Susanna Bennett's practice comprises (a) civil claims and inquests concerning alleged failures in medical treatment and (b) duty of care claims brought against employers, occupiers, surveyors, landlords, land-owners, conveyancers, solicitors, highway authorities, education authorities and more.
She is a talented and versatile clinical negligence practitioner who is instructed for both claimants and defendants. Her practice is very diverse: she acts in claims alleging negligent surgery, failure to diagnose (a heart attack, a stroke, gallstones, cancer of different stages, a leak following repair of an aneurysm, and more), failure to recognise rare side effects of medication, failure to obtain informed consent (for implantation/explantation of an ICD, hysterectomy, salpingo-oophorectomy, mastectomy, removal of a tooth following radiotherapy and more), failure to refer to a specialist, negligent treatment of diabetic patients, carrying out surgery despite excessively high blood pressure, failure to carry out necessary surgery in the elderly, substandard nursing care for the elderly, failure to communicate with other healthcare providers to ensure joined-up care, and delays in carrying out essential treatment. Her cases often involve a Human Rights Act element.
She was instructed for the successful Defendant, led by Ed Bishop KC, in the case of Traylor and Traylor v Kent and Medway NHS Social Care Partnership Trust [2022] EWHC 260 (QB). The case is the first time the High Court has considered whether the ex turpi defence will apply when the claimant has been found to have been not guilty by reason of insanity.
She was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 2017.