[1997] QB 1004 at 1034. A number of authorities show that an acceptance of the role (usually under statutory powers or duties) of protecting the community in general from foreseeable dangers does not carry with it a legal duty of care to safeguard individual members of the community from those dangers. These cases turned upon the assumption of responsibility to an individual. There was a contrast with a fire or a crime, where an unlimited number of members of the public could be affected and the damage could be to property or only economic. Mr. Walker advanced five arguments in support of the proposition that there was insufficient proximity to give rise to a duty of care on the facts of this case. A doctor must be available to give immediate attention to any boxer should this be required. The Board, however, arrogates to itself the task of determining what medical facilities will be provided at a contest by (i) requiring the boxer and the promoter to contract on terms under which the Board's Rules will apply and (ii) making provision in those Rules for the medical facilities and assistance to be provided to care for the boxer in the event of injury. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,100],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-3-0'); Cited by: Cited Binod Sutradhar v Natural Environment Research Council CA 20-Feb-2004 The defendant council had carried out research into a water supply in India in the 1980s. So may be an education officer performing the functions of a local education authority in regard to children with special educational needs. . It would only have added three minutes or so if he had waited until he was summoned. .Cited Jane Marianne Sandhar, John Stuart Murray v Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions CA 5-Nov-2004 The claimants husband died when his car skidded on hoar frost. An operation was carried out to remove a moderate size haematoma and to close such veins as were found to be oozing blood. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control [2001] QB 1134 was a case of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales that established an exception to the defence of consent to trespass to the person and an extension of the duty of care expected in cases of negligence. He submitted that, having regard to the chaos prevailing at the end of the fight, Mr Watson would not have received medical attention for seven minutes, even if the Hamlyn protocol had been in place. I shall revert to the details of this when I come to consider the question of breach. The Judge referred (Transcript p.17) to the question of whether to attach a duty of care to the facts of the present case would be an acceptable incremental extension of established liabilities, or too long a step. On the findings of the judge it was delay which caused the further injuries. There had been a number of similar cases in the 1980's. ii) to identify any categories of cases in which these principles have given rise to a duty of care, or conversely where they have not done so. Thus the criteria identified by Hobhouse L.J. 3. Michael Watson stands to receive no more than 400,000 compensation The settlement of Watson's case against the British Boxing Board of Control, approved by the High Court in London. 110. This is a further factor which tends to establish the proximity necessary for a duty of care. 3. By the time he received resuscitation in hospital he had sustained permanent brain damage which such treatment would have prevented. Indirect Influence on the Occurrence of Injury. As I read the judgment the duty of care turned upon the acceptance by the ambulance service of the request to provide an ambulance and thus the acceptance of responsibility for the care of the particular patient. I think that the Judge was right. 78. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Alexandrou v Oxford (1933), Maguire v Harland & Wolff PLC (2005), Calvert v William Hill (2008) and more. Administrative, Personal Injury, Negligence, Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.135634. This contention had some similarities to submissions made in relation to the Popular Flying Association in. The defendant said that the report was preliminary only and could not found a . It is worth setting out the passage of the report of the Board's expert, Dr Cartlidge, which dealt with this aspect of the case. The phrase means simply that the law recognises that there is a duty of care. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe. On the evidence I consider that the Judge was entitled to find that, even if resuscitation had not been commenced until after help was summoned, it would probably have resulted in a significantly better outcome for Mr Watson. The first challenge to the Judge's finding on breach of duty was that he applied the wrong test. Mr Morris, commenting in his Witness Statement on the Statement of Claim, stated: "We do collaborate with the medical profession, indeed we believe that our Rules are as good as currently can be devised, taking into account the medical interests of the boxers, and the requirements of the sport itself. He held the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1989-1991. . I consider that the Judge could properly have done so. 98. A Collection of Interesting, Important, and Controversial Perspectives Largely Excluded from the American Mainstream Media I now come to the second special feature of this case - the fact that the Board is not charged with having failed itself to provide appropriate medical treatment, but with having failed to impose rules and regulations which would have ensured that others did so. A press release issued in the 1980's', stated: "In the last 20 years, the medical protection of British professional boxers has become the Board's main raison d' trethrough its Medical Committee set up in 1950, it has provided British professional boxing with an unrivalled set of medical safety checks and balances.". When carrying out the assessment and advising the education authority, did the psychologist owe a duty of care to the child? Later that day, there was a rise in intra-cranial pressure and a second operation was performed, on this occasion by Mr Hamlyn, to remove a new collection of blood and staunch a bleeding vein and artery. I turn to