Expert Witness Features

ONE OF THE most frequent types of compensation claim seen by medical negligence solicitors in the UK is the failure to diagnose cancer when it presents. Delayed diagnosis permits the tumour to advance and an advanced tumour will demand more aggressive treatment with the probability of additional complications.

Late diagnosis may also result in the tumour spreading into the rest of the body – known as metastases. These metastases are typically impossible to eradicate and frequently prove fatal.

Sarcomas are malignant tumours which arise from the connective tissues of the body: bone and cartilage or soft tissue and muscle. Unlike cancer of the breast, prostate or lung, sarcomas are rare. However, their rarity tends to lead to late diagnosis, so many patients present with a long history and a large mass.

A PARTICULAR specialism within the discipline of urology is nephrology, which is concerned with issues related to the kidney. A consultant nephrologist deals with renal failure, glomerulonephritis, pylonephritis, renal dialysis, diabetic renal disease and kidney transplantation, as well as medication issues involved in kidney disease.

According to medicalcasenotes.co.uk, common issues that may lead to a claim of clinical negligence include medication causing kidney damage, delay in diagnosis of renal disease, mismanagement of renal failure and hypertension issues related to the kidneys.

An expert in the field is Dr Martin Mansell MD FRCP, who is the consultant nephrologist at the Royal Free and UCL Hospitals, London.

THE COMMONEST reason for cases coming to court regarding vasectomies is because of pregnancy resulting from the vasectomy failing. A number of high-profile cases in the 1990s established the principal that, although damages could be claimed for the pain and trauma of the pregnancy and the failed operation, the costs of bringing up a resultant child cannot be claimed. A number of courts, including the House of Lords in 1998, concluded that the birth of a healthy child should be regarded as “a blessing” rather than an unmitigated disaster.

Substantial damages have been awarded, however, in cases where the failure of the vasectomy results in complications that cause severe pain.

CONSULTANT orthopaedic surgeons deal with operations and procedures involving the bones and joints. That will include fractures and trauma of the bones as well as reconstructive surgery of the bones and joints. They deal with neck and back injuries involving soft tissue and muscle, as well as ligament injuries and joint reconstruction.

The most common types of fracture they would deal with include those to the clavicle, ribs, scaphoid, humerus, radius, ulna, femur and tibia as well as the small bones of the hands and feet.

Reconstructive surgery involves hip and knee replacements as well as surgery on the ligaments of the knee, ankle, shoulder and hand.