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Court finds Noble's Hospital negligence caused a man's stroke in 2012

Failures to diagnose TIAs were missed opportunities to intervene

The negligence of doctors at Noble's Hospital in 2012 caused a man to have a debilitating stroke, a court has found.

Manx Care has run the hospital since 2021, so this judgement relates to the Department of Health and Social Care; previously in charge of operations.

The court heard that between January and March 2012, David Scutchings had suffered two Transient Ischaemic Attacks (TIAs), which Deemster John Needham found were missed opportunities to intervene.

Had they been identified the judge said, Mr Scutchings would have been prescribed aspirin which, "on the balance of probabilities" would have prevented his debilitating stroke in April.

Claimant and defendant agreed that the January TIA had been missed when Mr Scutchings was advised by a foundation year doctor that his facial droop and weakness in the left hand was "most likely because of sleeping on [right] side".

The second TIA was a matter of contention as Dr Al-Bazzaz, Manx Care's stroke expert, had initially defended the junior doctor's assessment that there was no TIA, but changed this stance during the hearings.

Deemster Needham decided Mr Scutchings had suffered a second TIA.

Manx Care argued that Mr Scutchings' lifestyle contributed to the likelihood he would have a stroke, but the judge said any changes between January and April would have been unlikely to have an impact.

On considering expert opinions, academic research and previous cases, Deemster Needham found that aspirin would have been likely to reduce the risk of a disabling stroke by up to 70%.

As such, Deemster Needham found that missing the opportunities to intervene in January and March did lead to Mr Scutchings' debilitating stroke in April 2012.

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