Supreme Court judgment provides clarity in secondary victim claims made in a clinical negligence context (11 January 2024)

Summary

With two notable exceptions, the common law does not recognise one person as having any legally compensable interest in the physical well-being of another. The law compensates the victim but not others who suffer harm as a result of the victim’s injuries or death, however severely impacted and whether the harm is psychological, physical or financial.

The exceptions are found in the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 and in claims by secondary victims. It was this latter category that came to be examined in the much anticipated judgment of the Supreme Court in the conjoined appeals of Paul and another (Appellants) v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (Respondent), Polmear and another (Appellants) v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (Respondent) and Purchase (Appellant) v Ahmed (Respondent).

This article from Bevan Brittan, explores this in greater depth.