Full Description
Written by lawyers and doctors, this is a practical guide to legal action involving doctors, either as defendants or expert witnesses. It discusses how to write medical reports, especially when consent is required or confidential information is involved. It also covers contentious issues in various clinical specialties which repeatedly arise in litigation; well-known examples are cases involving whiplash injuries or perinatal brain damage. In the third part of the text, lawyers discuss the medico-legal problems of the solicitor's role, court testimony and medical negligence.
Contents
Part 1 The writing of reports and related problems: the medico-legal consultation; medico-legal reports; consent and confidentiality. Part 2 The most contentious problems in the high-risk specialties: anaesthesia; general surgery; dermatology; ear, nose, and throat; neurology; neurosurgery; obstetrics and gynaecology; orthopaedics; litigant's backache; paediatrics; psychiatry. Part 3 Legal advice for doctors involved in medico-legal problems: the solicitor's problems; counsel's advice to the medical expert; the legal basis of medical negligence.
