assignment

4 Pages • Essays / Projects • Year: Pre-2021

assignment on casenote darren v hospital Relevant Policy Considerations If there are strong enough policy concerns regarding Darren’s situation, those concerns may be sufficient to negate a duty formed on the previous factors. • Indeterminate Liability Either interpretation of this concern will result in the same conclusion that indeterminacy is not an issue as the class is limited and specific and the liability is unlikely to be excessive given that the statutory purpose of the hospital was to protect patients like Darren from further self-harm. • Defensive Practice The key question here is whether imposing liability on the hospital would lead public bodies in similar situations to be overly cautious in their assessment of patients similar to Darren. It is likely that the courts will deem this as a significant issue as the duty to assess and detain patients could lead to slower processing practices; thus potentially increasing the risk of harm as more patients are left untreated. Conversely, the hospital could begin to hastily detain patients despite it not being necessary which could actually worsen some cases of mental illness and could interfere with their liberty as considered under the MHA. • Public Purse If a duty was imposed, it could increase the costs to society through more funding being needed by the hospital, charged in the form of taxes, as the shortage of beds would worsen if patients continued to be detained under defensive practice. Further there would be extra costs in time and money incurred due to over-cautious, inefficient assessments of patients.

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