46 LAWYER MONTHLY JUNE 2024 was evacuated but unfortunately the patient died. On 29.03.95 the Daily Mirror published a photograph of Mr Percy under the heading “Dr Dolittle” an article that accused him of gross dereliction of duty because he had not gone into the hospital to manage the patient. I emphasised that the patient had been managed perfectly up to the point where he needed a craniotomy to evacuate the haematoma, surgery that Mr Percy was not trained to perform and could not have performed. I prepared a medicolegal report and the case was tried at the High Court in London. The Daily Mirror was represented by George Karman QC who was a famous defamation lawyer of that time. I was cross-examined extensively over a period of 2 days. The jury found that Mr Percy had been defamed and he was awarded £625,000 (which was halved on appeal). This was a dramatic introduction to high-level medicolegal work, which stimulated my interest in the subject. I began to take on increasingly complex cases in both personal injury and clinical negligence. Later I studied for a postgraduate diploma in law, awarded in 2001 (University of Northumbria 2.1). I have subsequently published a number of papers on many medicolegal topics. I have provided reports for many Courts including the County Court, the High Court, Coroners’ Courts and on one occasional the Criminal Court of Appeal. I have been instructed in many jurisdictions including England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Gibraltar, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the USA. I am instructed by solicitors acting for both Claimants and Defendants. I am often recommended by Counsel to prepare reports in my areas of particular expertise. I do not act for litigants in person. A typical day I spend part of my time in academic practice. I undertake original research mainly in the area of spinal surgery and I publish 3 or 4 academic papers per year; typically these are papers on the standard of care and outcome in spinal surgical practice. I have research collaborations with several academic departments of spinal surgery in the UK. I act as a referee for a number of international journals reviewing papers that are submitted for publication. My medicolegal practice is based in a cottage that overlooks the North Sea. The practice is wholly electronic. I and my secretaries are linked by a network and we all work from home. My days are very varied. I can be working upon a medicolegal report, reviewing the medical records, witness statements, radiological imaging and reports from other experts then putting together my report. For personal injury and some of the clinical negligence cases patients need to be seen and examined to prepare a condition and prognosis report or to determine causation. Patients can be seen at my local private hospital or at their home or another institution nationally, or patients can be seen remotely via a video consultation. Video consultations are convenient and cheap but the patient cannot be examined which in neurosurgery can be a significant disadvantage. There are regular consultations with solicitors and counsel often via video-link. One advantage of my current practice is that reports can be prepared very urgently and patients can be seen throughout the UK and any conferences or questions can be addressed as soon as is required. Medicolegal work I have dealt with many types of personal injury and clinical negligent cases and/or longstanding produced many thousands of reports. I used to provide reports for any area of neurosurgery that I encountered in clinical practice. I now only accept instructions upon cases where I have an ongoing academic or longstanding clinical interest. This includes all
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