Question 1

Xavier has a brain tumour and needs an emergency operation to save his life. He is
admitted to St Agnes Hospital. He is very nervous about having the operation. His
surgeon, Mr Young, assures him that he is very experienced and that nothing should
go wrong. Unfortunately a complication arises during surgery, through no fault of Mr
Young, and Xavier is left with brain damage.

As a result of Xaviers brain damage he suffers a personality change and is prone to
violent episodes. When Xaviers wife, Zanthe, goes to pick him up from hospital she
chats to Mr Young about Xaviers long-term prognosis. Mr Young tells her that Xavier
should be able to live a relatively normal life. He does not mention Xaviers violent
episodes. Shortly after Xavier leaves hospital he becomes violent and attacks Zanthe,
breaking her ribs. Xavier is convicted of grevious bodily harm and is jailed for two
years.

Another patient at St Agnes, Bharat, requires microsurgery to re-attach a partially
severed foot. His surgeon, Mr Charles, is a specialist in microsurgery. He decides to
perform an innovative technique which has only been performed by three other
surgeons. The risks of the operation are unknown. The operation appears to have gone
well and Bharat is taken down to the recovery ward. He is looked after on the ward by
Nurse Diamond. Nurse Diamond is a recently qualified nurse with little experience in
post-operative care. She has been left alone on the ward due to staff illness. Nurse
Diamond is told that she should check on Bharat every 20 minutes. She is very busy
and so only checks every 40 minutes. Shortly afterwards, Bharat develops an infection
and has to have his foot amputated. It is not clear what caused the infection. It could
have been due to the operation, the nursing care he received from Nurse Diamond, the
cleanliness of the ward or a combination of all these factors.

Bharat needs to use a prosthetic limb. He was an enthusiastic amateur runner before
his surgery. He asks St Agnes Hospital to provide him with a special prosthetic limb
designed for international athletes. This prosthetic limb costs 50,000 and must be
replaced every two years. The hospital tells Bharat that they cannot afford to supply
him with this and give him a much cheaper prosthetic limb.


Question 2

Eddie is a pig farmer whose family has run a piggery for generations. Although the
piggery was built for 30 pigs, due to the recent success of the business and
developments in intensive farming practices, he has now increased the herd to 100
pigs. Part of his herd consists ofWessex Gold Spots, a very rare breed.

Shula has recently bought a new house in a neighbouring development which was
finished earlier this year. She moved in with her daughter, Patricia. Most of the
houses in the new development have yet to be occupied. Shula started a business
selling afternoon teas in the large garden of the house. She has spoken to Eddie about
the stench from the pigs as this, she believes, has prevented the business from being
successful. Her elderly mother, Jill, has told her that she will not visit her again, as she
was sick for a week after her last visit. She attributed this to the smell from the piggery.
Patricia also complains about the smell. In addition, Shula is fed up with the fact that
Eddies feed suppliers keep leaving their lorry on the road outside her driveway so that
she cannot always get her car out. On a couple of occasions, her own business
suppliers have been unable to access her property and have charged a penalty for
rearranging delivery times.

Seeing some of the pigs are getting quite large, Shula worries that they might by
pregnant. She creeps out at night and fires off her sons shotgun to scare the pigs.
Although most of the pigs are unaffected, the sensitive Wessex Gold Spots, some of
which were pregnant, miscarry.

Close to the housing development, Eddie has been storing slurry in a container for a
friend who does not have a container on his own farm. Eddie believes he has been
careful to ensure that the container is properly maintained. However over the years the
container has corroded and a leak occurs. The slurry spreads into the neighbouring
gardens and kills all the plants, including Shulas rare delphiniums which she has been
growing to enter in the village show. Shulas dog, Fangs, escapes from her garden
onto Eddies land and becomes ill as a result of playing in the slurry.