ABSTRACT
There are a number of reported cases on clinical guidelines which show how the courts can use and be influenced by guidelines.
The claimant, Sarah Early, then aged 13, went to the operating theatre to have an appendectomy. The anaesthetist gave her an intravenous injection of thiopentone, 100 micrograms of phentonyl and 100 milligrams of suxamethonium. He was unable to intubate successfully and the effect of the thiopentone wore off before the effect of the suxamethonium wore off. The claimant came to in a state of panic and distress as her body was still partly paralysed. The defendants were sued on the basis that: (1) the anaesthetist was negligent; and (2) the procedure which he adopted when he discovered he was unable successfully to intubate the claimant was faulty.
