Recently in Negligence Law Category

The Supreme Court, the highest appellate court in the land, has ruled that an NHS Trust breached its duty of care by allowing a patient home from a psychiatric unit where she took her own life.

Twenty-year-old Melanie Rabone was found hanged from a tree near her home in 2005. She had been diagnosed with a recurrent depressive disorder, after previously cutting her wrists. In a psychiatric assessment she was deemed a moderate to high suicide risk who might require detention if she attempted to leave the unit.

The case has been greeted positively by mental health charities and civil liberties groups.

The private clinics which were involved in fitting faulty breast implants to women across the UK are thought to have a legal duty to rectify the problem, according to both politicians and lawyers.

The clinics have previously claimed that the Government has a moral responsibility to pay for operations to remove or replace the faulty French implants.

Earlier in the week a representative for one of the clinics involved in the case, Mel Braham, spoke out to say that he felt "clinics were as innocent as patients".

Dozens of British women have launched a legal challenge against clinics where they had breast augmentation surgery after it was revealed that the implants used were faulty and could expose them to an increased risk of cancer.

The silicone implants were manufactured by Poly Implant Prostheses (PiP), a French firm which has since gone into administration.

The news comes ahead of an anticipated announcement by the French Government on Friday as to whether some 30,000 French women should have their PiP implants removed. This was after a French woman, Edwige Ligoneche, died from anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a rare form of cancer which was found close to the site where her implant had ruptured.

A group of peers including the former cabinet minister Lord Tebbit have started a campaign to maintain legal aid for medical negligence claims brought by children.

Under current Government plans, the legal aid budget is being cut in a wide range of areas, including debt, housing, welfare, medical negligence, employment and immigration.

The changes to the legal aid system, designed to save the Government around £350m a year when fully implemented, were placed on hold for six months in an unexpected move announced by justice secretary Ken Clarke.

Dr Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's personal doctor was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter yesterday (7 November) in a unanimous decision from the jury.

Following the popstar's death in 2009, Dr Murray was accused of gross negligence for administering medicine at Jackson's home that should only be given in hospital, for not calling the emergency services promptly and for not telling the paramedics he had administered drugs.

Michael Jackson died at the age of 50 after receiving a fatal dose of propofol, an anaesthetic.

Following a fatal earthquake in Italy in 2009, a group of scientists were charged with manslaughter for failing to accurately predict it and warn the population. They went on trial yesterday (20 September).

The earthquake, which razed the city of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region to the ground and killed 309 people, was of a 6.3 magnitude.

The group facing trial, consisting of six seismologists and a government official, were part of a government panel set up to assess the danger after the area had suffered 400 tremors in the preceding months.