the distinctive features of this case. Next Mr. Walker argued that the duty of care alleged was one owed for an indeterminate time to an indeterminate number of persons. It seems to me that the authorities support a principle that, where A places himself in a relationship to B in which Bs physical safety becomes dependant upon the acts and omissions of A, As conduct can suffice to impose on A a duty to exercise reasonable care for Bs safety. and Had the board simply given advice to all involved in professional boxing as to appropriate medical precautions, it would be strongly arguable that there was insufficient proximity between the board and individual boxers to give rise to a duty of care. The occurrence of a haematoma could not have been prevented but its effects could have been mitigated. He went on to hold that, in relation to the child abuse cases, the statutory scheme was incompatible with the existence of a direct common law duty of care owed by the local authorities. Thus boxers, promoters, managers, referees, time-keepers, trainers, seconds, masters of ceremonies, match-makers, agents for overseas boxers, ringmasters and whips all have to be licensed by the Board to perform their particular functions and become, when granted their licences, members of the Board. The claimant drank the water, and claimed damages for having consumed arsenic in it. So the tortious damage may be seen as consecutive to, and aggravating, that which was inevitable. On the facts of the present case the Claimant suffered only a minor primary injury. (Rule 8.1). 16. By then, so he submitted, the evidence established that the damage would have been done. But the claimant does not come even remotely . I propose to develop the relevant facts more fully in the context of each of these issues. He said that a report had identified the risks. Ringside medical facilities were available, but did not provide immediate resuscitation. Mr Usherwood, who alone of those involved had technical expertise, might be the only person who had been negligent. 35. Mr Watson brought an action against the Board. 1. Michael Watson was injured in a boxing match supervised by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC or BBBC), which was expected . observed that there was no evidence of any of the asserted potential effects of a finding of negligence against PFA. In other words, he could have been resuscitated on site and then transferred for more specific care. If he volunteers his assistance, his only duty as a matter of law is not to make the victim's condition worse. The propeller was mismatched to the gearbox. The British Boxing Board of Control have confirmed they are moving their base to Cardiff from London. This appears to be an attempt to import into the law of negligence concepts of public law. Each case involved the performance by the local authority of duties imposed under statute for the benefit of children. I have already indicated that I do not accept the basis of the challenge of the Judge's finding that the protocol in place ought to have included a requirement for a doctor to attend immediately where a fight was stopped because a boxer could no longer defend himself. "In Barnett v Chelsea & Kensington Management Committee [1969] 1 Q.B. Dr Ross, the Board's Chief Medical Officer for the Southern Area, was asked why the Medical Committee did not make the recommendations made after Mr Watson's injuries at an earlier stage. There is no more justification for a blanket immunity in their cases than there was in Capital & Counties Plc v Hampshire Country Council [1997] QB 1004. in that case. 's examination of the ship, and that the cargo owners simply relied on the undertakings of the shipowners, it is in my view impossible to force the present set of facts into even the most expansive view of the doctrine of voluntary assumption of responsibility.". In 1991, a world title fight between Michael Watson and Chris Eubank took place in London under the BBBC Rules. I can summarise the position as follows. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Thus a person may be liable for directing someone into a dangerous location (e.g. the British Boxing Board of Control was found to . Mr Watson's case, in essence, was that there should have been a different regime in place - Mr Walker described it as an intensive care unit at the ringside. In the second case he reached the following conclusions of principle at p.766: "In my judgment a school which accepts a pupil assumes responsibility not only for his physical well being but also for his educational needs. There he arrived in the scanning room at 00.30 on 22nd September. The Board contends:-. Caring for the needs of boxers, and in particular the physical safety of boxers, is the primary object of the Board. Therefore, it is likely that injuries arising from such play occur frequently but when do they occur as an act of negligence? This meant doctors able to intubate and put up a drip to treat the injured boxer immediately with Manitol. [3] Kennedy held that there was a "sufficient nexus" between Watson and the BBBC to create a duty of care, and that Watson's consent to the fight (which would normally be considered a defence of volenti non fit injuria) was not a consent to the inadequate safety measures. Next Mr. Walker argued that if the Board had made its Rules pursuant to a statutory power it would be tolerably clear that it could not be held liable in negligence in relation to the manner in which it chose to exercise its discretion. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control [2001] QB 1134 was a case of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales that established an exception to the defence of consent to trespass to the person and an extension of the duty of care expected in cases of negligence. It was accepted that, if the survey had been negligent the loss of the cargo was a foreseeable consequence. The Board, however, went far beyond this. The Board professes - I do not for one moment question its sincerity - its lively interest in his safety. The evidence of the expert witnesses called on behalf of Mr Watson was that the first ten minutes after loss of consciousness were critical. The leading case in terms of the duty of care owed by governing bodies in UK law is Watson v British Boxing Board of Control [2001] QB 1134, where the governing body was held to be liable for the horrific injuries suffered by Michael Watson in his boxing bout with Chris Eubank. Click here to remove this judgment from your profile. 