical payments, was agreed after a settlement meeting and less than a month before the quantum trial. While no settlement can change what happened to the claimant, the compensation…
News 29 Nov, 2023
Tom Gibson acted for the successful claimant in an unusual bowel surgery case – where the largest claim was for increased food costs for life. The claimant was aged 13, in Year 8 at secondary school, when his local hospital failed to diagnose a volvulus, or twisted small bowel. The delay in diagnosis and in operating led to the tissue death and loss of most of his small bowel. He was left with 30cm of small bowel, compared to the average of around 600cm. With competent treatment, and timely surgery, his bowel loss would have been avoided completely. The claimant and his parents spent years building his case – including getting expert evidence from 7 different fields. While the claimant…
News 13 Nov, 2023
Tom Gibson acted recently for a claimant, a young high-flying teacher, who suffered a fractured skull and brain injury in a ‘freak’ road traffic accident. While driving on the A1, a sheet of metal flew through her windscreen and sliced her skull open. Over the next few years, the claimant attempted, courageously but ultimately unsuccessfully, to return to her career as a senior teacher. However, she eventually came to the very sad realisation that her teaching career – and her ambition to progress to being a headteacher – was over, due to the continuing effects of her brain injury. Tom was instructed by the claimant’s solicitor, Lesley Edwards at Barratts Solicitors, who brought a claim via the MIB’s Untraced Drivers’…
News 31 Aug, 2022
Outer Temple Chambers hosted a conference on spinal injury, focusing on Cauda Equina Syndrome on Thursday 23rd June 2022. The fourth in a series of five talks was by Tom Gibson, who gave a legal update on cauda equina claim catastrophes. Outer Temple Chambers hosted a series of talks and discussions on spinal injury related topics. These were chaired by Eliot Woolf QC. The webinar was held on Thursday 23rd June 2022. The Spinal Sessions focused on the topic of Cauda Equina Syndrome. The fourth talk of the day was by Outer Temple’s Tom Gibson, who gave a legal update on cauda claim catastrophes. Tom Gibson looks at two case studies with in his presentation; ‘Calderdale and Huddersfield v Metcalf’ and ‘North…
Webinars & Recordings 4 Jul, 2022
Sarah Crowther QC and Tom Gibson presented a talk on international clinical negligence at Outer Temple’s Travel Law Conference in Manchester. The video and slides are now available. Outer Temple Chambers hosted a Travel Law Conference in Manchester on 17th March 2022 together with a selection of esteemed guests from the travel law industry. This was a hybrid event and the recordings are now available online. The second talk of the day was “International Clinical Negligence – from the Cayman Islands to Cumbria”, presented by specialist travel law silk Sarah Crowther QC and clinical negligence expert Tom Gibson. International Clinical Negligence – from the Cayman Islands to Cumbria Tom opened the presentation by focusing on an area close to his heart,…
Webinars & Recordings 22 Apr, 2022
Join Outer Temple Chambers and guests for the first in a series of seminars and discussions on spinal injury related topics on Thursday 23rd June. Part 1 will focus on Cauda Equina Syndrome. You are invited to join Outer Temple Chambers and our esteemed guests for an afternoon of talks on Cauda Equina Syndrome. As well as a series of talks by our members we look forward to welcoming John Leach (Consultant Neurosurgeon), Dr Naveen Kumar (Consultant in Neurorehabilitation), and Maggie Sargent and Gill Creighton (Care and Case Management Specialists) of Maggie Sargent & Associates. Book your place This event, originally planned as a hybrid event, will now be offered as a virtual event due to the impending national rail…
Events 14 Apr, 2022
Join Outer Temple Chambers and guests for an afternoon of travel related talks at the Edwardian Radisson Hotel Manchester. This will be a hybrid event, with limited in-person tickets and streamed online. You are invited to join Outer Temple Chambers and our esteemed guests at the Edwardian Radisson Hotel in Manchester. This event will include a number of topical talks followed by a panel session. Agenda 12.30: In person registration/refreshments for a 1.00 start 1.00 – 1.15: Welcome by Gerard McDermott QC and Ian Denham (Joint Chairs) 1.15 – 2.00: “Litigating RTAs Abroad After Brexit” – Colin Murphy (Leigh Day) and Carin Hunt 2.00 – 2.45: “International Clinical Negligence – from the Cayman Islands to Cumbria” – Sarah Crowther QC…
Events 28 Feb, 2022
The Court of Appeal has now handed down judgment in Paul v Wolverhampton, Polmear v Cornwall and Purchase v Dr Ahmed – three conjoined appeals on the ‘secondary victim’ criteria for psychiatric injury claims in a clinical negligence setting. Tom Gibson takes a closer look at the implications. While medical negligence practitioners everywhere may have been hoping for clarity in the law, it looks as though the secondary victim claims saga will continue to run. Though the Court of Appeal decided the appeals, perhaps reluctantly, in favour of the defendants, the Court also encouraged the claimants to appeal to the Supreme Court. All three cases featured claimants who suffered psychiatric injuries resulting from family members’ tragic, sudden deaths following medical…
Legal Blogs 18 Jan, 2022
Tom Gibson acted for the successful defendant in Purchase v Ahmed in striking out the claimant’s ‘secondary victim’ claim for psychiatric injury following the death of her daughter. However, the law on ‘secondary victim’ claims may soon change… The law might develop further in this area soon as the appeal in Paul v The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust [2019] EWHC 2893 (QB) is due to be heard this week, on 13-15 May 2020. Tom Gibson of our Clinical Negligence Team has successfully struck out the claimant’s ‘secondary victim’ claim in the case of Purchase v Ahmed (Birmingham County Court, 6 May 2020) and analyses the case and what the future may hold for ‘secondary victim’ claims below. The Facts The defendant,…
News 12 May, 2020
Tom Gibson represented the successful claimant recently in an unusual ‘misinformation’ psychiatric injury claim. The claimant, a man in his 40s, saw a consultant respiratory physician in clinic at his local hospital, following an x-ray and a CT scan of his chest. The claimant was told, wrongly, that he had “incurable” lung cancer and that he was likely to die within a year. However – as the lung multidisciplinary team meeting had concluded the day before the consultation – the claimant actually needed further investigations in order “to gain a diagnosis”. After the further investigations were done, 2-3 weeks later the claimant was actually diagnosed with a low grade lymphoma – a much less aggressive form of cancer, which carried…
News 4 Dec, 2019
Tom Gibson acted for a successful claimant who lost the sight in his right eye after a hospital failed to organise proper follow-up care following retinal detachment surgery. The case was reported, before its successful conclusion, by the Daily Telegraph in April 2019 as part of a feature about systemic problems within the NHS [see here]. As that article explained, Mr Dalton was an active 71-year-old at the time of his retinal detachment surgery. He enjoyed extreme sports such as skydiving and climbing to Mount Everest Base Camp. However the loss of sight in his right eye – and with it his 3-dimensional vision – left him unable to go cycling and struggling to pour a cup of tea. In the legal…
News 30 Jul, 2019
