Djemal v Bexley Health Authority

(1995) 6 Med LR 269

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

and Sir Haydn Tudor EVANS

Accident and emergency — Senior houseman — Diagnosis — Casualty patient admitted with difficulty in swallowing — Diagnosis of viral upper respiratory tract infection — Patient sent home — Patient deteriorating rapidly and readmitted to hospital — Diagnosis of epiglottitis — Resulting brain damage — Whether houseman negligent — Causation — Standard of care and skill to be applied in accident and emergency diagnosis — Failure to notice patient's spitting and pooling of saliva due to inability to swallow; failure to obtain proper history; and consequent failure to obtain information which would have induced reasonably competent casualty officer to have retained patient for further investigation by others