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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Breeze v Ahmad [2005] EWCA Civ 223 (08 March 2005) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2005/223.html Cite as: [2005] EWCA Civ 223 |
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COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM COVENTRY COUNTY COURT
H.H. JUDGE McKENNA
CV2 03165
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE RIX
and
MR JUSTICE BENNETT
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CAROL BREEZE (as Personal Representative of the Estate of Leonard Breeze, Deceased) |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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Dr SAEED AHMAD |
Respondent |
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Smith Bernal Wordwave Limited, 190 Fleet Street
London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Kieran Coonan Q.C. and Nicholas Peacock (instructed by The Medical Protection Society) for the Respondent
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr Justice Bennett :
(i) that the Claimant was a dependant of the deceased
(ii) in favour of the Claimant, rejecting the Defendant's evidence as to what had happened on 22 June 1999 when the deceased was examined by the Defendant
(iii) that the Defendant broke his duty of care. The judge said:-
"55. In my Judgment, had the Defendant exercised the reasonable skill and care to be expected of a GP, he would have detected at the very least an unexplained chest pain which was likely to be unstable angina. Had the Defendant examined the Deceased and taken a full history, I conclude on a balance of probabilities that he would have referred the Deceased to hospital; the Deceased was a middle aged male, sedentary and a heavy smoker presenting with central chest pain which could not be explained as being non cardiac.
56. In my Judgment the standard of care provided by Dr Saeed to Mr Breeze fell far below the standard to be expected of a GP and, what is more, he has compounded that failure by maintaining throughout these proceedings that the Deceased presented with other than central chest pain in an attempt to avoid the consequences of his negligent treatment."
(iv) in favour of the Defendant on the issue of causation.
"41. Finally, there is the evidence which the Defendant gave that the Deceased referred to a non existent accident (at least on the evidence of the Claimant) as a possible cause of the pain. That piece of evidence is simply inconceivable and reinforces the view which I have come to, that his evidence is not to be relied upon and moreover that the account which he has given as to the location of the pain, as identified by the Deceased, has been fabricated.
42. That the Defendant is capable of altering his evidence following complaint is amply demonstrated by a previous finding of serious misconduct against him by the General Medical Council."
"The pericardium was normal. The heart weighed 425g. Both atria were normal. The right ventricle weighed 235gs and showed hypertrophy with occasional fibrotic foci in keeping with hypertensive and ischaemic heart disease. The coronary arteries showed severe atherosclerosis with around 90% luminal occlusion. The valves had circumferences of tricuspid 12 centimetres, pulmonary 7 centimetres, mitral 10 centimetres and aortic 7 centrimetres (sic). The mitral and aortic valves showed mild degenerative changes. The aorta showed severe complicated atheroma throughout its length. Other arteries showed severe atherosclerosis. The pulmonary trunk was normal with no evidence of an embolus. The vena cavae and other veins appeared unremarkable. "
"1A Left ventricular failure due to
1B Hypertension and ischaemic heart disease."
"58. It is the Claimant's case that as a result of the Defendant's negligence, the Deceased's cardiac condition remained undiagnosed and untreated whereas had he been referred immediately to hospital his condition on the balance of probabilities would have been detected and he would have received treatment which would have prevented his untimely death.
59. By contrast the Defendant asserts that by reason of the Deceased's extensive coronary atherosclerosis he was at risk of sudden unexpected death; further that is [it] was improbable that death could have been avoided even if the Deceased had been referred to hospital, as I have found he should have been on 22 June."
"65. Dr Channer's original analysis that the Deceased was not suffering from acute coronary syndrome on 22 June was based on his understanding that the pain was constant for three or four days. However, the evidence of the Claimant, which I have accepted is that the pain was not constant which, of course, is consistent with unstable angina. On the balance of probabilities I conclude that had the Deceased been referred to hospital as he should have been, then he would have been diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome with unstable angina and have been admitted in the way suggested by Professor Oakley. In coming to that conclusion, I accept what Professor Oakley says about troponin levels not being normal and the results of the exercise test being abnormal. Indeed, Dr Channer conceded that if Professor Oakley's analysis was correct then the troponin would have been raised when the Deceased was sent to hospital, and an acute coronary syndrome would have been detected."
