Life expectancy meaning

In this issue Key PI and Clinical Negligence developments Claims involving a fatality Limitation Damages Case management Further PI and Clinical Negligence updates LexisNexis® Quantum Portal LexTalk® PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts LexisNexis® Webinars Useful information Key PI and Clinical Negligence developments ‘Lost years’ damages available to child claimants: Supreme Court overrules Croke (CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) The Supreme Court in CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has upheld the appeal, confirming that children whose life expectancy has been curtailed by clinical negligence may recover ‘lost years’ damages. Disapproving the Court of Appeal’s stance in Croke v Wiseman [1982] 1 WLR 71, the court found no principled reason to bar very young claimants from seeking pecuniary losses attributable to the years of life taken away. The ruling...

In this issue: Social care Social housing Education Planning Governance Healthcare Children’s social care Licensing Local government finance Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content New Q&As Social care Court of Protection authorises high-risk surgery and post-operative mechanical ventilation in intensive care for young adult lacking capacity (RS, Re (Best Interests: Surgery and Intensive Care)) In GH v RS (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) and others, the Court of Protection sanctioned high-risk spinal surgery with planned prolonged elective ventilation for an 18-year-old who lacked capacity, finding the treatment to be in his best interests under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Applying Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v James, Mr Justice Poole balanced serious intra- and post-operative hazards against meaningful gains in mobility, comfort, and life expectancy. The ruling emphasises the court’s responsibility to resolve finely poised medical treatment choices on an objective basis, providing reassurance to...

Hill (a protected party by Naomi Chapman) v East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust [2025] EWHC 1241 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The claimant advanced a submission designed to sidestep the stringent consequences of the Swift v Carpenter calculation where life expectancy is short (Swift v Carpenter (Personal Injuries Bar Association intervening) [2020] EWCA Civ 1295). The court rejected that route, with the result that the proper basis for compensating the capital cost of securing new accommodation in short life expectancy claims remains unresolved. That question will need to be determined at a quantum trial, rather than on an application for an interim payment. In practice, the most straightforward course appears to be for the claimant to seek the entirety of the uplift in capital cost unless, when asked, the defendant puts forward an alternative structure which prevents the claimant’s estate from receiving a windfall. Until such a mechanism is proposed, the claim for the full increased capital value stands as the ready solution...

This Practice Note provides links to the national life tables and to the projected life expectation tables. National life tables Produced annually for the UK and its constituent countries, national life tables present period expectation of life statistics...

PI & Clinical negligence horizon scanner—July 2025 [Archived] ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It summarises the principal legal developments relevant to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as at July 2025. For developments predating this horizon scanner, see PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning and key cases—overview. Key PI and clinical negligence developments The personal injury discount rate—a review In late 2024, the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, revealed the outcome of her five‑month review of the discount rate, initiated in July 2024. One month after the new +0.5% discount rate took effect, Thea Wilson (barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk) assesses its impact on cases, the responses from claimant and defendant representatives, and the consequences of the change for legal practitioners. See News Analysis: The personal injury discount rate—a review. MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced lower interest rates for the Courts Funds Office’s (CFO) special and basic accounts...

This case tracker reviews clinical negligence liability decisions from January 2021 onwards. The judgments offer guidance on how the courts are addressing different types of clinical negligence claim. Where possible, we have included links to the judgments and/or analysis. Use this tracker alongside Practice Notes on specific claim types, such as Clinical negligence claims involving labour and delivery—injuries to the child, Delay in medical treatment, and Clinical negligence surgical claims... Birth injuries Case name and details CCC (by her mother and litigation friend MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5, February 2026. On appeal, the Supreme Court considered whether a child claimant can recover ‘lost years’ damages for earnings she would have made during the period by which her life expectancy was shortened by the defendant’s clinical negligence. CCC sustained a severe hypoxic brain injury at birth in 2015, reducing her life expectancy to 29 years. The Trust admitted liability. It was agreed that, absent the injury, she would have lived a normal...