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N—Formative Assessment ) Case Scenario
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Last year, Kevin attended the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) complaining of a severe pain in his chest. Kevin had taken painkillers but the chest pain still persisted. Kevin spoke to Gavin, the receptionist in the ASt, department. All receptionists were supposed to have a list of questions to ask if a patient complained of chest pain, including whether the patient had suffered loss of breath and whether they felt dizzy. However, due to an administrative error, Gavin had not received the list of questions or training. If Gavin had asked Kevin these questions he would have answered ‘yes’ to both and consequently would have been assessed as a high-risk patient. Instead, Kevin was assessed as a low-risk patient and had to wait two hours for medical attention. Because of the delay, Kevin suffered a serious stroke. If he had been dealt with quickly as a high-risk patient, there is a 75% chance that the stroke would have been prevented.
Kevin later found out that he had an underlying genetic disorder that made the effect of the stroke much worse. Due to a genetic disorder, Kevin was paralysed for life. Most people would have suffered only temporary symptoms. Meanwhile, Domonic was being treated for complications relating to his migraines. Domonic’s doctor was Dr Heyman, a consultant who preferred traditional methods to what he considered to be unproven modern technologies. Dr Heyman prescribed Dominic ‘EasyHead’ — a course of medicine that 20 years ago was standard treatment, but is now considered outdated. Domonic took the medicine and it was successful in suppressing his symptoms, but he suffered severe side effects, d which made him feel very ill. Domonic has since found out that only 1% of doctors still use EasyHea .
Questions Explain: ,Whether the hospital owed Kevin a duty of care. If so, whether that duty of care was breached. (25 marks)
A Explain whether, if there is a breach of a duty of care by the hospital, Kevin can establish factual causation.
(25 marks)
Explain: What is meant by ‘causation in law’?
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