watson v british boxing board of control 2001 case

61. The time was now 23.08. The wall had remained standing because the architect employed in supervising the building works had failed to advise that it was dangerous and should be demolished. Appeal from Watson v British Board of Boxing Control QBD 12-Oct-1999 A governing body of a sport, had a duty to insist on arrangements for sporting events, held under its aegis, to ensure proper access to medical aid. In my judgment, there must be an affirmative answer to that question. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe. 56. The facilities provided accorded with the advice to medical officers issued by the Board's Medical Committee, to which I referred earlier. He emphasised that the Board does not provide medical treatment or employ doctors. 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. The principles alleged to give rise to a duty of care in this case are those of assumption of responsibility and reliance. Clearly, they look to the Board's stipulations as providing the appropriate standard. In any event, option B was the one that was undertaken. Serious brain damage such as that suffered by Mr Watson, though happily an uncommon consequence of a boxing injury, represented the most serious risk posed by the sport and one that required to be addressed. Thereafter, when the defendant assumed responsibility for him, it accepts that the measures taken fell short of the standard reasonably to be expected. In accordance with normal practice, the medical officers for the contest were nominated by the Southern Area Council. The setting of rules could be akin to the giving of advice and thus had an indirect influence on the occurrence of the injury. The plaintiffs submitted that that which is most closely analogous is that of doctor and patient or health authority and patient. 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. In 1989 it was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. 49. 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. 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. 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. Had the Board said nothing, it might not be liable, but once it gave advice by setting rules, it came to be responsible. The background to this case was described by Hobhouse L.J. It shall be adequately lit, have an examination couch and possess hot and cold running water. The Judge's reference to Mr Hamlyn was to a Neurosurgeon who operated on Mr Watson at St Bartholomew's Hospital and who gave evidence on his behalf at the trial. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control[2001] QB 1134was a case of the Court of Appeal of England and Walesthat established an exception to the defence of consent to trespass to the personand an extension of the duty of care expected in cases of negligence. 4. A case that is instructive is the English case of Watson v British Boxing Board of Control ([2001] 2 WLR 1256), the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC) was held liable for the injuries sustained by Michael Watson. There are a number of problems with this submission. By then, so he submitted, the evidence established that the damage would have been done. No one can take part, in any capacity, in professional boxing in this Country who is not licensed by the Board and, at the same time, a member of it, for the two are essentially synonymous. If it had in place the appropriate protocols for provision of medical care, the claimants injuries would not have been so severe. Mr Walker accepted that if Mr Watson had specifically asked the Board for advice as to the precautions that he ought to have in place for his fight, and the Board had given advice, the Board would have been under a duty to exercise care in giving that advice. Michael Watson was a boxer who, on 21 September 1991, fought Chris Eubank under the supervision of the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC), the British professional boxing governing body. 2. The referee stopped the fight in the final round when Watson appeared to be unable to defend himself. 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. The North Middlesex Hospital had no neurosurgical department, so Mr Watson was transferred by ambulance, still unconscious, to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Letang v Cooper - Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 - Watson v British Boxing Board of Control - Bernstein of Leigh v Skyviews & General Ltd -. The comparison drawn by Mr Walker between the Board and a rescuer is not apt. I found this submission unrealistic. We have been referred to no case where a duty of care has been established in relation to the drafting of rules and regulations which have governed the conduct of third parties towards a claimant. The social workers and the psychiatrists were retained by the local authority to advise the local authority, not the plaintiffs. His evidence was that it was his practice to use it where a patient was experiencing breathing difficulties. Test. 77. 3.10 The promoter shall procure that at all promotions a stretcher is available for use near the ring. The Board assumes the responsibility of determining the nature of the medical facilities and assistance to be provided. 33. In my judgment there is a difference in principle between making Rules and giving advice, but it is not one which assists the Board. The history of the Board can be traced back to the middle of the nineteenth century, but the Board itself was constituted as an unincorporated association in 1929. 132. An example of the ongoing review of safety standards was the Board's decision, in August 1991, that: "In future three Board Medical Officers would be appointed when a major contest was taking place. This submission involves considering the timing of events and the Judge's findings in relation to the impact of these on causation. The company, as the Popular Flying Association, appoint inspectors for the purpose of, among other things, inspecting aircraft during the course of their construction by members of the association and certifying whether the relevant work has been done to his "entire satisfaction" and the aircraft is in an airworthy condition. 