Phillips v Grampian Health Board

(1991) 3 Med LR 16

COURT OF SESSION, OUTER HOUSE

and Lord CLYDE

Professional liability — Surgeon — Diagnosis — Patient presented with swollen, hard left testicle — Report diagnosing gonorrhoea — Cancer not ruled out — Serious alternative diagnosis to tumour — Surgical exploration and biopsy not carried out — Whether surgeons at fault — Professional judgment and opinion in ambiguous case — Duty to follow up — Limitation of action — Patient aware of serious nature of condition — Whether reasonably practicable for patient to discover extent and causation of his cancer — Damage — Loss — Whether widow suffered no loss where deceased husband's death due to medical condition which pre-dated marriage