In a recent case in the UK, six men stored their sperm before undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer in case they proved to be infertile after the treatment. The sperm was not properly stored and as a result was inadvertently destroyed. The men sued the NHS Trust that stored the sperm and were in the end successful. This paper questions the basis on which the judgement was made and the rationale behind it, namely that the men ‘had ownership’ of the sperm, and that compensation was thus due on the grounds that the men's property had been destroyed.
Tony, 47, and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 42, of Chandlers Quay, Maldon, who were Britain's first gay surrogate parents, denied one charge of providing false information to an ethics panel. The pair, who ran Euroderm Research, also deny two counts of not conforming to protocol when conducting a trial. The pair appeared before Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday. They also deny two charges of conducting a clinical trial otherwise than in accordance of good clinical practice.
Two children in Northern Ireland whose white mother was mistakenly impregnated with sperm from South Africa labelled “Caucasian (Cape Coloured)” during in vitro fertilisation have failed in a compensation claim at the High Court in Belfast. The children’s mother, who brought the case on their behalf, claimed that their quality of life was adversely affected because they looked markedly different from their parents and had quite different skin colour from each other. She said that they were subject to “abusive and derogatory comment and hurtful name calling from other children, causing emotional upset.” But Mr Justice Gillen ruled that they had not suffered any loss or damage for which the law could compensate them.
Lack of regulation and "professional greed" is putting patients undergoing cosmetic surgery at more risk than ever before, a leading doctor warns. Nigel Mercer, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, called the cosmetic surgery industry an "unregulated mess". Tighter control is needed to clamp down on issues such as two-for-one offers and untested products, he said. His views are backed by several doctors writing in the Clinical Risk journal.
A woman is suing her health trust after she was forced to conceive using a donated egg because of delays in her treatment. Greta Mason went into labour to give birth to a child conceived using a donor, her husband Chris said. Mrs Mason says she will bond with her baby regardless of the fact it was conceived using another woman's eggs. But she is suing Worthing and Southlands Primary Care Trust claiming unnecessary fertility tests led to a six-year wait for treatment, meaning her own eggs were too old to use.
A patient woke up from surgery at Halifax Hospital Medical Center last month to find her surgeon had operated on the wrong leg. But, that's not how the cardiovascular surgeon explained it to her, according to a report from Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, which investigated the July 3 incident. Instead, the surgeon told the patient that her other leg needed to be done anyway. Then he asked her to sign a consent after the fact, according to the report.
A cardiac surgeon with an international reputation has been given a formal warning by the General Medical Council for undertaking an “adventurous” procedure for which he was not adequately trained and for which he did not obtain informed consent.
ABC v Thomson Medical Pte Ltd and others, Singapore Civil Court of Appeal [2017] SGCA 20 - read judgment It is a trite reflection that law should change with the times but every so often we see the hair-pin bends in law's pursuit of modern technology. This case from Singapore about reproductive rights and negligence…
A cancer patient who was supposed to receive regular check ups says he was devastated when he was finally seen and told the disease had spread. Retired teacher Henry Clark from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, needed three-monthly check ups at West Wales General Hospital, Carmarthen. But "serious failures" meant he was not seen for more than a year. Hywel Dda Health Board has been criticised for what happened and has apologised.
Checklists that spell out exactly how to care for patients with common conditions have dramatically reduced hospital deaths, say doctors. The British Medical Journal reported a 15% fall in the number of people who had died at one north London hospital trust using so-called care bundles. These are checklists covering dozens of conditions including strokes, heart failure and MRSA infections. The researchers said death rates could be "halved" using the system.
Potentially dangerous psychiatric patients are being fitted with GPS tracking devices to prevent them absconding on day leave. The South London and Maudsley NHS Trust has attached the £600 ankle devices on more than 60 medium and high risk patients under the pilot scheme. The trust said it had consulted patients and families. The devices, which can track a person's location to within a few yards, are already used for dementia sufferers. They came into use in south London after rapist Terence O'Keefe, 39, escaped from custody at King's College Hospital before strangling 73-year-old David Kemp.