The MDU has won a landmark victory in the House of Lords in the case of Gregg v Scott.
The clinical negligence case argued that that claimant was harmed by the delay in diagnosing his cancer.
In the landmark case the House of Lords ruled that the principal of causation- that the doctor was in breach of a duty of care, and harm was caused as a consequence of that breach- did not apply to the claimant's case.
The MDU said it upheld the notion that patients who can “show they have been negligently harmed by doctors are compensated fairly and quickly.”
But, it said, in this case the claimant had been unable to prove causation. A notion that the House of Lords said should be upheld.
MDU head of professional services Dr Christine Tomkins said: “The MDU fought to uphold this principal in the High Court, Appeal Court and now the House of Lords and we are pleased to have won.
“If we had lost the case, it could have lead to the number of compensation claims increasing dramatically which would have had serious implications for our members and the NHS.”