34. 133. Plainly, however, the longer the delay, the more serious the outcome. In this way the Board reduces this aspect of the promoter's responsibility to the boxer to the contractual obligation to comply with the requirements of the Board's Rules in relation to the provision of medical facilities and assistance. A primary injury such as that described can have secondary consequences which are much more serious. I turn to the law. A boxer who suffered brain damage following a title fight in London alleged that the Board which regulates boxing had been negligent in not providing a better level of ringside medical care. He sued the owner, Mr Usherwood and the Popular Flying Association ("the PFA"). This has relevance to a number of the points discussed above. A. iii) that the breach of duty alleged did not cause Mr Watson's injuries. I turn to the distinctive features of this case. I consider that the Judge was entitled to find on the evidence, that had the Hamlyn protocol been in place, the outcome of Mr Watson's injuries would have been significantly better. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control The Importance of Evidence in Proving a Breach of Duty Rugby Rugby is a dangerous sport with heavy body collisions between players and regularly, multiple players at any given time. If the boxer remains unconscious, then full emergency procedures should be undertaken, the stretcher placed in the ring, the boxer very carefully transferred to it, preferably by skilled handlers and, if needs be, the other doctor should by then have rung ambulance control and have contacted the local hospital to inform them of the problem. The Board contends:-. The Board, however, went far beyond this. His answer was that he was sure that these things were discussed but he could not remember. 1, 43-44, where he said: "It is preferable, in my view, that the law should develop novel categories of negligence incrementally and by analogy with established categories, rather than by a massive extension of a prima facie duty of care restrained only by indefinable `considerations which ought to negative, or to reduce or limit the scope of the duty or the class of person to whom it is owed.". It much have been in the contemplation of the architect that builders would go on the site as the whole object of the work was to erect building there. In this case the following matters are particularly material: 1. For these reasons I would dismiss this appeal. 9.39.3 (added to the Rules on 25 May 1991)). Nevertheless, defendants will likely seek to argue that their breach of duty made no difference to the claimant's eventual outcome - an argument that the British Boxing Board of Control ran unsuccessfully in the Watson case. The ambulance should be prepared to go direct to the Neurological unit that had been placed on stand-by. The Judge held that on these facts Mr Watson was entitled to recover for his injuries in full, relying on the authorities of McGhee v The National Coal Board [1973] 1 WLR 1; Wiltshire v Essex A.H.A. The General Medical Council clearly states that a doctor must offer help when off-duty, if an emergency arises. The following rules fall into this category: 3.8 The promoter shall procure that two doctors, who must be approved by the Area Medical Officer, attend at all promotions, one of whom must be seated at the ringside at all times during the contest. .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. Moreover, it is clear that no such duty of care exists, even though there may be close physical proximity, simply because one party is a doctor and the other has a medical problem which may be of interest to both". Had he been asked in the period before the Eubank/Watson fight to advise on precautions in relation to the risk of serious head injury, he said that he would have given the same advice as Mr Hamlyn. Such a concept belongs to the law of trespass not to the law of negligence".. "Where the plaintiff belongs to a class which either is or ought to be within the contemplation of the defendant and the defendant by reason of his involvement in an activity which gives him a measure of control over and responsibility for a situation which, if dangerous, will be liable to injure the plaintiff, the defendant is liable if as a result of his unreasonable lack of care he causes a situation to exist which does in fact cause the plaintiff injury. I would echo the comment of Lord Steyn in Marc Rich & Co. v Bishop Rock Ltd [1996] AC 211 at p.236: "None of the cases cited provided any realistic analogy to be used as a springboard for a decision one way or the other in this case. Next the Board attacked the implicit finding of the Judge that the Rules should have required the doctor to enter the ring as soon as a boxer was counted out or deemed unfit to defend himself. 23. The fight had taken place in accordance with the rules of the British Boxing Board of Control Ltd., ("the Board"). It has the ability to require of promoters what it sees as good practice. 93. In each case it was alleged that the professional in question negligently failed to diagnose dyslexia. 129. These are explored in the authorities to which I have referred earlier. Dealing with the arguments of policy advanced on behalf of PFA, Buxton L.J. Accordingly, I am left in no doubt that the Board was in breach of its duty in that it did not institute some such system or protocol as Mr Hamlyn was to propose. 