ABSTRACT
The plaintiff has to prove the defendant caused the injury in fact and law, and the injury must not be too remote. Proving the negligence caused the plaintiff’s injury is a considerably difficult task, compounded by two factors highlighted by Grubb (see Grubb in Markesinis and Deakin (1999), p 289): (a) ‘the aetiology of disease and injury’ may be difficult to establish even for
experts; (b) since patients are ill, and the doctor’s negligence will usually relate to a
failure to cure or alleviate their existing condition, the court is required to ask the hypothetical question: ‘what would have happened if there had been no negligence?’
