In a judgment handed down by HHJ Denyer QC in the Bristol CJC on 5th January 2015 (following a 5 day trial in November 2014) in the case of Heal v B & W, allegations of clinical negligence against two experienced GPs were dismissed.
The case concerned the monitoring regime appropriate for a relatively young male patient with bladder neck hypertrophy causing significant lower urinary tract symptoms, in circumstances where the claimant had previously turned down an offer of curative surgery from a urological surgeon, but where he went on to develop massive retention, a gravely damaged bladder and renal failure. Following Richard Booth QC’s cross-examination of the Claimant’s GP expert, the Judge described that expert’s criticisms of the Defendant GPs as “not grounded in the real world”.
