Expert Witness : Medico Legal – page 13

First council to provide legal services to NHS

The city council’s legal services department could work on contracts worth up to £9m, after it was the first local authority in the country to be appointed to work for the NHS.

Beating off competition from some of the highest profile law firms in the country, the city council’s lawyers successfully bid for the Health Trust Europe Legal Services Framework Agreement.

The agreement will see the department provide legal services in employment; contract and commercial; and other law for up to 70 NHS trusts in the Midlands and South East for an initial three years, with an option to extend for 12 months.

Human tragedy and legal legacy surrounding asbestos-related cases

By Simon Kilvington, of 18 St John Street Chambers

The Supreme Court recently ruled in favour of the combined appeals of Greif (UK) Ltd v Karen Sienkiewicz and Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council and Barré Willmore, in the groundbreaking case to consider causation in asbestos-related cancer claims.

Both the original claimants died of mesothelioma, a cancer which develops from the protective lining or mesothelium which covers many of the body’s internal organs. It most commonly affects the pleura, the outer lining of the lungs, but may also occur in the lining of the abdominal cavity.

Beware the nut job: warning on male genital enhancement Liquid Silicone Injections Marketed to Men in the UK

Your Expert Witness BAAPS In the wake of the tragic death of a UK woman who was injected with liquid silicone for buttock enhancement, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (www.baaps.org.uk) today issued a fresh warning against backstreet procedures being performed in this country on males seeking genital enlargement. A number of websites promoting the use of silicone injections demonstrate considerable interest from men around the country and reveal that many have undergone the unlicensed procedure – and are now facing serious medical problems and deformity as a result.

Surge in plastic surgery for pets

Your Expert Witness poodle Nose jobs and facelifts were once the preserve of Hollywood A-listers and ageing celebrities. However new figures show that Britons are spending millions of pounds a year on plastic surgery for their pets.

According to the UK’s largest pet insurance provider, claims worth £1.5m were paid out in 2010 for nose surgery on cats and dogs, an increase of 25 per cent over the last three years.

Petplan also paid out over £1m for eye-lid lifts on young dogs and almost a quarter of a million pounds for dental work on household pets.

SecurEnvoy condemns latest NHS data fiasco, which it says could so easily have been avoided

Reports that the door entry and KeySafe codes for number of NHS patients were included on the address labels of letters sent to clients of the NHS Personal Demographics Service have been roundly condemned by SecurEnvoy.

According to the tokenless two factor authentication specialist, this latest data fiasco surrounding the NHS and its storage of personal information is exactly the reason why authentication processes were developed for accessing data.