Cerebral palsy cases form a large proportion of Susan`s clinical negligence practice and typically involve difficult issues of causation and complex calculations of damages. For example, she recently acted for the Claimant in a cerebral palsy case (child aged just 4 with life expectancy to age 40) which was compromised just before trial on quantum on the basis of a bottom-up structured settlement equivalent to an award of some 4 million if assessed on a conventional basis.

Susan has also acted in cases arising from injuries to the mother associated with labour. These have involved the more common categories of damage to reproductive and excretory organs but have also included more extreme cases, such as a claim for negligent delay in diagnosis of intra-cranial venous sinus thrombosis (developed soon after birth) which left the mother in a wheelchair and virtually blind.

Susan`s caseload in relation to delayed diagnosis of cancer has raised interesting issues such as how best to deal with the case of a claimant with cancer facing imminent death, whether advantageous overall to commence personal injury action with living claimant or wait until demise and then launch Fatal Accidents Act claim for benefit of offspring, and consideration of different methods of evaluating financial loss in future years (lost income in lost years for living claimant or lost dependency in lost years for dependants).

Susan has acted for Claimants and Defendants, for minors, for patients, for the NHSLA and for the Medical Defence Union.