Inspire MediLaw August Newsletter

Welcome to our latest newsletter.

Although August is usually one of our quieter months, we’ve seen a flurry of bookings for our courses in the past few weeks. It’s great to see so many clinicians looking to take on expert witness work – where there is much demand and a real shortage of skilled professionals.

I recently had a call with a clinician who said he’d been thinking about signing up for our training for a while, and finally decided to take the plunge. We do know that it’s a big decision to take a step in a new career direction. That’s why we feel it’s really important to support you every step of the way – whether that’s helping you get your medico-legal practice off the ground, providing specialist training or supporting you with a tricky client scenario. Please do get in touch if you’d like any further details about how we can support you.

In this month’s edition, we take a look at the Supreme Court’s recent assessment on the scope of a doctor’s duty following the case of McCulloch and others (Appellants) v Forth Valley Health Board (Respondent) (Scotland). This is a significant ruling and one that has generated much debate in our community.

We also look at the benefits of joining a local medico-legal society and reflect on our?recent report-writing masterclass, hosted by Dr Adrian Rees.

Until next month,

Caren

Caren Scott

MD, Inspire MediLaw

Supreme Court rules on scope of duty

Last month, the Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of McCulloch and others (Appellants) v Forth Valley Health Board (Respondent) (Scotland) [2023] .

This concerns the case of Mr McCulloch, who died in April 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest. He had reported chest pain and received treatment at Forth Valley Hospital. His treating doctor decided not to offer or prescribe non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).?Sadly, he later suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

Mr McCulloch’s widow and family brought a claim against Forth Valley Health Board alleging that the treating doctor breached her duty of care by failing to inform Mr McCulloch that NSAIDs were a possible treatment option.

The court was asked to consider the duty established in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 , that a doctor must "take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in any recommended treatment, and of any reasonable alternative or variant treatments".

The Supreme Court made it clear that it is not for the courts to determine the reasonable treatment options that a patient should be informed of – that's a matter of professional practice.

Read more in this excellent article by Clyde and Co .

Report-writing masterclass

In July, Dr Adrian Rees, a GP and expert witness, ran a live online masterclass on expert witness report writing for Inspire MediLaw.

During the half-day course, Adrian took delegates through the legal rules surrounding reports, the letter of instruction, how to structure your report and and he shared his top tips for report writing. This drew on Adrian’s eight years of experience as an expert witness.

The session was very practical – with delegates asking many questions throughout.

Adrian will be running another live report-writing masterclass online on 6 October.

Head to our website for all the details.

Last expert witness training in England for 2023

From 21-22 September, we’ll be running our last Expert Witness Training for Medical Professional course in England for 2023.

Our September course is proving very popular but there is still time to book a spot. We cover all the core principles you need to know to start working as a medical expert witness. And the course has been designed specifically for clinicians so it’s tailored to your profession.

In this short video, Dr Simon Fox KC explains why this training is so important for all medical professionals who are taking on expert witness work.

Learn more about our two-day expert witness training on our website .

That's it for August.

Until next month,

Caren

MD, Inspire MediLaw

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