Resources

An NHS Trust and others v Y (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) and another [2018] UKSC 46   The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled that neither the domestic law nor the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) made it mandatory, in every case, to apply to the court for approval before clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (“CANH”) could be withdrawn from a patient with a prolonged disorder of consciousness (“PDOC”) ...

Singapore court decision: UKM v Attorney-General [2018] SGHCF 18 Facts: The appellant had been in a long-term relationship with his same-sex partner. They decided to raise a child together and paid a surrogate mother in the United States to carry and deliver a baby conceived through in vitro fertilisation, in which procedure the appellant’s sperm and the egg of an anonymous donor were used. Subsequently, the surrogate mother gave birth to the appellant’s biological son (&ldq ...

30 November, 2018 While the debut of the blue mannequin-like Fire Services Department mascot “Anyone” (“任何仁”), as well as the message it promotes (“Anyone can save lives in emergencies!”), has become massively popular in Hong Kong, it has also raised some concerns about whether those who attempt to follow this message may be held legally liable for doing so if something goes wrong with the rescue attempt. Hong Kong follows the English common law position, wh ...

Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2018] UKSC 50 Facts: A 26 year-old man Michael Darnley sought assistance at an Accident and Emergency (“A&E”) department in a hospital in the United Kingdom which was managed by the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust after he was struck on the head by an unknown assailant. The receptionist informed Darnley that he would have to wait up to 4-5 hours before someone could attend to him. However, the usual practice of the A&E Depart ...

Lam Wing Hei and Lam Tsz Kiu v Hospital Authority [2018] 2 HKLRD 1441 The Hong Kong Court of First Instance recently held in the case of Lam Wing Hei and Lam Tsz Kiu v Hospital Authority [2018] 2 HKLRD 1441 that, even if the Hospital Authority failed to advise the mother (the second plaintiff) of the material risk of the baby being born seriously deformed so that she might consider having an abortion, the baby (the first plaintiff) would not have a valid negligence claim for compensation agai ...

Date: 31 May, 2017 Author: Terry Kaan Blog post: The distressing experience of the couple who is seeking the return of the remains of a 16- week-old foetus following a miscarriage exposes some gaps in the current law which need urgent resolution. The sticking point seems to be the refusal of the hospital to issue a Form 13 ‘Certificate of Still-Birth’ which is required for cremation or burial on the grounds that the foetus had not reached the 24-week mark. From the Hospital Au ...