The Legal 500

Position

Barrister practising in medical law, including clinical negligence, consent to treatment and withdrawal of treatment, medical disciplinary work and medical crime. Also personal injury and general common law. Instructed regularly by many of the leading firms of medical solicitors for both claimants and defendants in clinical negligence cases, for defendants in medical disciplinary cases and for families/individuals and Trusts/Health Authorities in consent to treatment/withdrawal of treatment cases. Cases include: R (on the application of Purdy) v DPP (assisted suicide litigation in House of Lords); numerous GMC cases, including sale of human kidneys, fraudulent clinical trials, sexual assault on patients and employees, misprescription of drugs, operating without consent, various allegations of clinical mismanagement, clinical confidentiality etc. NHS Trust A v MB (a child) & Mr and Mrs B [2006] EWHC 507 (Fam) (attempt by NHS Trust to withdraw life-sustaining ventilation from a conscious, cognate child); Al Hamwi v Johnston & NW London Hospitals NHS Trust [2005] EWHC 206 (QB) (extent of clinician’s obligation to ensure that patient had understood warning about risk of amniocentesis; Steel v Joy: Halsey v Milton Keynes NHS Trust [2004] 1 WLR 3002, ‘The Times’ 27/05/2004, ‘Independent’ 21/05/2004 – effect on costs of a refusal to mediate; meaning of ‘concurrent tortfeasors’. Kataria v Essex Strategic Health Authority [2004] 3 All ER 522, [2004] Lloyd’s Rep Med 215, ‘The Times 16/04/2004 – meaning of ‘review’ – jurisdiction of Family Health Services Appeal Authority. R v Chief Constable of West Mercia ex p Jepson. Judicial review of police decision not to prosecute for late abortion of a child with cleft lip/palate; rights of the foetus under ECHR Articles 2, 3, 6 and 8 – compatibility of those Articles with UK law of abortion (litigation continues); Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v As, Bs and Others [2003] Lloyd’s Rep Med 151; ‘The Times’ 26/02/2003; [2003] 1 FCR 599, (2003) 100(17) LSG 28, (2003) 153 NLJ 351, (2003) 100(17) LSG 28; ‘Independent’ 05/03/2003 – black twins born to white mother as a result of an IVF mix up; issue of legal fatherhood; construction of s28 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and compatibility of that section with the ECHR, 2003; litigation continues. Hanson v Airedale Hospital NHS Trust – clinical risk (2003) 9, 169 – failure to institute cardiac monitoring in a patient presenting at an A&E department with central chest pain; consequent hypoxic brain damage; application of ‘Bolitho’ principle: defendant’s position not logically sustainable. Causation: issue of lost chance. Inquiry into the care and treatment of Christopher Edwards and Richard Linford. Calver v Westwood Veterinary Group [2001] Lloyd’s Rep Med 20, [2001] Lloyd’s Rep PN 102, (2000) 58 BMLR 194, [2001] PIQR P11 – failure to prescribe prophylactic antibiotics after abortion in a thoroughbred bare; application of ‘Bolam’ test. In re D(Mental patient: Habeas corpus) [2001] 1 FCR 218, [2000] Fam Law 805, [2000] 2 FLR 848, ‘The Times’ 19/05/2000 – definition of ‘nearest relative’ in s26 of the Mental Health Act 1983; whether an approved social work has a duty of reasonable enquiry in deciding who the ‘nearest relative’ is when applying for a person to be compulsorily admitted to hospital. Briggs v Pitt-Payne & Lias [1999} Lloyd’s LR: Medical 1 – definition of ‘significant injury’ and ‘attributable’ in issues of limitation where negligent misprescription of drugs is alleged. Drake v Pontefract HA [1998] Lloyd’s LR: Medical 425 – psychiatric team’s liability for failure to control depression and prevent suicide attempt. Reed v Sunderland HA, ‘The Times’ 16/10/1998 – discounting for future contingencies; the status of the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines. Fallows v Randle [1997] 8 Med LR 160 – Laparoscopic sterilisation; fallope ring found later to be in incorrect position; application of maxim res ipsa loquitur. Bancroft v Harrogate Health Authority [1997] 8 Med LR 398 – whether failure to perform a total (cp sub-total) hysterectomy after finding of certain histological changes in cervix was negligent. Hind v York Health Authority [1997] 8 Med LR 377, [1998] PIQE P235 – damage to anal sphincter; immediate knowledge of faecal incontinence; when the claimant acquired date of knowledge for purposes of limitation. Ogden v Airedale Health Authority [1996] 7 Med LR 153 – liability of health authority to radiographer for occupational asthma caused by inhalation of x-ray developing chemicals. Kahl v Freistaat Bayern [1995] PIQR P401 – abuse of process; two actions arising from the same cause of action; recoverability by a foreign state of sums paid under its own domestic legislation in respect of the financial consequences of a tort in England. Reed v Doncaster MBC [1995] 11 CL 560 – liability of local authorities for the acts of third parties. Giles v Pontefract Health Authority (1993) Kemp H2-014. Assessment of future loss of earnings when the claimant is a young child (Smith v Manchester). Hillsborough Disaster Inquest.