3. The request for an ambulance was accepted. I consider that these were proper findings on the evidence and that Mr Watson's case on breach of duty was made out. In my judgment, the same duty applies to any other person possessed of special skills, such as a social worker. In these circumstances the task is to look at the circumstances in which specific factors have given rise to the duty of care and to consider whether, on the facts of this case, they should also give rise to such a duty. The Judge did not find that the lapse of time between Mr Watson becoming unconscious and Dr Shapiro being called to assist was critical. Sharpe v Avery [1938] 4 All E.R. * Enter a valid Journal (must Creating your profile on CaseMine allows you to build your network with fellow lawyers and prospective clients. This may entail suturing of a wound, the assessment of the seriousness of any injury or maybe just simple advice concerning future training or contests. Therefore, it is likely that injuries arising from such play occur frequently but when do they occur as an act of negligence? It is not possible to measure even on the balance of probabilities where the damage would have stopped if the protocol had been followed. The doctors should decide between them who will remain ringside and who will undertake the emergency treatment should the need arise. The Claimant would have been resuscitated within a few minutes of 23.00 and in St. Bartholomews by 23.45 at the latest. The probability must therefore have been that he could have been among those patients who would have had a favourable outcome, or no circumstance peculiar to his physical make-up has been identified to suggest why that should not be so". The facts of this case are not common to other sports. My reaction is the same as that of Buxton L.J. Finally I return to Perrett v. Collins, the only case referred to by Ian Kennedy J. when considering the question of duty of care. On a preliminary issue the House of Lords held that the classification society had no duty of care to the cargo owners. He inferred that professional boxers would be unlikely to have an innate or well informed concern about safety. As already mentioned the referee is in sole charge of the contest, but if a boxer is counted out and fails to rise it is the doctor's duty to get into the ring as quickly as possible and institute emergency treatment should this be required. 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. These rules included provisions for medical inspection of boxers and for the attendance of two doctors at a fight. I turn to consider the extent to which there are categories of cases, in which a duty of care has been held to exist, or alternatively held not to exist involving these features. Efforts continue and will continue to improve safety standards and these efforts are and were on-going prior to the Watson fight.". James George, James George. "There is always a risk, and the pool from which professional boxers tend to be recruited is unlikely to be one with an innate or well-informed concern about safety, and one may ask why should the individual boxer not rely on the Board's arrangements? 24. Thus the necessary `proximity' was not made out. There is no doubt that once the relationship of doctor and patient or hospital authority and admitted patient exists, the doctor or the hospital owe a duty to take reasonable care to effect a cure, not merely to prevent further harm. [2] The case was then appealed to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, where a 3-judge panel consisting of Phillips MR, May LJ and Laws LJ delivered their judgment on 19 December 2000. By clicking on this tab, you are expressly stating that you were one of the attorneys appearing in this matter. 15. If so, it is misguided. He answered that it took something like the injury to Mr Watson to make the Committee think of changing the practice. The essence of Mr Watson's case is that there should have been a system under which such equipment would not merely be available, but used immediately in the event of a brain injury. Michael Watson MBE, born 15 March 1965, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1984-1991. He received only occasional visits of inspection by the duty ratings. Stabilise the patient's condition by maintaining an air way and maintaining ventilation. observed that there was no evidence of any of the asserted potential effects of a finding of negligence against PFA. (Rule 8.1). He did so, notwithstanding, so it was alleged, that the mismatch between gearbox and propeller made the aircraft unairworthy. 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. He was also given an injection of Manitol, a diuretic that can have the effect of reducing swelling of the brain. But it has never been a requirement of the law of the tort of negligence that there be a particular antecedent relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff other than one that the plaintiff belongs to a class which the defendant contemplates or should contemplate would be affected by his conduct. Subsequently they were incorporated in the Rules by an addition to Regulation 8. 52. Dr Whiteson did not give evidence. The association exists to facilitate amateurs to enjoy facilities for flying light aircraft. 2. In laying down Rules for the benefit of boxers generally, however, Mr Walker submitted that the Board was under no duty of care. This is an argument which might appeal to boxing enthusiasts, but would not be accepted by the British Medical Association. Mr Watson suffered some, at least, of these secondary effects, which were the cause of his permanent brain damage. This has left him paralysed down the left side and with other physical and mental disability. I consider that the Judge could properly have done so. 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. The Judge did not rely upon the specific evidence given by Mr Watson about reliance. Secondly, to identify any categories of cases in which these principles At the end of December 1991 the net assets of the Board were about 352,000. The head teacher, being responsible for the school, himself comes under a duty of care to exercise the reasonable skills of a headmaster in relation to such steps as a reasonable teacher would consider appropriate to try to deal with such under-performance. The Board next drew attention to evidence that a member of the public having sustained brain damage in a road accident would not expect to receive from the ambulance attending the scene the resuscitation service which the Judge held should have been available at the ringside. 127. 