Self-test questions: Breach of Duty

. The concept of the reasonable person is a legal fiction, but in which case was this definition provided? "Negligence is the omission to do something a reasonable man would do or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do."

. Which of the following factors are disregarded or not taken into consideration when establishing the appropriate standard of care in a negligence claim?

. Walter is a junior doctor on his second week in the job. In an emergency situation he makes a mistake in the dosage of medication which is prescribed for one of his patients Ezra when he misreads Ezra's charts; Ezra suffers physical harm as a result. What is the standard of care that the Court would expect of Walter to determine whether or not he has breached his duty of care?

. Melanie is a 14 year old who is playing a game with her friend Emma, where they flick pen lids at each other. Melanie flicks one of the pen lids and it hits Emma in the eye, causing serious damage to her eye. What is the appropriate standard of care in this situation?

. George suffered with migraines, which developed in a similar way each time he suffered an attack, he would start feeling slightly nauseous, then the headache would start, before he would suffer visual disturbances. One day George began to feel as if a migraine was developing, and having reached the nausea and headache stage, he decided to drive to the shops. On his way there he began to suffer visual disturbances and crashed his car into a pedestrian crossing the road. There is clearly an established duty of care as George is a motorist. Has George breached his duty of care?

. Which case introduced a test for the standard of care for professionals being that of "the ordinary skilled person exercising and professing to have that special skill"?

. A mother is about to deliver her baby in a high risk pregnancy. She has not been informed by her consultant about the 10% risk of injury if she attempts a natural delivery rather than a surgical intervention by way of caesarean delivery. Her baby sustains serious injuries during the natural delivery. The consultant relies upon the Bolam test to show that she complied with accepted medical practice in not informing the mother of every significant risk of the procedure. Is the doctor in breach of her duty of care?

. Jeremy lives next door to a community tennis club. The club has built a 10 foot high wall to keep the balls inside the club, and netting above that on a frame. In the last 20 years there have only been 5 instances of balls coming over the wall and through the netting. One day a ball comes over the wall and crashes through Jeremy's greenhouse shattering the glass and damaging his prize tomatoes. Is the tennis club in breach of their duty of care?

. Helen is a scout volunteer leader, she organises a game in the dark where the scouts run around the room, with minimal lighting, trying to find objects hidden in the scout hut. Tom is a 13 year old scout who, whilst running in the dark, trips and falls breaking his arm. Have Helen and the Scout Association breached their duty of care to Tom?

. What statutes have been brought into effect to address the commonly held view that there is a compensation culture in existence in the UK, requiring the Courts to have regard to the wider impact of the assessment of standard of care in negligence?

. What are the requirements for a Claimant to successfully use the Latin maxim res ipsa loquitur?

. BigShop is a large supermarket chain. Arika is a customer who slips on some spilled cream on the floor of an aisle in one of BigShop's supermarkets, she injures her back in the fall. Arika is unable to say how long the cream had been left spilled on the floor, but argues that BigShop have breached their duty of care to her as a customer by failing to clean it up or have procedures in place to do so. Are BigShop in breach of their duty of care?

. Imran is driving his car at speed when he collides with Perry a motorcyclist. Perry is injured in the collision and his motorbike is damaged. Imran is charged with driving without due care and attention and convicted of the offence in his local Magistrates' Court. Perry brings a claim in negligence, how can he prove that Imran has breached his duty of care?

. Sam is a fireman travelling to an emergency on a lorry carrying heavy equipment to rescue someone trapped under a vehicle in a road traffic accident. The equipment shifts in the back of the lorry as it is travelling and injures Sam. The vehicle was not adapted to carry this equipment as the suitably adapted fire appliance was already on a callout. Can Sam establish a breach of the duty of care?

. In Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] the Court considered the importance of informed consent to treatment, which requires a medical professional to inform a patient about risks associated with treatment which were or should have been known to the medical professional and whether a patient is informed of a particular risk depends upon whether that risk is material. What is the definition from the case about materiality of risk?

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