watson v british boxing board of control 2001 case

As Mr Morris accepted, by reason of its control over boxing the Board was in a position to determine, and did in fact determine, the measures that were taken in boxing to protect and promote the health and safety of boxers. ii) the duty alleged is not directly, through the servants or agents of the Board to provide proper facilities and administer proper treatment to those injured. Whenever they accept a patient for treatment, they must use reasonable care and skill to cure him of his ailment.". 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. Herbert Smith, London. 112. None of the three doctors present went to his assistance until requested to do so. 114. The move is being made as a cost-cutting measure in the wake of the Michael Watson case. [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. They did not have the expertise in providing such resuscitation; nor did they have the necessary equipment. [6] This was an extension to the previous duty of care under negligence, and also serves as an exception to the rule under trespass to the person that a defendant will not be liable for personal harm caused in sporting matches which the claimant consents to. These facts produced a relationship of close proximity between the Board and those of its members who were professional boxers. Ormrod L.J. IMPORTANT:This site reports and summarizes cases. 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. (Vowles v Evans and the Welsh Rugby Union Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 318), governing bodies for failing to provide in their rules for appropriate medical provision at ringside in a boxing match (Watson v British Boxing Board of Control [2001] QB 1134), . 3. 87. (Rule 5.9(c)). This is a further factor which tends to establish the proximity necessary for a duty of care. The defendant in each case was a local authority. These considerations lead to the final point made by Mr Walker in the context of proximity. "It is these sorts of accidents which provoke the changes". Lord Phillips in the Court of Appeal described the case as a unique one because here, rather than . 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. There was chaos in and outside the ring and seven minutes elapsed before he was examined by one of the doctors who were in attendance. 31. The word puzzle answer watson v british boxing board of control 2001 has these clues in the Sporcle Puzzle Library. In these circumstances the claim against Mr Usherwood was a conventional claim for carelessness causing direct and foreseeable personal injury. She claimed in negligence and occupiers liability. Throughout these contests the boxers' performance should be noted and any untoward medical problems arising should be reported to the Area Council or Board. Search for more papers by this author. 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. He had particular experience of brain injuries caused by sporting activities. 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. [8], "BBC Sport Poignant end to Watson's epic journey", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Watson_v_British_Boxing_Board_of_Control&oldid=1049029766, This page was last edited on 9 October 2021, at 12:23. ", "But where an educational psychologist is specifically called in to advise in relation to the assessment and future provision for a specific child, and it is clear that the parents acting for the child and the teachers will follow that advice, prima facie a duty of care arises. So far I have not dealt with the question of reliance by Mr Watson on the exercise of care by the Board. 89. I personally don't think that the decision to follow option B as opposed to option A had any material affect upon Watson.", The Medical facilities provided to Mr Watson at the ringside, 102. In accordance with normal practice, the medical officers for the contest were nominated by the Southern Area Council. It was accepted that, if the survey had been negligent the loss of the cargo was a foreseeable consequence. Michael Watson was injured in a boxing match supervised by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC or BBBC), which was expected to . In my judgement in the present cases, the social workers and the psychiatrist did not, by accepting the instructions of the local authority, assume any general professional duty of care to the plaintiff children. "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. 34. In 1991 there were only about 550 active boxers, of which almost all were semi-professional. In 1991 its income was some 314,000 of which some 51,000 represented licence and application fees and about 224,000 `tournament tax', which I understand to represent a small percentage of the takings at boxing tournaments. So in my view is an educational psychologist or psychiatrist and a teacher including a teacher in a specialised area, such as a teacher concerned with children having special educational needs. a) Requirements as to protective covering for the ring floor and the corners (Rule 3.4). Mr Watson was the third boxer on whom Mr Hamlyn had operated for similar injuries. If wrong information had not been given about the arrival of the ambulance, other means of transport could have been used". That regulation has been provided by the Board. 97. .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. The agreed time of reception at the hospital was 23.22. Many sports involve a risk of physical injury to the participants. 39. Some boxers employed their own doctors. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe. In 1990 Mr Watson had been involved in litigation with his manager, in which the Board had filed an Affidavit. In order to explain these allegations, I propose to summarise the evidence on: * the nature of injuries such as those suffered by Mr Watson; * the manner in which such injuries were treated in hospital in 1991; * the manner in which such injuries should have been treated at the ringside and. This sequence can result in cumulative damage to the brain, leading sooner or later to death. 119. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control (2001 . I do not believe there is any difference in principle between giving advice about safety and laying down rules to provide for safety. 