117. Before confirming, please ensure that you have thoroughly read and verified the judgment. 73. 503 at p.517, per Lord Justice Cotton). The BBBC had a series of rules on the medical coverage needed for boxing matches, which required two doctors to be present at all times. While it is difficult, or perhaps impossible, to avoid a degree of subjectivity when considering what is fair, just and reasonable, the approach must be to apply established principles and standards. He received only occasional visits of inspection by the duty ratings. Most boxers recover very quickly having been knocked down and counted out and most, in fact, are fully conscious, if somewhat dazed, by the time the count reaches ten. Outside circles: Next, divide the goal into the major categories of tasks you'll need to accomplish to achieve the greater goalin this case, Title, Studio, Topics, Audience, and so on. 74. For these reasons I would dismiss this appeal. After recovering consciousness, he sued the BBBC in negligence, and was awarded approximately 1 million by the High Court of Justice, who determined that the relationship between the BBBC and Watson was sufficient to create a duty of care. In theory the medical officers at a contest would be appointed and paid by the Promoter from the body of approved doctors. This submission involves considering the timing of events and the Judge's findings in relation to the impact of these on causation. In any event I believe that this point vanishes when causation is considered. If his condition was satisfactory, he could have been transferred for resuscitation to hospital, there have his condition stabilised and thereafter be transferred to a Neurosurgical Unit for more definitive investigation and treatment. They argued that if they had failed to exercise reasonable care, this was not the direct cause of the Plaintiff's injuries - the direct cause being that the aircraft had been designed in a manner that made it unairworthy. In an open letter to BMA delegates, written some time in the 1980's, Dr Whiteson, the Chief Medical Officer to the Board, wrote "The British Boxing Board of Control is justifiably proud of its reputation of being in the vanguard of the protection of professional boxers." More significantly, he would not be in a position to know whether the provisions that the Board required to be put in place represented all that it was reasonable to provide for his safety. In an article on injuries in professional boxing written in 1981, Dr Whiteson stated: "My task as Senior Medical Officer is to control the medical aspects of boxing and in this to liaise closely with Area Medical Officers and with the team of medical experts which includes neurologists and orthopaedic, plastic and ophthalmic surgeons". This seems to me to be, on its face, an example par excellence of a situation where the law will regard the professional as owing a duty of care to a third party as well as his own employer.". The Board's Medical Committee had issued detailed advice to Medical Officers in relation to their duty at the ringside which was in force at the time of the Watson/Eubank fight. 82. In my judgment, the same duty applies to any other person possessed of special skills, such as a social worker. a) Requirements as to protective covering for the ring floor and the corners (Rule 3.4). The agreed time of reception at the hospital was 23.22. It is not possible to measure even on the balance of probabilities where the damage would have stopped if the protocol had been followed. 106. There are a number of problems with this submission. It seems to me that the authorities support a principle that where A places himself in a relationship to B in which B's physical safety becomes dependent upon the acts or omissions of A, A's conduct can suffice to impose on A, a duty to exercise reasonable care for B's safety. This can lead to an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood, which in its turn can cause swelling of the brain and a rise in intra-cranial pressure. Some boxers employed their own doctors. 66. The child has a learning difficulty. The Judge went on to review such statistical evidence as there was in relation to the frequency of occurrence of head injuries in boxing and observed that there had been no evidence to suggest that the Board considered and balanced the difficulty of providing the adequate response to the risks of head injury against their frequency of occurrence and severity of outcome. Even absent such an express requirement, it seems to me that if the protocol had been in place, the doctors present should have been aware of the desirability of examining Mr Watson's condition in the circumstances that had occurred, whether or not the rules expressly required this. These facts bring the Board into close proximity with each individual boxer who contracts with a promoter to fight under the Board's rules. Watson was injured during a fight in 1991 The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) faces a financial crisis after losing its court battle with Michael Watson. Flashcards. * Enter a valid Journal (must "One can summarise the aims of treatment of a patient who has been rendered unconscious as the result of a head injury as follows: 1. But the fact that the carrying out of the retainer involves contact with and relationship with the child cannot alter the extent of the duty owed by the professionals under the retainer from the local authority. .if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-swarb_co_uk-medrectangle-4-0'); Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete. This contention had some similarities to submissions made in relation to the Popular Flying Association in Perrett v Collins. Michael Watson MBE, born 15 March 1965, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984-1991. