Wrongly accused child abusers “can’t sue”
Parents wrongly suspected of abusing their children have been told they have no right to sue doctors or social workers for the mistake. However, the ruling has opened the way for children wrongly identified as sufferers of child abuse to sue instead.
The Court of Appeal has ruled on the cases of three couples that have come under suspicion and feel that they deserve the right to sue.
It is normally not possible to sue doctors or social workers for acting on suspicions, but the three couples and campaigners supporting them argue that they have suffered from the negligence of others.
The Judgement may mean that health staff can reasonably be considered negligent for wrong diagnosis but not for acting on it, and thus can be sued by the child wrongly diagnosed but not the parents suspected.
In one of the three cases the child was taken into care because of false suspicions before the suspicion of abuse was lifted.
Feelings run high for those arguing for and against the right to sue in this instance. To be wrongly suspected can be a stressful and traumatic experience, as can having a child taken into care.
But many also fear that if medical professionals can be sued for acting on suspicions this will undermine their ability to protect children and may leave more children in the hands of abusers.
The ruling appears to have satisfied neither side of the debate, both of which have indicated that they will take the case to the House of Lords.
