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NEGLIGENCE
Khan (Respondent) v Meadows (Appellant)
Case summary
Case ID
UKSC/2019/0011
Parties
Appellant(s)
Meadows
Respondent(s)
Khan
Issue
If a child born with more than one disability would not have been born but for a doctor's failure to advise of the risk of their being born with one of those disabilities, can the mother sue the doctor for the costs associated with all of the child's disabilities, or only for the costs associated with the disability the doctor was consulted on?
Facts
The appellant, Ms Meadows, is the mother of a child with haemophilia and autism. Before her pregnancy, Ms Meadows asked Dr Khan to establish whether she carried the haemophilia gene. Following blood tests, the mother was wrongly led to believe that any child she had would not have haemophilia. Had Ms Meadows known that she carried the haemophilia gene, she would have undergone foetal testing for haemophilia when she was pregnant. This would have revealed the foetus was affected. Ms Meadows would then have chosen to terminate her pregnancy, and her child would not have been born.Ms Meadows sought damages from Dr Khan based on wrongful birth. She argued that Dr Khan was liable for all the consequences of the pregnancy. Dr Khan admitted liability for the consequences of the child's haemophilia, but denied liability in relation to the autism.The High Court held that Ms Meadows was entitled to damages in relation to the costs of bringing up a child with haemophilia and that she was entitled to the additional costs in relation to her child’s autism, even though that was an unrelated condition.The Court of Appeal allowed Dr Khan’s appeal. Ms Meadows now appeals to the Supreme Court.
Date of issue
15 January 2019
Judgment appealed
Judgment details
Judgment date
18 June 2021
Neutral citation
[2021] UKSC 21
Judgment links
Judgment summary
18 June 2021
Appeal
Justices
Hearing dates
Start date
5 November 2020
End date
5 November 2020
Watch hearings
5 November 2020 - Morning session
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Last updated 16 April 2024