Actor Warwick Davis, who played Professors Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter movies, has launched a medical negligence claim against a London hospital following his wife’s death in 2023.

According to various media sources, Mr Davis claims that Samatha Davis developed “flu-like symptoms” that turned out to be Strep B infections, meningitis and sepsis following operations on her back to treat a spinal condition at University College London Hospital in 2019. She survived the infections, which can be fatal, but was left with long-term mobility issues.

He claims that in 2022 doctors expressed their concern of the scar from the surgery which was “inflamed with fluid, red, and hot to touch” and she continued her battle against the damage from sepsis and other infections before her death at the age of 53. The inquest into her death has now opened.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to damage your body’s own tissues and organs. It can lead to shock, multi-organ failure and death if not recognised and treated quickly.

Around 250,000 people in the UK get sepsis each year and it caused 52,000 deaths last year. The UK Sepsis Trust estimates that 14,000 of those deaths were preventable. Patients who survive sepsis are at higher risk of death for up to five years after the infection according to national data.

Sepsis can cause long-term physical and mental issues that can last for years after the infection too. According to the NHS, this can include joint pains, chronic pain, mobility problems and muscle weakness, as well as mental health issues like anxiety, depression and PTSD.

Our medical negligence team will be carefully watching the case and reporting back as it progresses. Our thoughts are with Mr Davis and their children.