The male defendant, Stone, and his mentally disabled son lived in Stone’s house with the female defendant, Dobinson. Stone’s sister came to live as a lodger. She neglected herself to such an extent that she became helplessly infirm. Fanny refused to supply the name of her GP because she thought she might be ‘put away’ if she did. She refused to leave her bed. Although they knew that the sister was in poor condition Stone and Dobinson failed to obtain help. In particular, they did not say anything to the social worker who visited the son. Dobinson attempted with a neighbour to wash the sister. The neighbour suggested she should contact social services and the landlord of their local pub which they visited every day advised calling a doctor. Nothing was done and three weeks later the sister died from the effects of immobilisation, infected bed sores and malnutrition. The prosecution case was that the defendants had undertaken a duty of care towards a person who could not care for herself. The defendants appealed on the ground that the deterioration in her condition was not something for which they could be responsible.
Held: The Court of Appeal disagreed. The appeal failed.
Geoffrey Lane LJ said: ‘This was not a situation analogous to the drowning stranger. They did make efforts to care . . The jury were entitled to find that the duty had been assumed. They were entitled to conclude that once Fanny became helplessly infirm, as she had by July 19, the appellants were, in the circumstances, obliged to summon help or else care for Fanny themselves.’
Judges:
Geoffrey Lane LJ
Citations:
[1977] 2 All ER 341, [1977] 2 WLR 169, [1977] 1 QB 354
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland CA 9-Dec-1992
The official Solicitor appealed against a decision that doctors could withdraw medical treatment including artificial nutrition, from a patient in persistent vegetative state.
Held: The doctors sought permission to act in accordance with . .
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Cited – Jenkins, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Coroner for Portsmouth and South and Others Admn 11-Dec-2009
The deceased had contracted gangrene, but not sought treatment, and he died of it. The claimant challenged the narrative verdict saying that it was perverse and that the only proper verdict was unlawful killing by his partner, a nurse who had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.180377
