Failure to diagnose and communicate hereditary disease

If you and your family have been affected by failings in medical care involving a genetic condition, you may have a medical negligence claim for injuries associated with such failings.

Following Fieldfisher's case of ABC v St George's, a new duty of care was established in 2020 that requires clinicians to inform the family of patients known to be suffering a genetic condition, if they might also be at risk from that same condition.

This extends the duties of care owed by a doctor beyond the traditional doctor/patient relationship, so that they are now required to balance the rights of their patient to confidentiality with the rights of at-risk third parties with whom they, the clinicians, have a close relationship.  Such a relationship might involve nothing more than being known to the clinician.

If a member of your family has been diagnosed with a hereditary disease that doctors failed to discuss with relatives and which resulted in injury, you may have a medical negligence claim.

You may also have a case if the.e was a delay in diagnosing a genetic condition that impacts the individual and other family members.

This might include situations where you were not properly informed of a genetic condition that affected you and your child during pregnancy, particularly involving misdiagnosis of pre-natal scans.

Examples of genetic disease include:

• Huntingdon's disease
• Sickle cell disease
• Methylmalonic Acidemia and other metabolic conditions
• Congenital heart disease
• Down's Syndrome

Please contact Jonathan Zimmern or Paul McNeil to discuss your case in confidence.

Read about our genetic negligence cases.