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control (1999) (QBD) During a professional boxing contest, the claimant suffered a sub-dural haemorrhage resulting in irreversible brain damage which left him with, among other things, a left-sided partial paralysis. He had in fact sustained a brain haemorrhage and, after returning to his corner, he lapsed into unconsciousness on his stool. Mr Walker urged that a duty of care should not be imposed upon the Board because it was a non profit-making organisation and did not carry insurance. The present case can only be decided on the basis of an intense and particular focus on all its distinctive features, and then applying established legal principles to it.". Test. The facilities provided accorded with the advice to medical officers issued by the Board's Medical Committee, to which I referred earlier. 68. The final point taken by the Board was that they did not receive advice in relation to the desirability of ringside resuscitation until after Mr Watson's injuries. The latter have the role of protecting the public in general against risks, which they play no part in creating. "If the protocol had been in place, and Dr Shapiro had been required to go straight to the ring, he would have begun the necessary procedures within a minute or two of the collapse and so by 23.00. Flashcards. 2. Each emphatically concluded that it was. 111. . If authority is needed for this approach, it is to be found in the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in Perrett v Collins [1998] 2 LL.L.Rep. Medical knowledge does not enable one to say what, on the balance of probabilities, would have been the outcome if the protocol had been in place and followed. Applied Barrett v Ministry of Defence CA 3-Jan-1995 The deceased was an off-duty naval airman. At the North Middlesex Hospital he was intubated, that is an endotrachael tube was inserted, and he was given oxygen. The statutory obligations in relation to certifying airworthiness was designed, at least in substantial part, for the protection of those who might be injured if an aircraft was certified as being fit to fly when it was not. The Board has argued that until this accident no-one had suggested that they should institute this protocol. In delivering the leading speech Lord Browne-Wilkinson observed at p.739: "The question whether there is such a common law duty and if so its ambit, must be profoundly influenced by the statutory framework within which the acts complained of were done.". It is always better to err on the side of caution and even if a boxer has recovered sufficiently to leave the ring unaided, if and when he returns to the dressing room he exhibits any sign of persistent concussion or admits to any persistent headaches, visual disturbance or vomiting he should be immediately transferred to the local hospital where the expert advice of Neurologists and Neurosurgeons can be obtained. Mr Watson should have been resuscitated on losing consciousness and then taken directly to the nearest hospital with a neurosurgical capability, which should have been standing by to operate without delay. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control [2001] QB 1134 was a case of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales that established an exception to the defence of consent to trespass to the person and an extension of the duty of care expected in cases of negligence. . 4. The Board is non-profit making. Learn. The Articles of Association of the Board provide that its objects include: "To promote and safeguard the interests of members of the company in the United Kingdom and throughout the world including members' (being boxers) interests in boxing contests and tournaments.including..the encouragement. They alleged that the local authorities had provided services under which, in one case, educational psychologists and, in the other, advisory teachers provided advice to teaching staff and parents as to whether children had special educational needs. An analogy can be drawn with the duty of an employer, whose activities involve a particular health risk, to make provision for its employees to receive appropriate medical attention - see Stokes v. Guest Keen & Nettlefold (Bolts & Nuts) [1968] 1 WLR 1776. None of the three doctors present went to his assistance until requested to do so. iii) Those taking part in the activity, and Mr Watson in particular, relied upon the Board to ensure that all reasonable steps were taken to provide immediate and effective medical attention and treatment to those injured in the course of the activity. The social workers and the psychiatrists were retained by the local authority to advise the local authority, not the plaintiffs. 1 result for "watson v british boxing board of control 2001" hide this ad. Found Watson & British Boxing Board Of Control Ltd & Anor useful? These recommendations Mr Hamlyn set out in a detailed paper for the Board two days later. Throughout these contests the boxers' performance should be noted and any untoward medical problems arising should be reported to the Area Council or Board. He could have been treated on the spot, and had an endotrachael tube inserted, been ventilated and thereafter transferred directly to a Neurosurgical Unit where CT scan facilities were available. Stabilise the patient's condition by maintaining an air way and maintaining ventilation. Thus Mr Watson voluntarily submitted to any risk associated with inadequacy of medical safeguards. The movement of the brain within the skull may rupture veins, or more rarely an artery, inside the head leading to bleeding which builds up into a blood clot or haematoma. ", 38. 25. He was present at the meeting held with the Minister for Sport after Mr Watson's injuries. In practice the Area Secretary would select the medical officers for a particular contest, albeit that the promoter would pay them. Michael Alexander Watson v British Boxing Board of Control Ltd, World Boxing Organisation Incorporated: CA 19 Dec 2000 The claimant was seriously injured in a professional boxing match governed by rules established by the defendant's rules. Mr Walker urged that a duty of care should not be imposed upon the Board because it was a non profit-making organisation and did not carry insurance. B. 31. In 1990 Mr Watson had been involved in litigation with his manager, in which the Board had filed an Affidavit. 69. In a nutshell, his case was that the resuscitation treatment that he received at the North Middlesex Hospital should have been available at the ringside, but was not.