Inspire MediLaw September Newsletter
Inspire MediLaw
Helping medical and legal professionals to develop their medico-legal skills through face-to-face and online training.
Welcome to our latest newsletter.
The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for the Inspire team – with our Scottish conference, as well as the cerebral palsy conference for lawyers, our expert witness training and the first assessment day for candidates taking our expert witness certification. Despite flight cancellations and postponements, these events all went very smoothly in the end!
I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the delegates and speakers who joined us at our events – we were treated to some fascinating presentations and very lively discussions. I can honestly say that there was a real buzz in the air.
I set up Inspire MediLaw to enable medical and legal professionals to share their insights, learn from one another and improve medico-legal practice. And that’s exactly why we continue to hold these events. It’s the best way to learn and keep on top of the latest industry updates.
Read on to learn more.
Until next month,
Caren
Caren Scott
MD, Inspire MediLaw
Success for our newly certified expert witnesses
Our first two candidates have passed their expert witness certification with flying colours.
Dr Louise Teare (consultant microbiologist) and Mr Karam Abdallah (consultant gynaecologist) completed the final stage of their certification – an assessment day – at the University of Strathclyde on 15 September. Their assessment involved a multiple-choice paper and mock cross-examination from our barrister.
Dr Louise Teare said:
“A big thank you to everyone involved in this excellent training.?I must admit when I got the final agenda for the day it looked a bit scary and I wondered what on earth I was doing! Now I can look back and realise what excellent training this certification has provided, setting me up well to continue my medico-legal work.”
The new Inspire MediLaw and University of Strathclyde certificate provides a quality mark for medical expert witnesses. It’s a great way to promote your skills and demonstrate your expertise to potential legal clients.
As part of the certification process, candidates complete:
Our next assessment days (November and January) are full but we are now taking bookings for March 2024. You do need to complete the other two elements before attending the assessment day.
Head to the website for all the details.
2023 Medico-legal Conference (Scotland)
We were thrilled to be back in Scotland for our annual conference in the beautiful setting of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow on 14 September.
Around 30 medical professionals from a variety of specialties attended our conference. Chaired by barrister Lauren Sutherland KC, this event saw wide-ranging discussions on addressing causation, confidence in the courtroom, avoiding litigation, patient consent and many other topics.
Mr Rod Chalmers, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, who attended our conference, said: “I found every aspect of the meeting thought-provoking and it was nice to speak to other medics who I had never met before, but with whom I found lots in common from the medical expert point-of-view.”
These conferences are always among the most popular of our events. You might be interested to know that we’ve just finalised the programme for our upcoming 2023 Medico-legal Conference (England).
Further details are available on our website .
Edinburgh event attracts leading medical speakers
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More than 30 delegates joined us for our Anatomy of a Cerebral Palsy Case Conference in Edinburgh on 18 September. Delegates included lawyers from Scotland’s leading clinical negligence law firms as well as many nationally renowned medical speakers.
The conference covered a wide range of topics, such as the management of labour, medico-legal issues in neonatal care, determining causation and case management care and costs.
Our next conference for lawyers will focus on trauma. If you’re a medical specialist working in this area and you’d be interested in speaking, please get in contact. It’s a great way to raise your profile in the medico-legal sector.
Particular thanks to Lauren Sutherland KC (our chair), Dr Andrew Lux, Dr Ian Craven, Abigail Luck, Karen Luyt, Tim Hookway and many other medical and legal specialists (you know who you are!)
New page limit for expert witness reports
A new rule governing the length of expert witness reports will be introduced from 1 October 2023.
All expert witnesses are required to meet their obligations under the Civil Procedure Rules.
Rule 28.14 (3) ?states that:
"…any expert report shall not exceed 20 pages, excluding any necessary photographs, plans and academic or technical articles attached to the report."
This new rule applies to all cases in the new English and Welsh Civil intermediate track (valued from ￡25,000 to ￡100,000). This intermediate track has been introduced to help provide greater certainty over legal costs.
Critics have argued that the new page limit could compromise the quality of expert evidence, particularly in complex cases.
Industry bodies are seeking urgent clarification on what can and cannot be excluded from the 20-page limit.
But, for now, if you’re producing an expert witness report, you need to stick to this page limit for cases on the intermediate track.
We’ll keep you posted.
Breach of duty, advice and consent: the role of the expert
In his latest blog, clinical negligence solicitor Paul Sankey looks at the role of an expert witness in the light of the Supreme Court’s judgment in McCulloch v Forth Valley Health Board .
As an expert, you may be asked to report on whether a diagnosis or treatment fell below a reasonable standard. You use your specialist medical knowledge and normally apply the Bolam test. However, you may also be asked to comment on whether advice to patients was adequate and whether a patient has given consent to treatment. This is a thorny area where your lawyer may have misunderstood the law and you risk straying outside the scope of your role.
Paul outlines a simple approach you can use to ensure you’re sticking within your remit. Read Paul’s blog .
New conference with counsel guide
Hot off the press! We’ve just published our new guide, Conference with counsel – tips for medical expert witnesses.
This new guide takes you through the purpose of the meeting and your role as a medical expert witness. We share our insights to help you prepare for the meeting and fulfil your role effectively.
Get a copy of our new guide now.
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