Richard Booth QC, instructed by Bevan Brittan, has successfully defended clinical negligence claims in relation to stroke and psychiatric injury (secondary victim) in Owers v Medway NHS Foundation Trust & Another [2015] EWHC 2363 (QB).
Mr Justice Stewart found that the time of onset of Mrs Owers’ stroke was uncertain, with the result that thrombolysis (with alteplase, a clot-busting drug) was not an option. Although there had been certain admissions of breach of duty at the outset, and although the Judge found further breaches of duty, in particular to the effect that Aspirin ought to have been prescribed and given to Mrs Owers around 2½ hours after her admission to hospital, the Judge ruled, following a detailed review of the literature produced by the expert neurologists, that Aspirin would probably not have prevented further deterioration in Mrs Owers’ condition, especially given that she had suffered a fluctuating basilar artery stroke.
