Please introduce yourself to the readers of Lawyer Monthly and what is your professional background and education? My name is Rakesh Bhardwaj. I currently work in the NHS as a Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon and have been in this position for fifteen years. I trained in medicine at Bristol University and graduated as a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery in 1993. I undertook by basic surgical training in Manchester and achieved admission as a Fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Edinburgh in 1998. I then undertook a period of surgical research in colorectal surgery with the University of London and was awarded a higher degree by research, becoming a Doctor of Medicine. My Higher Specialist Surgical Training was undertaken in London and the Southeast of England and achieved entry to the Specialist Register along with an award of an FRCS in General Surgery. After this I undertook a specialist fellowship at St Mark’s Hospital. This was followed by a sponsored laparoscopic fellowship with Ethicon Endosurgery in Plymouth. I joined the staff at Darent Valley Hospital as a Consultant Surgeon in 2009. I am currently Lead Clinician in Colorectal Surgery. I have chaired the Colorectal Cancer Multidisciplinary Meeting for twelve years and recently became an Examiner for the Royal College of Surgeons of England. I have a mature medicolegal practice and in order to improve my practice I studied medical law and achieved in 2023 the award of LLM with an interest in medical negligence. I have published several articles in the Expert Witness Journal in the fields of Consent and Gross Negligence Manslaughter. What are your areas of expertise and professional experience as a General and Colorectal Consultant Surgeon? Most of my practice centres around the diagnosis and treatment of Colon and Rectal Cancer. However, I have I always had an interest in medical law. As I became more interested, I naturally fell into becoming an expert witness. I find it challenging but enormously rewarding.
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