‘A Practical Guide to Claims Arising from Delays in Diagnosing Cancer – Second Edition’ by Bella Webb

Description

Cancer is a hot topic and is likely to remain as such for the foreseeable future, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a setback of previous advances and seen cancer as a renewed focus of attention in the media. Even without the impact of COVID-19, it is a sad fact that cancer remains the most common cause of avoidable death for both men and women in England and Wales according to ONS statistics, as it has for many years. It is also perhaps self-evident that the economic cost of cancer diagnoses is massive. And yet cancer also has an unquantifiable emotional and psychological reach.

With the continued technological advances of the internet and social media, and the increased propensity (quite properly) for patients to take control of their health and treatment, rather than deferring unquestioningly to the medical profession, it is perhaps not surprising that legal claims arising out of the misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer subtypes continue to take up a considerable amount of legal time. Yet, even since the first edition of ‘A Practical Guide to Claims Arising from Delays in Diagnosing Cancer’ was published in 2018, sources of information to help practitioners through the practicalities of taking on and managing these complex cases remain sparse.

This second edition will equip you with the tools to deconstruct and manage these legally and often factually complex and emotive claims through to trial. It will also provide a practical and easy to digest guide for the legal practitioner through from the history underlying this area of law and the science underpinning it, through the initial review of a claim to the selection of experts, and considering how to establish or indeed challenge breach of duty and causation as well as the often overlooked complexities of framing a claim for the terminally ill client. Against that background, this edition updates and reviews changes in the social, economic and political background to these claims since 2018, updates and analyses the case law pertinent to such claims, and includes a new chapter to consider how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect the investigation of such claims.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Bella Webb is a barrister at Old Square Chambers. She has 26 years of experience with a flourishing practise principally in the clinical negligence and clinical regulatory fields. She is used to working on high value and sensitive claims, where her empathetic, compassionate and professional approach allows her clients (be they Claimant or Defendant) to feel as at ease as possible and to have total confidence in her expertise. Delayed cancer claims are a particular specialism and an area in which Bella is highly respected. It is a subject upon which she speaks and offers training regularly.

Bella is credited in the Legal 500 as an advocate who is “very intelligent and intuitive in her approach to cases. She is a very well respected junior.” (2026) and in Chambers and Partners as an advocate who is “so thorough, her understanding and attention to detail is first class. She leaves no stone unturned” (2026).

CONTENTS

Chapter One – Introduction

Chapter Two – The History and the Science
The History
League Tables and Audits
The Science
Grade and Stage
i. Grade
ii. Stage and Staging Systems
Doubling Times
Summary

Chapter Three – The Opening Review of a Case – Use of Guidelines and Statistics
First Steps
Reviewing the Medical Records
Witness Evidence
The NICE Guidelines
How to Maximise Breach of Duty Submissions
Summary

Chapter Four – Different Types of Cancer and Their Varied Legal Impact
Multiple Consultations
Why are Some Cancers More Likely to Require Multiple Consultations?
How Does This Affect Breach of Duty?
Summary

Chapter Five – COVID and Cancer
Claims to Consider
How Relevant are Resources and Experience
to Breach of Duty
Potential Avenues of Liability
Delays in Accessing Treatment
Missed Diagnoses
Confusing Cancer with COVID
Summary

Chapter Six – Experts
Expert Selection
The Right Experts?
Instructing the Experts
Summary

Chapter Seven – Causation
Factual Causation
The Pitfalls of Expert Causation Evidence
Reliance upon Data for Differing Cancer Types or Reliance Upon Data at the Expense of Histology and Symptom Presentation
Life Expectancy Data
Summary

Chapter Eight – Legal Causation
Causation in a Clinical Negligence Setting
Loss of Chance
Lost Years Claims
Material Contribution? The Future?
Summary

Chapter Nine – Client Care and Framing the Case
Sensitivity
Framing the Case
How and When to bring Proceedings
The Primary Options
Provisional Damages
Periodical Payments
Taxation
Drafting Complexities
Summary