Sarah Lambert KC

Clinical Negligence

Sarah is a highly regarded specialist in clinical negligence. Experienced across the board in all types of medical claims, she now increasingly focuses on highly complex neurological brain injury, spinal, amputation and obstetric injury claims, including twins, meningitis claims and wrongful birth cases, acting both for Claimants and Defendants. Sarah is also recently being retained in respect of claims with Covid factors. Noted for her empathy, she also has a significant caseload of fatal cases, particularly those arising out of delayed cancer diagnoses, cases of suicide by mental health patients, and secondary victim claims.

Listen to Sarah discuss loss of chance in clinical negligence cases on our podcast here.

Selected Cases

Claimants

• JM v a GP 2023: (ongoing) acting in respect of the death of a 28 year old who contacted and died from Covid in hospital in the presence of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, having to be treated in hospital rather than at home due to delay in GP management.
• PR v Sec of State for Heath & Social Care 2023: £1.8 million settlement achieved for a female teenage Claimant following delayed diagnosis of DDH in infancy.
• JB (a child) v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) claim in which the original child claimant, a boy born with hypoxic ischaemic birth injury Grade II hie microcephalic, 4 limb cerebral palsy, global developmental delay, blindness, hip dysplasia and epilepsy, has died at the age of 14 during the currency of the claim as a direct consequence of inability to clear secretions due to his brain injury.
• OG (a child) v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) obstetric claim acting for a boy twin born with profound neurological injury.
• KH (A protected party, by his Father and Litigation Friend) v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) very high value claim re delay in the diagnosis and treatment of the Claimant’s developmental dysplasia of the left hip where the Claimant has unrelated global developmental delay.
• JC v an NHS Trust 2022: £2.75 million settlement achieved for chronic pain after hernia mesh surgery.
• TW v an NHS Trust 2022: £1.5 million settlement achieved for a Claimant with a 3 year life expectancy in respect of catastrophic neurosurgical injury sustained as a result of spinal surgery.
• SR v an NHS Trust 2022: successful ophthalmological settlement for a female Claimant who suffered blindness as a result of untreated raised intracranial pressure.
• AM v an NHS Trust 2022: successful ophthalmological settlement for elderly male Claimant in complex claim concerning blindness suffered as a result of ischaemic optic neuropathy arising during cardiac surgery.
• DRH v an NHS Trust 2021: successful liability compromise on behalf of an infant Claimant with neurodevelopmental injuries due to obstetric negligence.
• CW v an NHS Foundation Trust 2021: successful settlement of claim for an adult female claimant in respect of aortic occlusion leading to bilateral below knee amputations and ischaemic cord damage in the claimant’s mid 40s.
• XX  v  an NHS Trust 2021: advantageous liability compromise achieved in wrongful birth claim acting for a mother making a claim in respect of the birth of her daughter with Downs Syndrome.
• W v a GP and an NHS Trust 2021: Multimillion vascular claim concerning failure to diagnose and treat bilateral lower limb ischaemia resulting in below-knee amputations.
• AB (a child) v an NHS Foundation Trust 2020: settlement in excess of £9 million achieved for a child suffering from 4 limb dystonic cerebral palsy and delay as a result of mismanagement of an endotracheal tube when he was 8 weeks old.
• LXK (A child, by her Mother and Litigation Friend, DXR) v NEL NHS Foundation Trust 2020: £2 million settlement achieved for a child Claimant in respect of late diagnosis of congenital hip dysplasia.
• CJ (A protected party) v B and T University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2020: £1 million settlement achieved for older female claimant who had suffered a stroke due to a failure to anticoagulate.
• EN (a child) v S University Hospital NHS Trust 2020: successful settlement achieved in an obstetric claim acting for a girl twin born with compromised kidney function.
• GP v GOSH NHS Foundation Trust 2019: 7 figure settlement achieved for an adult cerebral palsy sufferer in respect of surgical negligence suffered at the age of 12.  Complex arguments in respect of co-morbidities and existing needs.
• A v B and C F Hospitals NHS Trust 2019: fatal claim with 7 figure settlement achieved on behalf of a widower and 2 young children following a maternal sepsis death.
• JP v B and T University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2019: £1.6 million settlement achieved for an older female claimant who suffered spinal epidural abscess leading to paraplegia.
• MN (a child) v N Hospital NHS Trust 2019: successful settlement for a child claimant in respect of severe neurological injury and deafness suffered as a result of negligent failure to diagnose pneumococcal meningitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome.
• AR v RB NHS Foundation Trust 2018: very hard fought spinal injury claim in respect of tetraplegia suffered following a fall from a chair in hospital.  Limited life expectancy claim with a £4.2 million settlement achieved.
• GM (a child) v B H & R U H NHS Trust 2018: achieved a £15 million settlement on behalf of a profoundly neurologically injured child with a limited life expectancy.

Defendants

• JS v an NHS Trust 2023: successful settlement achieved in claim by a twin in respect of meningitis contracted in the days after birth.
• GR v a Health Board 2023: (ongoing) defence of a claim by a child who was born heathy but subsequently sustained profound neurological injury at the age of 11 having suffered asthma induced cardiac arrest.
• TC v an NHS Foundation Trust 2023: (ongoing) neurosurgical claim arising out of alleged delay in undertaking spinal decompressive surgery.
• MW v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) meningitis brain injury claim.
• RD v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) claim concerning bowel perforation, sepsis and kidney injury suffered by the recipient of a cadaver donor kidney following pseudo-obstruction.
• AM v an NHS Trust 2023: (ongoing) claim in respect of MCA injury causing stroke during tumour debulking surgery.
• MF v an NHS Trust 2022: achieved compromise in complex historic claim on behalf of an adult male twin in respect of delayed intervention for intraventricular haemorrhage 30 years previously.
• XX v an NHS Trust 2022: achieved compromise in claim in respect of iatrogenic injury causing arterial stroke during craniotomy.
• XX v an NHS Trust 2022: achieved compromise in a cerebral palsy (obstetric) claim.
• PH v an NHS Trust 2021: achieved compromise in a claim for loss of vision in a young mother.
• MS v H & District NHS Foundation Trust 2021: acted for the defendant in a wrongful birth claim arising out of the birth of the female infant with phocomelia.
• H v an NHS Trust 2020: medically complex infant brain injury claim.
• JR v GP 1, GP 2 and BC University Health Board 2020: achieved discontinuance against defendant in high value vascular case, (amputation).
• CG v RW NHS Trust 2020: achieved advantageous settlement in a claim arising out of a failure to treat paranasal sinus infection in a teenager, leaving him with significant brain damage and personality change.
• SP and HP v UHB NHS Foundation Trust 2020: (ongoing) acting for defendant in obstetric claim arising out of the delivery of twins.
• SP (a child) v B W&C C Hospital and R W NHS Trust 2020: (ongoing) acting for the defendants in a complex neurological claim concerning focal brain injury from evolving and untreated hydrocephalus.
• TR v P A Hospitals NHS Trust 2020:  acted for the defendant in respect of a claim by a child suffering profound neurological injury from neonatal herpes encephalitis.
• XX v S NHS Foundation Trust 2020: defending a £10+million obstetric claim in respect of a child born with acute profound injury without labour.
• SS v U H B NHS Foundation Trust 2019: acted for the defendant in a high value neurosurgical claim (back) in respect of incomplete paraplegia arising non negligently. Informed consent case. Successful settlement achieved.