Medical Negligence and Fairchild Causation
The case of Chester v. Afshar suggested that the Fairchild ratio could be extended to beyond industrial disease cases. Chester is a case of ‘simple facts and complex causation’. Miss Chester suffered from back pain for which she sought the advice of the eminent neurosurgeon Mr. Afshar. A procedure was required to ameliorate the condition, but one that carried a 1-2% risk of paralysis by 'cauda equina syndrome'. Mr. Afshar failed to inform Miss Chester as to this risk involved. The surgery was performed without negligence. However the risk was eventuated and Miss Chester was left paralysed. Miss Chester won, not because Mr. Afshar had caused the harm to her through not informing her (direct causation - which could not be proved as Mr. Afshar's advice had not increased the risk), but on a policy decision (like Fairchild) that she deserved compensation.
However, the case of Gregg v Scott (2005) (and an attempt to claim the same loose application of causation in a housing case Peter Paul Davidson (company) v White (2005)) has proved the difficulty of extending this ratio. So it remains to be seen if cases that 'break the chain' can be successful.
Read more about this topic: Breaking The Chain, Discussion
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