Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury

Practice Summary

Doughty Street Chambers offers a comprehensive clinical negligence, medical law and personal injury service with inter-disciplinary expertise in cases involving human rights, international claims, public law, mental health, Court of Protection "best interests" and community care issues. The team is recognised as a leading set by Chambers & Partners in the fields of clinical negligence, personal injury and product liability.

Our Expertise

Client care lies at the heart of the team approach to personal injury and clinical negligence work. Particular emphasis is placed on dealing sensitively and tactfully with clients and making complex litigation and decision-making readily understandable. Practitioners recognise that in fast moving litigation they must be accessible to solicitors. Chambers has conference facilities for people with disabilities and provides a video-conferencing service.

In clinical negligence practitioners offer a broad range of experience covering a wide spectrum of cases from cerebral palsy to misdiagnosis, anaesthetic awareness, surgical errors and fatal accidents. There is also specific expertise within the team in hospital acquired infection.

Both senior and junior tenants are also instructed in personal injury matters that range from catastrophic and spinal injuries to fast track personal injury work. A number of tenants also offer considerable experience in employment related personal injury, including accidents at work, industrial disease and workplace fatalities.

The team also has a wealth of experience in sexual and physical abuse claims and members of the team have represented abuse victims, including victims of torture and unlawful detention.

Doughty Street has wide-ranging experience in the representation of claimants in group actions. Members have appeared in most of the high profile group actions in recent years, including CJD, Myodil, Tobacco, BSE, Norplant, Hepatitis C, Oral Contraceptive Pill, Gulf War Syndrome, Alder Hey, South African mining claims, FAC litigation, MMR, Seroxat, North West Homes litigation, Bangladesh water poisoning litigation, and the PTSD, Porton Down, Kenyan Rape and Masai claims against the Ministry of Defence.

We offer substantial experience in advocacy at Public Inquiries and Inquests as well as in related judicial review hearings. Members of the team have appeared before the Ashworth Inquiry, the BSE Inquiry and the Porton Down Inquest and represent bereaved relatives at many inquests each year.

A considerable amount of legal negligence work rising out of lost or mishandled personal injury and clinical negligence claims and healthcare professional conduct and regulatory work is also undertaken.

A number of the team have edited or contributed chapters to practitioner textbooks on personal injury law, clinical negligence, professional negligence and group actions.

Solicitors are invited to attend CPD training, seminars and master classes on current topics which are held in chambers or at solicitor offices on request.