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PI Brief Update

A Question of Fact: Factual findings and evaluation of evidence in the High Court - Michael Brooks Reid, Temple Garden Chambers

19/11/25. Michael Brooks Reid discusses the High Court’s approach to evaluation of evidence in the clinical negligence case Deakin-Stephenson v Behar & Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust[2024] EWHC 2338 (KB).

Background

The Claimant, DS, was admitted to hospital in November 2016 with diverticulitis and a localised perforation. Following what she alleged to be negligent treatment, the Claimant required a permanent stoma. The central disputes at trial concerned what had been said and done at the time—particularly whether DS and her family had requested referral to a colorectal surgeon and what advice was given about treatment options.

Significance of factual findings

The determination of the claim depended heavily on the Court’s resolution of factual disputes, and much of the case turned on the reliability of lay recollection and the weight to be given to documentary and circumstantial evidence.

The Legal Principles

The Judge set out no less than 13 principles to guide the process of judicial fact-finding and evaluation of witness evidence. These principles, derived from leading authorities, were, in short:

  • The burden of proof rests exclusively on the...

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All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.