# Part 20: Medical Negligence Claims

> 163\. Compliance with protocol

### 163. Compliance with protocol <a href="#id-163-compliance-with-protocol" id="id-163-compliance-with-protocol"></a>

(1) Parties in medical negligence claims are to comply with the Protocol for Medical Negligence Cases in the General Division of the High Court (“protocol”) at Appendix H of these Practice Directions. A breach by one party will not exempt the other parties in the claim from following the protocol insofar as they are able to do so.

(2) In exercising its discretion as to costs, the Court will consider compliance with the protocol. If non-compliance with the protocol has led to unnecessary costs, the Court may make the following orders:

> (a) an order disallowing a defaulting party his or her costs, or some part of his or her costs, even if he or she succeeds;
>
> (b) an order that the defaulting party pay the other party or parties their costs of the proceedings, or part of those costs; and
>
> (c) an order that the defaulting party pay those costs on an indemnity basis.

(3) The Court will consider compliance with the protocol in exercising its discretion when deciding the amount of interest payable and may make the following orders:

> (a) an order awarding a successful party who has complied with the protocol interest from a date earlier than the date from which he or she would otherwise have been entitled to obtain interest; and
>
> (b) an order depriving a successful party who has not complied with the protocol of interest in respect of such period as may be specified.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://epd2021-supremecourt.judiciary.gov.sg/part-20-medical-negligence-claims.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.