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So far Opinion Editor has created 178 blog entries.

Is it already time for rehab prescription 3.0?

Having spent over 20 years as a physiotherapist, I remember the initial problems experienced by patients and healthcare professionals in ensuring an effective joined up approach to rehabilitation. This was especially noticeable as patients moved between stages of recovery in acute centres and then on to rehabilitation in the community.  This gave rise to the initial concept of the Rehabilitation Prescription (RP) a decade ago. Having since retrained as a serious injury lawyer, I see similar issues still affecting my clients today. The RP should set out exactly what treatment is required for an individual in the aftermath of a serious injury, a bespoke approach to each patient’s specific needs.

By |2024-07-04T17:55:01+01:0010 March 2020|Opinion, Insight, News, Legal|
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How to be a better medical expert

There is more to being a good medico-legal expert than being a good doctor. It is rare to win a clinical negligence case (and this is my field) without good experts. But sometimes cases go wrong because the expert lets a client down. With the right expert evidence, people who should get damages win their cases but those who should not, do not pursue claims (and hopefully understand why). Costs are incurred on the right cases. My goal is for the right people to get damages and for the health service not to spend the minimum on costs in the process. With the right expert evidence, people who should get damages win their cases but those who should not, do not pursue claims (and hopefully understand why). Costs are incurred on the right cases. My goal is for the right people to get damages and for the health service not to spend the minimum on costs in the process. So after many years of running clinical negligence claims, here are 10 top tips on how to be a good medical expert.

By |2024-07-04T17:47:52+01:0027 February 2020|Insight, Legal|
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Worrying trends in health and safety enforcement

I recently read an article in a British Safety Council publication referencing HSE annual statistics noting that prosecutions for health and safety breaches were at a record low, with 2018/19 prosecutions down by 23 per cent from 2017/18 numbers, and more than a third since 2014/15. Concern was expressed that some employers were prepared to ignore health and safety laws believing that they would never be “caught”. Whilst it has always been the case that some element of employers are prepared to flout health and safety regulations for profit, or simply through recklessness, the concern is whether the proportion prepared to ignore these laws is growing or decreasing; whether the trend is going in the right direction.

By |2024-07-04T17:55:02+01:0015 January 2020|Opinion, Insight, Legal|
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What makes a good medico-legal expert?

A medico-legal expert’s duty is to the Court. They have a duty to be independent. They should have this duty at the forefront of their mind when carrying out their assessment(s) and when preparing their report(s). An expert’s evidence will be completely undermined if it transpires that they are saying what the party who is paying them wants to say unless that is their genuine view. It should go without saying that experts should be courteous to the Claimant and their families both during the assessment and in the report. There is an increase in Claimants seeking to record expert assessments either covertly or overtly.

By |2024-07-04T17:55:02+01:008 January 2020|Opinion, Insight, Legal|
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Why music is the key that unlocks family problems

In this age of strained healthcare resources, all therapists must be able to quickly and succinctly evidence their value. In the neurologic strand of music therapy, this is aided by an approach in which assessments feature prominently. In the psychodynamic branch of music therapy with children and families, however, measuring and reporting progress has long been a significant challenge. Why is it important to assess families and more specifically, the interactions between parent and child? The most crucial reason would be to protect the children from negative parenting behaviours such as neglect or abuse.

By |2024-07-04T17:47:58+01:0018 December 2019|Therapy|
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Striking a balance in rehabilitation

Rehabilitation on catastrophic injury cases should work for both claimants and defendants, subject of course to liability attaching to the defendant or being likely to attach. At the outset of a serious injury case, claimants generally have two short-term priorities:

  • Alleviate financial hardship
  • Maximise their recovery through effective rehabilitation.
It is right to say that an additional priority soon becomes finding certainty that they lead a reasonable life in the future and overcome, insofar as possible, the often life-changing and very significant and shocking trauma that they have been through.
By |2024-07-04T17:47:59+01:009 December 2019|Legal|
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How Sarah jumped beyond the boundaries of her injury

When Sarah’s mother was in labour, the hospital staff failed to pick up on what should have been worrying signals coming from the CTG monitor. After experiencing lack of oxygen at birth, Sarah* was diagnosed with mild athetoid cerebral palsy as a baby. By age five she had vision problems and required occasional use of a wheelchair. She could finger feed, although it was somewhat clumsy and her parents had to help her at mealtimes. Liquids also had to be thickened to make drinking easier. Her manual dexterity was poor and she was susceptible to chest infections. The hospital Trust denied liability for Sarah’s injury and so a protracted liability trial followed.

By |2024-07-04T17:55:02+01:0026 November 2019|Opinion, Insight, Legal|
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Adventures in Neurologic Music Therapy

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) provides specific, individualised and standardised interventions for people with brain injury or neurological conditions. It is distinct from traditional music therapy approaches as it is not based on a social-science model. Rather, it is underpinned by neuroscience and recognises music as a hard-wired brain language. The discipline of NMT improves cognitive, sensory and motor dysfunction caused by neurologic disease of the human nervous system; and is becoming increasingly relied upon to deliver better neuro-rehab outcomes.

By |2024-07-04T17:47:59+01:0025 November 2019|Therapy, News|
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Addressing the paradox of employers’ liability insurance

If an individual suffers an injury on the road through the negligence of a driver, they will recover compensation.

This is because of the provisions within Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Even if there was no insurance attaching to the vehicle, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau would satisfy any unsatisfied Judgment. But there are numerous cases in which insurers in road traffic accident cases have tried a variety of methods to avoid liability including seeking a statutory declaration, asserting that the insurance policy is only relevant if the policyholder was driving or in the vehicle, and stating that the use of the vehicle was different to that which was insured.
By |2024-07-04T17:55:02+01:005 November 2019|Opinion, Insight, Legal|
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