Do health professionals owe a duty to people who are not their patients? Elizabeth Milbourn reports
In ABC v St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust and others [2015] EWHC 1394 (QB), [2015] All ER (D) 172 (May), the court ruled that the defendants’ duty of care could not extend to a patient’s daughter. To quote the judge, Mr Justice Nicol, “the essential facts of this claim are short and tragic”. The claimant’s father was convicted of manslaughter for killing the claimant’s mother. The father was subsequently sentenced to a Hospital Order under the Mental Health Act 1983. He was detained by one of the first defendant’s clinics, run by the second defendant. While detained he also saw a social worker who was employed by the third defendant.
Patient confidentiality
In 2009, the father was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. A child has a 50% chance of developing Huntington’s Disease, if one of their parents has it. The various health professionals employed by the defendants sought the father’s permission to tell his daughter, who was pregnant at the time, about the diagnosis. The father refused. The claimant’s
