Clinical Negligence
David Knifton KC acts exclusively for claimants in high-value personal injury and clinical negligence cases. He is recommended as a leader in those fields by both Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500, and was shortlisted by the latter as PI Silk of the Year in 2023 and 2024.
David has extensive experience of high-value clinical negligence claims, including:
- Obstetric injuries, primarily hypoxic birth injury claims leading to cerebral palsy
- Failures/delays in diagnosis (particularly in cancer cases)
- Surgical negligence
- Consent issues
- Claims against alternative medical practitioners
Chambers & Partners ranks him as a Leading Silk (Band 2), with clients describing him as “a magnificent leader, a true heavyweight silk and an excellent tactician and strategist” and “a strategic thinker who achieves great results”. Other respondents comment on his “incredibly strong and decisive manner in conference, with real attention to detail which is balanced with the ability to place the client at complete ease”, noting that “he is detailed and meticulous in his approach with complex, high-value cases and he is a skilled advocate.”
Ranked as a Tier 1 silk by the Legal 500, he is noted to have “exceptional forensic rigour and a huge wealth of experience with clinical negligence catastrophic injury claims.” He is described as “a magnificent leader and a true heavyweight silk in the Northern Circuit. An exceptional tactician and strategist. He is sensational. Clients put their absolute trust in him.”
Recognising the enormous trauma faced by victims of medical negligence and their families, David provides a calm, empathetic and reassuring approach, whilst analysing and carefully marshalling the expert evidence in support of the claim. His tenacity was recently demonstrated in his negotiating a 7-figure award for profound hypoglycaemic brain damage to a premature baby, despite breach of duty and causation being firmly denied. Other recent successes include: an award of £3.75m for severe neurological deterioration resulting from a failure to treat a wound infection following brain surgery; an interim payment of £1.7m to enable the purchase and adaptation of a suitable house for a child who suffered hypoxic brain damage leading to profound cerebral palsy; and an award of £500,000 for incomplete paraplegia in a diabetic woman with severe hypotension, notwithstanding that the prospects of success appeared poor.
An acknowledged expert on life expectancy issues and the application of the Ogden Tables, he has extensive experience of drafting complex Schedules of Loss in high-value claims, and invariably produces a spreadsheet indicating settlement parameters for any joint settlement meeting, providing the client with clear advice to enable them to make difficult decisions. His experience and proven track record in negotiations consistently leads to outstanding results.
Clinical Negligence Cases
P v Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2025): David secured an award of £3.75m for a patient who suffered a brain injury leading to severe neurological deterioration as a result of a negligent failure to treat a scalp wound infection which developed following brain surgery
NYR v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (2025): David’s comprehensive and carefully-crafted skeleton argument led to the Defendant agreeing an interim payment of £800,000 to fund the purchase of suitable accommodation for a young woman with pre-existing hydrocephalus who suffered brain damage due to inadequate post-operative care following shunt surgery
LYM v Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (2025): A challenging claim involving an alleged failure to follow-up feeding concerns in a premature baby, leading to profound hypoglycaemic brain damage. Faced with a firm denial of breach of duty and causation, and with limited prospects of success, David successfully negotiated a 7-figure settlement shortly before trial
TUV v Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2025): David secured an admission of liability and an interim payment of £1.7m to fund the purchase and adaptation of suitable accommodation for a young child who suffered hypoxic brain damage leading to quadriplegic cerebral palsy, after a refusal to properly assess and re-admit her mother to hospital when concerns arose during outpatient induction of labour
D v Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust (2024): Challenging obstetric negligence claim, where failure to expedite delivery by caesarean section after ante-partum haemorrhage led to hypoxic injury resulting in severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Despite breach of duty and causation remaining firmly in dispute, David skilfully negotiated liability settlement terms at a JSM in 2024 which will guarantee the recovery of substantial damages to meet the child’s lifetime needs
D v St Helens & Knowsley NHS Trust (2024): Challenging clinical negligence claim, involving an alleged failure by consultant paediatrician to refer a patient with a complex vascular formation to a specialist unit, and by GP to action a request for a thoracic CT scan, leading to tumour progression and permanent spinal cord injury. Listed for trial in 2024
W v Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (2023): Negligent delay in diagnosing and treating spinal epidural abscess in 63 year-old woman, leading to incomplete spinal cord injury and paraplegia. Despite an initial refusal from the Trust to agree provisional damages for the risk of a syrinx, David negotiated damages of £4.85m on a provisional damages basis, including over £2.5m to fund her lifetime care costs.
B v Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust (2023): Extremely challenging claim involving failure to investigate and treat significant falls in blood pressure in diabetic woman with end-stage renal failure, allegedly leading to incomplete spinal cord injury after spinal stroke. David’s meticulous analysis of the extensive expert evidence, focusing on breach of duty and material contribution, enabled him to negotiate a compromise of over £500,000
S v South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust (2023): Complex claim involving a delay in detecting swelling of the optic nerve in a young child, due to pancraniosynostosis, resulting in blindness and alleged brain damage. Breach of duty has been admitted, but causation remains under investigation
C v Bolton NHS Foundation Trust (2022): Obstetric negligence case, in which the disclosure of mobile phone video footage of the delivery proved that the timings in the hospital notes were inaccurate, and the midwife failed to recognise a shoulder dystocia, leading to acute hypoxia and quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Liability admitted after proceedings issued on basis of David’s pleadings, enabling a substantial interim payment to fund the purchase and adaptation of a bungalow
B v Dave (2022): Delayed diagnosis of gout by GP, leading to Symes’ amputation, but where evidence indicated amputation would shortly have been required in any event due to diabetic neuropathy. Settled for £225,000
H v Dada (2021): Spinal cord infarction leading to incomplete paraplegia as a result of a significant reduction in spinal blood flow during the course of surgery to her spine, where it is alleged that the anaesthetist failed to monitor her blood pressure with sufficient frequency and failed to take steps before she suffered injury to her spinal cord. Settled for £1.625m despite breach of duty and causation remaining firmly disputed
H v Rizvi, Garstang & Fernandes (2020): Above-knee amputation suffered as a result of the admitted negligence of 3 GPs to refer the Claimant urgently to hospital. As a consequence of the delay, he developed septic shock, leading to the need for a life-saving amputation
Hawkin v Mid Yorks Hospitals (2018): Above-knee amputation, due to negligent delay in diagnosing critical limb ischaemia, resulting in a settlement of £1.7m in a case where the Claimant’s life expectancy was reduced.
C v The Walton Centre for Neurology & Neurosurgery NHS Trust (2018): David negotiated a settlement worth £3.9m on a global basis on behalf of an elderly patient who suffered a haemorrhagic stroke due to a negligent delay in managing her meningioma, in order to enable her to return home to live with her family with a 24-hour care team
H v Mid Yorks Hospitals (2018): An award of £1.7m was negotiated on behalf of a man who required an above-knee amputation due to a negligent delay in diagnosing critical limb ischaemia, ensuring his prosthetic and other needs would be met throughout the remainder of his reduced life expectancy
B v Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (2018): Settlement of over £400,000 achieved for negligent delay in diagnosing HIV infection, leading to advanced HIV disease
