Hepworth v Kerr

[1995] LS Law Med 135

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

and Mr Justice LATHAM

Limitation — Knowledge — Expert advice — Whether plaintiff had taken all reasonable steps to obtain, and where appropriate to act on, advice — Paraplegia allegedly caused by negligent administration of anaesthetic — Diagnosis in 1979 operation notes of anterior spinal artery thrombosis rejected — Opinion by patient's neurologist that operation had nothing to do with case — Solicitors asking for medical notes in 1987 and obtaining expert's report that patient's condition was caused by anterior spinal artery thrombosis — Action commenced within three years of patient knowing that what he had suffered could be consequence of operation — Whether any competent solicitor would and should have asked for notes