R (Ross) v West Sussex PCT
10 September 2008
[2008] 106 BMLR 1
Richard Clayton QC and Vikram Sachdeva successfully judicially reviewed a PCTs refusal to provide life prolonging treatment to a cancer patient who suffered from multiple myeloma. Mr Ross had applied for exceptional funding under the PCTs policy for Lenalidomide because he had to stop receiving his previous treatment- the side effects were too painful. The High Court decided that the PCTs exceptionality policy was unlawful because it, in effect, required a patient to show that his condition was unique. The PCTs policy meant that a patient was not exceptional if his condition had characteristics similar to those of other patients. The High Court also decided that the PCTs decision to refuse treatment contained unlawful errors of fact and was irrational. The High Court then granted an immediate injunction requiring the PCT to fund the treatment whilst the PCT considered its position.
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