Nicholas Vyner Todd I am Nicholas Vyner Todd. I am a Consultant Neurosurgeon and Spinal Surgeon. I retired from the NHS in 2011 and from private practice in 2014. I continue to work in academic neurosurgery in personal injury and medical negligence litigation as an expert witness. My undergraduate training was at Guys Hospital. My postgraduate training in neurosurgery was at neurosurgical units in Derby, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I was awarded the FRCS (England) in 1982. In 1983 I became a Medical Research Council Special Training Fellow in Neurosurgery. I undertook research in experimental brain injury at the Institute of Neurology Queen Square between 1983 and 1984. This led to the award of an MD by the University of London and also led to my appointment as a Hunterian Professor RCS Eng in 1985. I subsequently studied for a diploma in law and was awarded the PgDL (University of Northumbria) in 2001. In In 2010 I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. My qualifications are MB BS, FRCS, MD, PgDL, FRCPE. An Interview with... Consultant Neurosurgeon & Spinal Surgeon In this edition of Lawyer Monthly, we are delighted to feature Professor Nicholas Vyner Todd, an esteemed Consultant Neurosurgeon and Spinal Surgeon with a distinguished career spanning several decades. Having retired from the NHS in 2011 and from private practice in 2014, Professor Todd continues to contribute significantly to the field of academic neurosurgery and serves as an expert witness in personal injury and medical negligence litigation. WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM 45 Professor MB BS PgDL MD FRCPE FRCS Medicolegal beginnings My introduction to significant medicolegal work was abrupt and somewhat spectacular. In 1995, I was asked to act as an expert witness on behalf of an Orthopaedic Surgeon who was suing the Daily Mirror for defamation. Mr Percy was a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup. Mr Percy was responsible for the primary triage of head injury patients. A 45-year-old man had been deliberately run-down by a car. Mr Percy’s registrar had neurosurgical training and managed the patient superbly well; intubation, ventilation and a CT scan were performed, a large acute subdural haematoma (ASDH) compressed the brain. Mannitol was given. The local neurosurgery unit could not accept the patient because they had no intensive care (ITU) beds. Mr Percy was contacted at home and he advised the registrar, sequentially, to contact all of the neurosurgery units in London and then most of England; all refused to accept the patient because of a lack of ITU beds until finally he was accepted by the neurosurgeons in Leeds. He was flown to Leeds, the haematoma
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