“A negligent failure to perform a costotransversectomy?” The detail of this judgment will be of interest to neurosurgeons and spinal surgeons. However, particularly as the judgment quotes C v North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust [2014] Med. L.R. 189 which gives meaning to the adjectives ‘responsible’, ‘competent’ and ‘respectable’ in Bolitho, this is a useful judgment to have to hand when preparing a report in a case of alleged clinical negligence.