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Expert evidence
Expert evidence
Both experts retired from clinical practice prior to 2019. Ms Pooley for the claimant conceded that the claimant’s expert Mr Thompson’s level of expertise in terms of the live issues in this case was limited given how few haemorrhoidectomies he has ever carried out and how few patients he has seen with grade 3 or 4 haemorrhoids.
In my view Ms Pooley’s concession was properly made. For the reasons given below, I consider that Professor Phillips has significantly more relevant expertise than Mr Thompson and that regrettably Mr Thompson’s evidence appears in certain respects to have fallen short of the requirements of PD 35 as I set out below.
Therefore, where there is a conflict between the evidence of Mr Thompson and Professor Phillips, I unhesitatingly prefer the evidence of Professor Phillips.
- Heading
- Ms Sarah Clarke KC Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
- Haemorrhoid grading system
- The issues to be decided in this trial
- Causation
- Burden and standard of proof
- Counsel
- The applicable law In Hunter v Hanley [1955] SC 200, at [204] (“ Hunter ”), Lord President Clyde held that: “…[a surgeon] is not negligent merely because his conclusion differs from that of other professional men, nor b
- In Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 583, at [587] (“ Bolam ”), Mr Justice McNair summarised the test as follows: “…[a surgeon] is not guilty of negligence if he has acted in a
- The House of Lords subsequently qualified the Bolam test in Bolitho v Hackney HA [1998] AC 232 (“ Bolitho ”), at [241H]-[242A] (Lord Browne-Wilkinson) by explaining that, “The use of these adjectives
- Consenting a patient to a procedure In Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 , at [86] to [87] (“ Montgomery ”) the Supreme Court held in relation to the issue of appropriate consenting of a patient to a procedure
- Where the advice given by the doctor for the purposes of consent is informed by clinical judgment, the approach described in Hunter and Bolam remains applicable to that exercise of clinical judgment (
- Causation In Chester v Afshar [2004] UKHL 41 (“Chester”), the majority of the House of Lords held that causation will be established not only in respect of a patient who would have declined the surgery if prope
- Section 16
- The approach to witness evidence generally
- The witnesses
- The claimant
- The defendant
- Expert evidence
- The claimant’s expert witness – Mr Michael Thompson (“Mr Thompson”)
- The defendant’s expert witness – Professor Robin Phillips (“Professor Phillips”)
- Relevant facts, evidence and findings
- The defendant
- The claimant’s history
- The claimant’s appointment with the Private GP
- The GP’s referral letter
- The first consultation with the defendant
- Flexible sigmoidoscopy procedure
- The second consultation with the defendant
- The process of grading the haemorrhoids
- Advice on treatment options and risks of surgery
- The operation
- The operation note and findings
- Letter of complaint
- Causation
- Submissions
- The defendant
- Discussion
- Issues 2 - If the claimant has not proved on the balance of probabilities that the defendant’s grading of her haemorrhoids as grade 2 / 3 was incorrect, then has the claimant established on the balanc
- Issues 3 - 4 – Causation
- Conclusions