BBC News highlights serious care failings resulting in catastrophic injury in case conducted by David Knifton KC
September 11, 2026
As part of its analysis showing a 40% increase in A&E-related clinical negligence claims in the last 5 years, BBC News has highlighted how a failure properly to assess a 32 year-old man who attended Warrington Hospital’s A&E department in May 2024 resulted in catastrophic and life-changing injuries. A link to the BBC story can be found here A&E did not get the basics right – now my son’s life is ruined at 32 – BBC News
Oli had undergone recent neurosurgery for a brain tumour at Royal Stoke Hospital, followed by a course of radiotherapy from which he was making a good recovery. On 15th May 2024, however, he presented at Warrington Hospital with a number of symptoms, including a severe headache, confusion, dizziness and lethargy. Although the triage nurse noted that he had recently undergone brain surgery, the doctor who subsequently examined him nevertheless failed to recognize that the presenting symptoms might indicate raised intracranial pressure, requiring an urgent CT scan. Instead, having carried out blood tests and a chest x-ray to rule out a viral infection, he allowed Oli to go home. A week later, with ongoing symptoms, Oli attended Royal Stoke Hospital, where an MRI scan demonstrated acute hydrocephalus. Unfortunately, before surgery could be carried out to relieve the pressure in his brain, Oli suffered a neurogenic cardiac arrest, which has left him profoundly brain-damaged, and in need of lifelong care and neurological rehabilitation.
Tanzeela Aslam, Head of Clinical Negligence at Express Solicitors in Manchester, instructed David Knifton KC to advise. Having reviewed the Hospital’s own Patient Safety Incident Investigation, which was highly critical of the standard of care, David assisted Tanzeela to formulate a detailed letter of claim. In particular, the Investigation concluded that the examining doctor had failed to make adequate notes of his discussion, failed to record the headache and the history of recent brain surgery, failed to carry out a detailed neurological examination (including fundoscopy to assess for signs of swelling of the optic discs), and failed to escalate the case to a more senior doctor or the regional neurosurgical team. Critically, the failure to perform an urgent CT scan meant that the raised intracranial pressure persisted, leading to the subsequent catastrophic deterioration. Had a CT head scan been performed, it would have identified the developing hydrocephalus, resulting in surgery to reduce the pressure, and avoiding that devastating outcome. The investigation team recommended developing a triage tool for assessing patients with headaches, further staff training, guidance on escalation to senior medical staff, and a wider review of clinical record-keeping.
In order to avoid incurring unnecessary costs in what he regarded as an “unanswerable case of clinical negligence”, David Knifton KC largely relied on the findings in the investigation report in formulating the allegations of breach of duty in the letter of claim. This resulted in the Trust admitting breach of duty in failing to perform a CT scan, and accepting that this would have led to urgent shunt surgery, which would have avoided the catastrophic deterioration which occurred a week later. Having offered its sincere apologies for the failings in care and the devastating consequences that have followed, the Trust has accepted liability and agreed to make a substantial interim payment to fund the Claimant’s rehabilitation in what will ultimately be a multi-million pound claim.
David Knifton KC and Chris Gutteridge have since advised the family on the evidence required to assess the Claimant’s future needs, and enable the claim to be quantified.
Commenting on the BBC report, David said: “This has clearly been a devastating outcome for Oli and his family. It is, of course, right to recognize the considerable pressures under which hardworking A&E staff have to operate, but there can be no excuse for the failings in this case. Clinical negligence claims are not about simple mistakes or errors of judgement: they require proof that no reasonable or responsible doctor would have acted as the treating clinician did. In this case, the Trust rightly recognized that the standard of care at Warrington Hospital was wholly inadequate, and led to catastrophic injury.”
“It is reassuring to see that a number of recommendations were made by the Trust in the light of its investigation into this case. Whilst press reporting is often critical of lawyers who conduct clinical negligence claims, the reality is that such claims help improve patient care. Quite apart from ensuring that individuals receive appropriate compensation when they have suffered life-changing injuries due to avoidable medical failures, I firmly believe that the process of investigating and establishing fault makes an important contribution to driving up standards, for the benefit of all NHS users, whether patients or staff.”
