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Paediatricians did not have duty of care to patient's mother

BMJ 2002; 325 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7376.1321/c (Published 07 December 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;325:1321
  1. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
  1. BMJ

    A mother who alleged that Professor David Southall and another paediatrician caused her to develop a psychiatric illness by wrongly diagnosing her child as a possible victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy is taking her case to the Court of Appeal after it was thrown out by a judge at Chester county court.

    Judge Hale ruled that Professor Southall and Dr Karen Whiting, a community paediatrician, owed no duty of care to Janet Davies, mother of Michael, and therefore no claim for negligence could proceed against the former East Berkshire Health Authority, Dr Whiting's employer.

    Michael, then aged nearly 6 years, …

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