The DHSC has failed in a bid to overturn a key ruling in a long-running clinical negligence case.
Deemster John Needham dismissed the application to set aside a 2021 order which found it liable for failings in the antenatal care of a child born with severe disabilities.
The case centres on scans at Noble’s Hospital and the mother’s claims that had her child’s complex conditions been identified during pregnancy, she would have considered a termination.
The DHSC formally admitted liability and causation in a court-approved consent order in October 2021, but sought to retract that admission last year after instructing a new medical expert.
Dismissing the application, Deemster Needham emphasised the importance of legal finality, meaning the four-year-old order should stand.
The court separately corrected a procedural error, reinstating the child’s mother as the official claimant in the case and will now proceed to a hearing to determine the level of financial compensation.