Which of the following is correct about negligence?
A. The three requirements for a successful claim in negligence are: the defendant owed the claimant a duty of care, the defendant broke that duty of care, the defendant’s breach of duty caused the damage to the claimant
B. A hospital can rely on a lack of resources as a defence to a claim for negligence
C. Regarding the duty of care, there is a general duty on doctors to provide treatment for people, e.g. a doctor who is watching a film at the cinema has to help someone who faints.
D. A patient is obese and a doctor injects into the arm tissue instead of a vein because of difficulty in finding the vein, and causes an abscess. The doctor is negligent.
Answer: A
A. The three requirement must be fulfilled for a successful claim in negligence. Also see Donoghue v Stevenson (1932). The duty in negligence applies to both acts and omissions.
B. It would not be acceptable for a hospital to rely on lack of resources as a defence. If a hospital cannot reach the Bolam standard (Bolam v Friern HMC (1957)), then they should not provide that particular service.
C. There is no general duty on doctors to provide treatment for people, e.g. when a doctor is watching a film at the cinema.
D. If a patient has particular characteristics which make treatment more difficult, these are taken into account, and the defendant is not liable (Williams v North Liverpool HMC (1959)).
Reference
Brendan Greene. Essential Medical Law. Cavendish Publishing Limited.