Medical Negligence & The Medical Innovation Bill
The Medical Innovation Bill often dubbed the Saatchi Bill, had potential to be the biggest change to medical negligence law that many would have seen, yet it was met with reluctance and hesitation. The Bill reached the final stage before royal assent, however Parliament prorogued and the Bill made no further progress. Then we saw it rebranded by Chris Heaton-Harris as The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Bill who sought to take it through the House of Lords as a private member’s Bill. Once again, parliament session ended and the Bill did not proceed, but it raised the question of if we needed this Bill.
The Bill concerned itself with the test of reasonableness which all doctors must currently adhere to under the common law test of Bolam which was later added to by Bolitho. All doctors are subject to this test if faced with a medical negligence claim. To … Read more