Medical negligence claims and claims for occupation or industrial disease are notoriously complex and challenging claims primarily because of issues relating to causation. Causation is the area of law that seeks to establish what actually caused the injury suffered by a Claimant.
In a standard accident claim such as a car or motorbike accident, it’s normally very easy to establish what caused the injuries suffered by a Claimant. The lawyers can therefore simply focus on who was responsible for the accident.
The issue of causation in medical negligence and industrial disease claims by contrast, are more complicated particularly in circumstances where the injury could have more than one cause, which is an area of law that has occupied the attention of the House of Lords on several occasions.
Currently, there are two differing, and on the face of it, inconsistent tests on causation known as the “material contribution” test and the “but for” (or direct cause) test.
The rational of the “But For” test is that if the Claimant suffers injury that would not have occurred “but for” the Defendant’s negligence, then that negligence will be deemed to have caused the injury. The important point made is that the negligence need not be “the” cause as there may be other things that may be relevant and contributed to the injury.
The case Barnett -v- CK HMC is an example of the “but for” test. Three men attended hospital with clear symptoms of illness. The duty nurse called the casualty officer who did not see or examine the men but advised that they should go home and see their own doctors. Five hours later one of the men died from arsenic poisoning. Medical evidence was obtained which indicated that even if the deceased received prompt treatment it would not have been possible to save him. So even where the casualty officer was negligent, the hospital was not liable for the death because nothing could have been done for the man in any event.
The second test of “Material Contribution” is also known as the Bolam test after the case of Bolam v Friern HMC.
By way of illustration of the “Material Contribution” test, a Court of Appeal considered a claim involving a steel dresser who contracted pneumonconiosis as a result of exposure to silica dust from using both a pneumatic hammer and swing grinders. There was a statutory duty to provide extractor fans in respect of the use of swing grinders but not in Industrial Development Ppt relation to pneumatic hammer. The issue was whether the dust was caused by the grinders or the hammer. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Claimant only had to show the dust from the swing grinders had made a material contribution to the disease. The Claimant did not have to show that the dust from the grinders was the sole cause of the disease.
As can be seen from these two approaches, there lies some inconsistency, as the outcome of a case will be …
Category: Tips
What to Do If You Suspect You Are Being Bugged
Have you ever been in a situation where someone who really shouldn’t suddenly knows some information you have shared only in a private conversation or within a closed meeting with colleagues? Or have competitors known about confidential business information that was shared with only a few trusted individuals within a company?
In situations like this it might be that your communications may have fallen foul of being bugged with electronic eavesdropping equipment.
Eavesdropping can cost companies and individuals huge amounts in terms of money, time and reputation and it’s therefore something to try and spot and stop early in order to limit the damage caused by covert surveillance.
If you think you or your company is being bugged taking the following steps can help minimise the damage.
Confirm Your Suspicions
The first steps to take is to establish whether the information leak might simply be a slip of the tongue or if significant amounts of important data has fallen into the hands of those who should not be aware of it. Sometimes a few questions can reveal that a colleague has accidentally spoken out of term and that you are not being bugged at all.
Try to recall where the information may have been intercepted. Would it have come from a particular meeting room, from an email sent from a specific computer or an office or mobile phone?
If you think the leak came from a particular office or room take a look to see if you can identify anything as being different to normal in that room. For example, have any recent repairs been carried out or has anything significant been moved. This might indicate the planting of bugs.
Though it might be tempting, it is not advisable to look for bugs yourself. Experienced surveillance experts are skilled at hiding eavesdropping equipment. Tampering with any you find may affect the ability of counter surveillance experts to effectively find and deal with all bugs planted.
Contact Counter Surveillance Experts
If you are still suspicious that you under unauthorised surveillance it is important that you contact experienced bug sweeping professionals as soon as possible.
Leave the area that you believe is under suspicion and make a call to them from a safe area. This may even be from a public call Lean Manufacturing Principles Pdf box. This is important as you do not want to alert the person spying on you to the fact that you have become suspicious.
A counter surveillance expert will talk you through the initial steps you need to take to secure your communications. Where appropriate they will also arrange for a team to carry out a bug sweep of the suspected area.
Keep Your Suspicions To Yourself
To allow counter surveillance experts to carry out an effective bug sweep and discover all bugging devices before they are removed or disabled by the by bugger, it is essential that you keep your suspicions to yourself. Particularly in the workplace as bugs are often planted internally by members …
Formulation and Product Development – Gene Expression and Mitochondrial Anti-Senescence
There are many vitamin supplements that people take, but I’d say the most intriguing are those substances which interact with the body’s inner workings, that is to say they work with the DNA to help with your human component at the basic levels. The human mitochondrial DNA is a hearty, strong and unwavering, it is solid in every regard, and thus, helping it work its magic in an OTC – Over the Counter – product sure makes a lot of sense.
What if you have a line of products, some of which are not only supplements but also use something like carnosine to provide an anti-senescence affect, perhaps in a skin cream product, thus, What Are Non Manufactured Goods reducing the risk of cancer from UV damage? What we are talking about is actually working with the gene expression, assisting the human body in winning against challenges like skin cancer.
Sounds good right, thus if you had such a product line, you’d want to have an outsourced lab and a contact manufacturer to produce this as a private label product to give your customer. Giving them the ultimate value added benefits – preventing cancer is the goal here you see? Using such strategies you’d certainly have a winning product wouldn’t you?
Now then, what if you had a supplement which helped cognition, brain function, and alertness? What if your product was interacting with the peptide signaling working at the cellular level helping produce nueropeptides. The neuropeptides that just happen to run things in the brain, and what if you had this supplement set up in such a way to prevent inflammation too? What if you had such a supplement that was able to create happiness in the mind, reduce pain, increase immune efficiency, brain function, and regulate body weight too?
Are you beginning to see why you need to hire and outsource to a solid contract manufacturing laboratory when creating the perfect formula for your supplement lines? Look, there is a big difference in levels of expertise in the world. More and more companies are shipping everything to China to manufacture, but if you really want to have the best products it pays to spend a little more money, and get a product which will blow your competition away and make your customers brand loyalists.
This is why I’d recommend going with the best contract company you can find. But do your homework because outsourced supplement laboratories and manufacturers are not all created equally. Please consider all this and think on it, then make the choice that’s best for you, your company, and your customers.
Additional Meaning Of Genetic Industry Reference:
1. “A User’s Guide to the Brain – Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain,” by John J. Ratey MD., Double Day Publishing, New York, NY, 2002, 416 pages, ISBN: 978-03757-0107-8…