73. The evidence of the expert witnesses called on behalf of Mr Watson was that the first ten minutes after loss of consciousness were critical. In Caparo v Dickman the Court recognised a duty of care owed by auditors to all the members of a company. [1988] 1 AC 1074 at 1090; and Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority [1987] 1 AC 750 at 783. rejected the submission that any negligence on the part of Mr Usherwood was only an indirect cause of the crash. First published: 28 June 2008. Nearly half an hour elapsed between the end of the fight and the time that he got there. The Board accepted these recommendations and promulgated them by way of guidance. In 1991 the Board had about twelve hundred licence holders and members of which about five hundred and fifty were active boxers. The propeller was mismatched to the gearbox. He said that a report had identified the risks. Thus the Board was a body with special knowledge giving advice to a defined class of persons in the knowledge that it would rely upon that advice in the defined situation of boxing contests. is darth vader more powerful than palpatine; modern warplanes mod apk unlimited money and gold 2022 110. There was also an ambulance standing by which had resuscitation equipment and a paramedic who knew how to use this. The physical safety of boxers has always been a prime concern of the Board. Stabilise the patient's condition by maintaining an air way and maintaining ventilation. It was also important to have a prior arrangement with the hospital with a neurological unit, and with that unit placed on standby. The material passages of this advice were as follows:-. about 23.01. The position is directly analogous with a hospital conducted, formerly by a local authority now by a health authority, in exercise of statutory powers. Lord Browne-Wilkinson answered this question in the affirmative. It was Mr Walker's submission that there was no reliance. Attempts have been made, within Parliament and outside, to bring about the banning of the sport of boxing. In order that, when complete, the aircraft can obtain first a provisional and then a full certificate of airworthiness, the assembly of the aircraft has to be supervised and checked by an inspector. Each case involved the performance by the local authority of duties imposed under statute for the benefit of children. The fight was terminated at 22.54. 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. On 24 September 1999 Ian Kennedy J., gave judgment in favour of Mr Watson against the Board. The relevant allegations of negligence can be summarised as follows: * The Board failed to inform itself adequately about the risks inherent in a blow to the head; * The Board failed to require the provision of resuscitation equipment at the venue, together with the presence of persons capable of operating such equipment. 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.". On 21st September 1991 Michael Watson fought Chris Eubank for the World Boxing Organisation Super-Middleweight title at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in London. 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. Mr Usherwood, who alone of those involved had technical expertise, might be the only person who had been negligent. One group of cases involved statutory duties imposed on local authorities for the purpose of protecting children from child abuse. Thus in Capital and Counties v. Hampshire this Court held that a fire brigade was under no common law duty to answer a call for help or, having done so, to exercise reasonable skill and care to extinguish the fire. The Board professes - I do not for one moment question its sincerity - its lively interest in his safety. As already stated, no tournament is allowed to commence or continue without one doctor sitting ringside. at p.258 as follows: "The third defendants are a trading company incorporated under the companies Acts. In Cassidy v Ministry of Health [1951] 2 K.B. 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. Mr Walker also suggested that a finding in favour of Mr Watson in this case would involve postulating that other sporting regulatory bodies, such as the Rugby Football Union, owed duties of care to the participants in their sports in relation to their rules and regulations. By clicking on this tab, you are expressly stating that you were one of the attorneys appearing in this matter. Moreover, the tendering of any advice will in many cases involve interviewing and, in the case of doctors, examining the child. 58. 63. 78. Plainly, however, the longer the delay, the more serious the outcome. Match. The Board's Medical Committee met to consider these on the 22nd October 1991 and made recommendations which included the following: "1 The nearest hospital with a neurological unit should be notified of the date of each tournament held under the Board's jurisdiction and must be on alert in case of serious head injury. The occurrence of a haematoma could not have been prevented but its effects could have been mitigated. 7. James George, James George. 70. Dealing with the arguments of policy advanced on behalf of PFA, Buxton L.J. On his initiative a meeting took place with the Minister for Sport, two of Mr Hamlyn's colleagues, the Board's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Whiteson, and other board officials on 16th October 1991. Instead he argued that even if resuscitation had been used, it would have been used too late to affect the outcome. Try and prevent and/or treat raised intracranial pressure. In that case a doctor phoned for an ambulance to take to hospital urgently a patient who had suffered an asthma attack. The promoters and the boxers do not themselves address considerations of safety. held at p.557: "Is this a case in which it can be said that the plaintiff was closely and directly affected by the acts of the architect as to have been reasonably in his contemplation when he was directing his mind to the acts or omissions which are called into question? b) The rule that a Licence may be suspended or withdrawn if, in the opinion of the Board or an Area Council, the licence-holder is not medically fit to box (Rule 4.9(b)(I)). 1. What it does do does at least reduce the dangers inherent in professional boxing. 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. Watson & British Boxing Board Of Control Ltd & Anor IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE Case No: QBENF1999/1137/A2 COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION) ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION (THE HON MR JUSTICE IAN KENNEDY) Tuesday 19th December 2000 THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS LORD JUSTICE MAY LORD JUSTICE LAWS Respondent/Claimant 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. As part of the health service it should owe the same duty to members of the public as other parts of the health service. In particular, the Board controlled the medical assistance that would be provided. swarb.co.uk is published by David Swarbrick of 10 Halifax Road, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 2AG. 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. 32. That phrase can be misleading in that it can suggest that the professional person must knowingly and deliberately accept responsibility. 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. 121. (Rules 8.5 and 8.6). 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. There is a general reliance by the public on the fire service and the police to reduce those risks. Held: The respondent had not assumed a general responsibility to all road users . 