Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington Hospital Management Committee

Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington Hospital Management Committee [1968] 2 WLR 422 is an English tort law case relating to the "but for" test of causation.

Facts

Three men attended at the emergency department of the hospital run by the Chelsea & Kensington Hospital Management Committee but the casualty officer, Dr Banerjee, did not see them, advising that they should go home and call their own doctors. One of the men died some hours later. The post mortem showed arsenic poisoning which was a rare cause of death.

Judgment

It was held, that on the 'but for' test, even if the deceased had been examined and admitted for treatment, there was little or no chance that the only effective antidote would have been administered to him in time. Although the hospital had been negligent, because it was more likely than not that he would have died anyway, the negligence was not the cause of death.

See also

• Negligence