Aspinall v Secretary of State for Health

Medical practitioner – Negligence. The claimant had been born in a poor condition and had required intubation and ventilation. He had suffered brain injury which left him with a number of health problems including asymmetric diplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Proceedings were issued alleging negligence on the part of the attending doctor at the time of his birth in that she had not noticed that he was not being properly ventilated for a period of 45 minutes. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the claim, finding that, on the evidence, it was likely that the ventilation tube had been displaced in a non-negligent manner nearer to the end of the 45 minute period and because it was unlikely that either the doctor or the nurses would not have noticed for such a length of time that the claimant's chest had not been moving in time with the ventilator.