"whether, on the balance of probabilities, even if he had been admitted to hospital, the Deceased would have survived and his sudden death [been] prevented." [paragraph 66]
He thereupon analysed the evidence of Professor Oakley and Dr Channer. He preferred the evidence of Dr Channer.
"It follows from my findings that the Claimant has failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that death would have been avoided had the Defendant acted with the reasonable skill and care to be expected of a General Practitioner."
He accordingly dismissed the claim.
"In her view, the combined effect of all the various treatments which she suggested he would have received would have been such that the Deceased would have survived. She pointed out that surgical techniques are much better now than formerly. There is a higher potency rate and surgeons are better able to protect the heart muscle."
"70. I have to say that on this issue I find the evidence of Dr Channer to be compelling supported, as it is, by recent literature. Professor Oakley's suggestion that the Deceased would have undertaken by-pass surgery within a month was contrary to Dr Channer's view and is, in my judgment, overly optimistic but even if he had been so treated, the trial evidence provided by Dr Channer suggests that mortality is actually higher in the intervention group and not lower.
71. Moreover, the conclusion which I have come to as to the optimistic nature of Professor Oakley's evidence in this regard is highlighted in my mind by a paragraph from her first report in which she says as follows:
"Whatever the detail of his management he would, on the balance of probabilities, have been saved from his death on 20 July and with a better blood supply to his heart plus pharmacological treatment he would have returned to work with an improved long-term prognosis." (Paragraph 3.11 at page 59 in the trial bundle)
I find it difficult to see how, with respect to Professor Oakley, she could make such a sweeping statement whatever the detail of the Deceased's management in hospital."
(i) Contribution of trends in survival and coronary events to changes in coronary heart disease mortality: 10 year results from 37 WHO MONICA Project populations by Tunstall-Pedoe, Kuulasmaa, Mahonen and others, published in The Lancet 1999, 353: 1547-1557 (to which I will refer as "Monica").
(ii) Interventional versus conservative treatment for patients with unstable angina or non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction: the British Heart Foundation RITA 3 randomised trial, by Fox, Poole-Wilson, Henderson and others, published in The Lancet 2002; 360: 743-750. (to which I will refer as "Rita").
"Although the trials of treatment of unstable angina have shown less than a 50% reduction in mortality ascribable to the new drug or intervention under test this is because for ethical reasons trials have to compare the treatment being tested with best possible treatment excluding only the treatment under test. Over the years the outlook has steadily improved such that the 30 day mortality has fallen from more than 30% 20 or 30 years ago (despite inclusion then of many people with non cardiac pain at a time when diagnosis was clinical and often incorrect) to a less than 10% risk of death or major myocardial infarction today."
Dr Channer's contention was:-
"Even if he did have a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome, treatments including intervention would not OBOP prevent sudden cardiac death. KSC is unaware of any treatments which prevent sudden cardiac death – treatments may reduce the risk but this reduction does not approach 50%. If there were such treatments then the case fatality of acute myocardial infarction and chronic ischaemic heart disease would have been dramatically reduced and the recent epidemiological data do not support this."
"Dr Channer said that treatment for unstable angina would have been aspirin and heparin. Treatment would have reduced the risk of having an MI by 50% but not reduce death by 50%. All the trials show that death is not reduced. The reduction is 1-10% if that. The RITA 3 study which was a trial looking at treatment and surgery. The surgery did not take place at 7 days. In 1999 it would have been inconceivable that this man would have had urgent coronary artery bypass surgery grafts (CABG). The Walsgrave did not provide surgery within a month."
"Q. And you have heard that she said treatment, certainly by the time we are dealing with, medical and surgical techniques have improved dramatically. That has no effect, does it, on your view?
