Problem Question:

Miko has beendrinking heavilyin the pub. On leaving, he crosses the main road using apedestrian crossing but, as he is playing a game on his mobile phone, he is oblivious to oncoming traffic. He isknocked over on the crossing by Ricardo, a learner driver. Ricardo had suffered anepileptic seizure whilst driving. (Unfortunately, Ricardohad not been aware that he had suffered from the condition).Tilly, afellow pedestrian who is also at the crossing,could have stopped Miko from colliding with Ricardo, but, as she likes to mind her own business, decides not to intervene. Kabir, a bystander, saw the accident happen, and rushed to the busy road to drag Miko from the busy road to safety. Kabir was not, in fact, endangered in the process, but considered himself to beunder threat of being hit by other cars while rescuing Miko. Following these events, Kabir suffers frompost-traumatic stress disorder, which his doctors attribute to the event.

Miko is collected by Cornwood County Ambulance to be taken to Cornwood Cross Hospital (CCH),which is owned and operated by the local NHS Trust, as an emergency admission.Connor, the driver of the ambulance, who is feeling very tired, loses control of the ambulance turning a corner, and hits and injures Olivia, a pedestrian.Miko and Oliviaare transferred to another ambulance.

At CCH, Miko has anemergency operation performed by consultant surgeon, Wen. The operationappears successful, but during the night complications develop.Wen gives Miko a blood transfusion and an intense dosage of antibiotics (which is later conceded to have been the wrong course of treatment). The next dayMiko becomes partially paralysed in his right arm.The combination of alcohol and antibiotics could have been the cause of the paralysis.However, so could the jolting Miko received when the ambulance crashed, as could the complications which occurred the night before.

Olivia is admitted to the Casualty Department. The receptionist,Neta, who is in a rush to break for lunch, wrongly classifies Olivia's case as "non-urgent", with the result that Olivia waits three hours longer than necessary.She is eventually seen by a doctor,but suffers serious brain damage. The evidence at the trial is that, if Olivia had been seen as soon as she had been admitted, then she would have had a 38% chance of obtaining a better outcome. Tilly feels guilty following the incident, but otherwise her life carries on as normal.

Advise as to any possible actions in negligence.