“This is an appeal by an NHS Trust against a finding that its surgeon negligently caused injury to the claimant’s left femoral nerve during the course of an abdominal operation. The central issues in this appeal are whether there was an evidential basis for that decision and whether the trial judge drew impermissible inferences.” (paragraph 2)
On 18 July 2005 C underwent hysterectomy and developed non-negligent complication of vesico-vaginal fistula. On 26 September 2005 she underwent repair of the fistula. She developed femoral neuropathy.
“The experts also agreed that if injury to the femoral nerve occurred during dissection, that would constitute sub-standard care.” (paragraph 22)
“In my view, on a close analysis of the evidence (itself an unusual exercise for the Court of Appeal), the judge was entitled to make the findings of fact that he did. There is no dispute that if the surgeon directly injured the femoral nerve during dissection, that would be negligent.” (paragraph 91)
Appeal dismissed.
medicalnegligencenow.com 