Facts: in a number of cases, children had been removed from their parents for a period of time, on the basis of doctors’ opinions, that the parents had deliberately harmed them, or fabricated their symptoms. The parents sued the doctors in negligence. They established that the doctors owed the children a duty of care (JD and others v East Berkshire CH and others1[2003] EWCA Civ 1151, (2004) 7 CCLR 63.) and the Trust did not appeal that. However, they appealed the conclusion of the Court of Appeal that the doctors did not owe the parents a duty of care.

Judgment: the House of Lords (Lords Bingham, Nicholls, Steyn, Rodger and Brown, Lord Bingham dissenting) held that for sound public policy reasons, doctors owed a duty of care to children undergoing medical tests for suspected child abuse, but not their parents/carers. The parents/carers might, however, have a claim under the ECHR.

Comment: the parents went to the European Court of Human Rights and succeeded under Articles 8 and 13 ECHR: see MAK and RK v United Kingdom (see para 26.26 below).2Application Nos 45901/05 and 40146/06, (2010) 13 CCLR 241, ECtHR.