Failure to diagnose and treat rheumatic fever

Lyndon v Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2904 (QB)

Counsel: For the claimant: Sarah EdwardsFor the defendant: Eliot WoolfSolicitors: For the claimant: Russell-Cooke LLPFor the defendant: Bevan Brittan LLP

This was a claim for damages for personal injuries in which the court was asked to give a ruling on causation in relation to alleged clinical negligence on the part of staff employed by the defendant NHS trust. In 1993, when the claimant, L, was aged 15, she had been examined by a paediatric senior registrar, who negligently failed to take steps that would have resulted in a correct diagnosis of rheumatic fever. She would, if diagnosed, have commenced a 10-day course of treatment with penicillin followed by penicillin prophylaxis for 10 years. The rheumatic fever had arisen as a result of a Group A streptococcal throat infection, and penicillin prophylaxis would have prevented further infections and further attacks of rheumatic fever, which can cause damage to the heart.