Question

Apply the legal principles to the facts given below and select the most appropriate answer.
Legal Principles:
1. Negligence is a legal wrong that is suffered by someone at the hands of another who has a duty to take care but fails to take proper care to avoid what a reasonable person would regard as a foreseeable risk.
2. The test of liability requires that the harm must be a reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant's conduct, a relationship of proximity must exist and it must be fair, just and reasonable to impose liability.
3. The claimant must prove that harm would not have occurred 'but for the negligence of the defendant.
4. Duty of care is a legal obligation which is imposed on an individual requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others.
5. Conversations between a doctor and patient are generally confidential but there are few exceptions.
R, T and U were watchmen in Skypark Society. They were on night shift and began vomiting after drinking tea. They went to the SEM Hospital and complained to the nurse about it. The nurse thought they were vomiting because of alcohol they had been drinking earlier in the evening. However, the nurse reported it to the medical officer who refused to examine them and said that they needed to go home and contact their own doctors. They returned to their workplace, where U's condition deteriorated. U died of arsenic poisoning five hours later on way to hospital.
U's wife brought a claim of negligence against the Hospital administration. She argued that the hospital was negligent in not identifying that U had been poisoned, and the doctor should therefore have seen to him when they first approached the hospital. The hospital denied they were negligent, and in any event said they did not cause his death. Decide.

• A. The hospital is not liable for negligence because even if the patient was examined five hours earlier to the death he would have died anyways. The test of causation was not satisfied. The Hospital did not cause U's death - But for the defendant's negligence, U would have died anyways.
• B. It was highly possible that the doctor would have identified U's condition as arsenical poisoning, and therefore U would have received the treatment he needed to survive.
• C. Where there are a number of possible causes, the claimant must still prove the defendant's breach of duty caused the harm or was a material contribution.
• D. Both (A) & (C)

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

The correct option is (D):Both (A) & (C).