Career

Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford; qualified as veterinary surgeon; research fellow Hebrew University, Jerusalem; tutor in medical law and ethics, University of Oxford; called 1988; Inner Temple; Recorder 2005. Author of many books and hundreds of articles on medical and other law and regular lecturer on medical law topics to various legal and medical audiences. Regular contributor to ‘The Times’ on medico-legal issues; books include: ‘Choosing Life, Choosing Death: The tyranny of autonomy in medical ethics and law’ (Hart 2009); ‘Medical Law Precedents’ (Ed; Wildy 2010); ‘Elements of Medical Law’ (Barry Rose Law Publishers, first edition 2006; 2nd edition Claerhout Law Publishers 2007); ‘Legally Important Clinical Mistakes’ (Claerhout Law Publishers 2007); ‘Personal Injury Law & Precedents’ (Jordans/APIL, 2006, contributor); editor (with John Tingle and Kay Wheat) ‘Regulating Health Care Quality: Legal and Professional Issues’ and chapter on ‘Disciplinary jurisdiction over the medical and other healthcare professions’ (Butterworth Heinemann/Elsevier Science, 2004); ‘Twenty-First Century Nursing: Law and Ethics: TVF Medical Communications/Pharmacia’ (CD-Rom 2003) with John Tingle and Kay Wheat; joint editor with John Tingle ‘Clinical Guidelines: Law, Policy and Practice’ (Cavendish 2002) and chapter on ‘Civil procedure, trial issues and clinical guidelines’; chapter on ‘Negligence: the legal perspective’ in Tingle and Cribb (eds) ‘Nursing Law and Ethics’ (Blackwell Scientific, 2nd edition 2002; 3rd edition 2006); editor with Charles Bourne, Jacqui Gilliatt and Prashant Popat ‘Civil Advocacy’ Cavendish, 2nd ed, 2001); chapter on ‘Access, procedure and the Human Rights Act 1998 in Medical Cases’ in Garwood-Gowers, Tingle and Lewis (eds) ‘Healthcare Law: the Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998’ (Cavendish 2001); ‘Drafting’ with Elmer Doonan (Cavendish, 2nd ed, 2001); ‘Disclosure and Confidentiality’ with T Wynn and N Ainley (FT Law and Tax, 1996); ‘Personal Injury Toolkit’ with G Reeds and M Bennet (Sweet and Maxwell, 7th ed 2004 – electronic and paper publication); ‘Tripping and Slipping Cases: a Practitioners Guide’ (Longman/FT Law and Tax/Sweet and Maxwell, 4th ed 2005).

Languages

French, Levantine Arabic.

Member

PNBA.

Education

Shrewsbury School; St John’s College, Cambridge (1984 BA; 1987 Vet MB MRCVS; 1987 MA); Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Leisure

Expeditions, writing, music.

Practice Areas

Clinical negligence - either side; Healthcare; Personal injury - either side