3.5.2 For British and Commonwealth Championship contests only, or The duty of the Board and of those advising it on medical matters, was to be prospective in their thinking and seek competent advice as to how a recognised danger could be combated. Radio Times - February 1117 2023 - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. ii) rules designed to restrict the physical injuries that may be caused in the course of the fight; iii) rules designed to secure that a boxer receives appropriate medical attention when injured in the course of a fight. 26. Thus at p.1162 Lord Woolf observed: "Once a call to an ambulance service has been accepted, the service is dealing with a named individual upon whom the duty becomes focused. It seems to me that this is almost implicit in Mr Walker's argument that to issue such a requirement expressly, was to instruct a doctor as to how to perform his duty. 98. A Respondent's Notice was served contending that the Judge could and should have drawn an adverse inference from his failure to give evidence. The Board exercises its control of professional boxing through a system of eight Area Councils, subject to overall control by Stewards and Committees. 3. Get 1 point on providing a valid sentiment to this 128. Throughout these contests the boxers' performance should be noted and any untoward medical problems arising should be reported to the Area Council or Board. In these circumstances, it is no cause for surprise that the equipment was not in fact used. He should certainly carry an aphygomamometer and stethoscope, an ophthalmoscope, an auroscope, a patella hammer, a Brooks airway and a padded spatula in case of a rate occurrence of fitting and the need to establish an airway. The promoters and the boxers do not themselves address considerations of safety. Of course.these three matters overlap with each other and are really facets of the same thing. In theory the medical officers at a contest would be appointed and paid by the Promoter from the body of approved doctors. 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. These considerations lead to the final point made by Mr Walker in the context of proximity. Saville L.J. Against that judgment the Board now appeals. Mr. Usherwood was the person who was carrying out this role in relation to Mr. Collins' assembly of this aircraft. Lord Steyn, however, gave short shrift to an argument based on assumption of responsibility: "Given that the cargo owners were not even aware of N.K.K. Elr, Recueil JP 01.02 3 a) Case of Michels v USOC (United States Court of Appeals - 7th circuit, 16 August 1984)40 B. 92. Professor Teasdale had some reservations about the effectiveness of some of this, but he accepted that this was standard practice. In his Witness Statement Mr John Morris, General Secretary of the Board said "The Board believes as I do, that the safety of the boxers is of great importance and takes precedence over commercial and other interests". These facts produced a relationship of close proximity between the Board and those of its members who were professional boxers. Mr Hamlyn said, and I accept, that there would have been very few British neurosurgeons who at this time would have questioned the need to put up a line and administer this diuretic in a case such as the present. The position as to the selection of doctors for a contest that prevailed in 1991 was as follows. 3.9 each boxer must be examined after every contest and a report sent to the Board or Area Council concerned if necessary. The patient is then artificially ventilated through this tube with oxygen. had not been responsible for the claimant's asthma but it had caused the respiratory arrest and to this extent the L.A.S was the author of additional damage.". Licence holders are also required to comply with the Board's policy in respect of matters not dealt with by specific rules. These cases establish that where A advises B as to action to be taken which will directly and foreseeably affect the safety or well-being of C, a situation of sufficient proximity exists to found a duty of care on the part of A towards C. Whether in fact such a duty arises will depend upon the facts of the individual case and, in particular, upon whether such a duty of care would cut across any statutory scheme pursuant to which the advice was given. Moreover, the tendering of any advice will in many cases involve interviewing and, in the case of doctors, examining the child. The onlookers derive entertainment, but none of the physical and moral benefits which have been seen as the fruits of engagement in many sports.". Again I disagree. 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. 100. Any such inspector has to be approved by the association". 41. 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. 35. Thus a person may be liable for directing someone into a dangerous location (e.g. Many sports involve a risk of physical injury to the participants. Mr Watson was one of a defined number of boxing members of the Board. The move is being made as a cost-cutting measure in the wake of the Michael Watson case. I do not consider that a conscious reliance by the patient on the hospital to exercise care is an essential element in this duty of care. The patient can then be taken straight to the nearest neurosurgical unit. Once the defendant had become involved in the activity which gives rise to the risk, he comes under the duty to act reasonably in all respects relevant to that risk. Nothing that I have heard persuades me that there was any impracticality, whether in terms of manpower or in cost to the promoters, in the Board having included such a requirement in their rules. 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 practice the Area Secretary would select the medical officers for a particular contest, albeit that the promoter would pay them. To hold that, in such circumstances, the head teacher could properly ignore the matter and make no attempt to deal with it would fly in the face, not only of society's expectations of what a school will provide, but also the fine traditions of the teaching profession itself. At this stage it is enough to note that the advice set out the professional expertise expected of the medical officers and details of equipment needed to perform their duties. 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.".

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