A. I did not say it had no effect. I argue simply about the size of the effect. Epidemiological data, which I do refer to in my report, not in its detail but in the fact that there is a continuing – there is no epidemiological data of the treatment effects being 50 per cent reduction. But there is clear epidemiological data from across the world that the incidence of coronary artery disease, the prevalence and death from coronary artery disease, is falling and has fallen indeed over the last 20 years. There was a huge study done by the WHO (authors Tunstall & Pedoe) that looked at the cause of that reduction. They showed a four per cent reduction in mortality from hospital treatments of all causes over ten years. I wouldn't be here as a cardiologist if I didn't think what I did had some benefit. Of course, treatments have some benefits. What they don't do -----
Q. Quite. What is the point of having cardiologists -----
A. What they do not do is reduce sudden cardiac death by 51 per cent within a month of presentation on the hypothesis that the presentation was due to acute unstable angina without myocardial infarction.
Q. And you are relying on old trials where there is clearly unrepresentation of high risk patients, ignoring the fact that there have been huge advances in terms of surgical technique and the type of drugs that would have been given to this man had he been admitted to hospital. That is your opinion, is it?
A. No, as I said to my Lord earlier, the British trial of management of unstable angina by intervention showed an increased risk of death in the first six months. This was not an old trial in the '70s, this was published in 2002. It is called the RITA 3 Trial."
(i) the judge, in assessing which expert's evidence to accept on this point, was plainly influenced by the lack of "literature" to support Professor Oakley and by the support of "literature" for Dr Channer's views.
(ii) So far as Monica is concerned
(a) Dr Channer made an unwitting but important mistake when he said in cross- examination that Monica showed a 4% reduction over 10 years in mortality from hospital treatments of all causes. Dr Channer now accepts that Monica showed an annual reduction of 4% i.e. 40% over 10 years.
(b) Dr Channer misstated the whole thrust of Monica. Monica did not record an annual 4% reduction in mortality from hospital treatments but that cardiac mortality rates had fallen by 4% per annum. Monica set out to find what had caused such a reduction. If the paper had been to hand at the trial, Dr Channer could have been cross-examined to the effect that Monica suggested that the reality was that medical treatment had caused between one-fifth and one-third of the overall reduction in cardiac fatalities over 10 years.
(c) An American Study ("ARIC") referred to in Monica did not support the findings in Monica, in that it suggested that while the incidence of coronary disease remained stable, overall mortality fell at the same rate as mortality following medical treatment.
(iii) So far as Rita is concerned, although Rita does show an increased risk of death in unstable angina cases within 4 months after surgery as against medical treatment without surgery, nevertheless
(a) Rita inevitably involved trials which compared one form of treatment as against another, not treatment as against no treatment; and thus, in the instant case, because the deceased had had no treatment whatever the paper was irrelevant.
(b) When analysing the cause of such an increase it would be necessary to analyse whether the patients who underwent surgical intervention were high, medium or low risk.
(c) In any event Rita could be said to support the Claimant's case that a patient who is treated would expect to live, since only a relatively small percentage of deaths (or myocardial infarction or refractory angina) occurred in the four months or one year following treatment.
(d) Rita also provided evidence to suggest surgical intervention could probably have taken place within 22 days of hospitalisation.
"unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity in the proceedings…"
The judge himself was sufficiently troubled about it to give permission to appeal. In my judgment, and with respect, he was right to do so.
"But for the breach of duty would, on a balance of probabilities, Mr Breeze have received medical treatment and/or surgery between 22nd June and 20th July 1999, such that he would not have gone into ventricular fibrillation ("VF") outside hospital and therefore died?"
If the answer was in the affirmative, the judge would then decide quantum. Mr Maskrey submitted that it would be proper and cost affective to remit it to the judge who had heard the matter.
Lord Justice Rix :
Lord Justice Sedley :
ORDER: Appeal allowed. Agreed order that case remitted back to HHJ McKenna for determination of issue identified at paragraph 43 of Bennett J's judgment. Costs of appeal to be paid by defendant to claimant to be assessed on standard basis if not agreed. Costs of trial to be reserved to HHJ McKenna. Legal aid assessment of Claimant's costs.