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 Board's authority is essentially based upon the consent of the boxing world. This increases the oxygen in the blood and reduces the level of carbon dioxide. No medical assistance was provided. It carried out this function by making and imposing rules dealing with the safety of boxers, by approving medical officers and by giving detailed guidance as to the qualifications and equipment those officers should bring to the ringside. It is clear on the authorities that the duty to take reasonable care to prevent further harm and to effect a cure is founded on the acceptance of the patient as a patient, which carries with it an implicit undertaking to care for the patient's needs. 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. This care was insufficient, and as such Watson was in a coma for 40 days, and spent 6 years in a wheelchair. 6. a) A requirement that a boxer must be medically examined before being granted a licence, together with a list of medical conditions that preclude the grant of a licence. The Board contends:-. I think that the Judge was right. Watson claimed that the British Boxing Board of Control had been under a duty of care to ensure that all reasonable steps were taken to provide immediate and effective medical attention and treatment in the event of his sustaining an injury, and he argued that the Board had breached that duty by not providing resuscitation treatment at ringside. He added : "If the plaintiff has been negligently injured by a failing by the PFA, I cannot see that it would be right to withhold relief from him simply on the ground that to grant that relief might cause a rise in the PFA's insurance premiums, or even cause a more expensive system of inspection to be substituted for that of the PFA.". [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. 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. This submission involves considering the timing of events and the Judge's findings in relation to the impact of these on causation. I conclude that the Judge correctly found that the Board owed Mr Watson a duty of care. This contention had some similarities to submissions made in relation to the Popular Flying Association in. 57. 3. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police 2014, East Suffix River Catchment Board v Kent, Reeves v Commissioner of Police and more. No reasonably competent educational psychologist, exercising reasonable skill and care, would have given such advice. True it is that, in the absence of a statutory power or duty, the authority could not offer such a service. Against that judgment the Board now appeals. 76. Without it, the system of personal injury compensation would not have survived. Whilst unattended he vomited and died as a result of inhaling his own vomit. This concludes my summary of the facts which I consider material to the question of whether the Board owed a duty of care to Mr Watson. 25Watson v British Board of Boxing Control Ltd [2001] QB 113419, 20 it was claimed that had Watson received immediate resuscitation he would not have been as badly brain damaged, the Court agreed saying that because the Board were in sole charge of safety arrangements there was sufficient proximity for the board of control to owe a duty of care The decision is of interest for several reasons. In these circumstances there is no close proximity between the services and the general public. Boxing members of the Board, including Mr Watson, could reasonably rely upon the Board to look after their safety. 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. 2. The purpose of his assessment was to enable him to give expert advice to the education authority about the child. Ringside medical facilities were available, but did not provide immediate resuscitation. 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. The plaintiff's allegation is that during this process an alternative gearbox was fitted without the appropriate and corresponding substitution of a propeller which matched the substituted gearbox. (pp.27-8). The doctor does not, by examining the applicant, come under any general duty of medical care to the applicant. Therefore, it is said, it is nothing to the point that the social workers and psychiatrist only came into contact with the plaintiffs pursuant to contracts or arrangements made between the professionals and the local authority for the purpose of the discharge by the local authority of its statutory duties. 49. The conduct of the activity of professional boxing carries with it, for the small body of men that take part in it, the need for the provision of medical assistance to treat the injuries that they sustain and minimise their adverse consequences. The latter have the role of protecting the public in general against risks, which they play no part in creating. A . 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. Michael Watson was injured in a boxing match supervised by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC or BBBC), which was expected to provide medical care. In an opinion read by Phillips MR, the court upheld Kennedy's decision, noting that it "broke new ground". One issue in each case was whether, on these facts, it could be argued that the local authority had been either directly or vicariously, in breach of a duty of care owed to the child under common law. 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. Only about twenty-five British boxers succeeded in earning a full-time living from the sport. He emphasised that the Board does not provide medical treatment or employ doctors. * Enter a valid Journal (must In that case Hobhouse L.J. 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. Mr Watson belonged to a class which was within the contemplation of the Board. 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. Please log in or sign up for a free trial to access this feature. contains alphabet). 37. All these matters lead me to conclude that the Judge was right to find that the Board was under a duty of care to Mr Watson. Professor Teasdale had some reservations about the effectiveness of some of this, but he accepted that this was standard practice. This argument was allied to Mr Walker's submission that the Judge should not have found that the rules should have required immediate medical attention to be given to a boxer where his physical condition led to the contest being stopped. 85. A doctor, an accountant and an engineer are plainly such a person. Watson v British Boxing Board of Control: Negligent Rule-Making in the Court of Appeal. He suffered severe brain damage after being injuredduring a match. 6. However, should this not be so, then the boxer's gumshield should be removed, an adequate airway established and the boxer put on his left side so that should he fit or vomit he will not obstruct his airway. In his Witness Statement, Mr Morris accepted that the following averment in the Statement of Claim was "basically correct": "at all material times, by reason of the effective control over boxing that the Board assumed, the Board was in a position to determine, and did in fact determine, the measures that were taken in boxing to protect and promote the health and safety of boxers.

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