This page tells you exactly what to send, where to send it, what it will cost, and when you will get the report back. If anything here does not fit the way your firm works, call and we will find a way round it.
The four steps, and cases I will not take
Before anything is committed to paper, tell me about the case. A short conversation on the telephone, free of charge, and no obligation to instruct.
What that conversation is for:
- Whether the issues fall within thoracic surgery, and if not, which specialty you need.
- Whether the clinical questions are ones on which I can properly assist.
- Whether an expert report from a thoracic surgeon is likely to be the right evidence at this stage, or whether another opinion should come first.
- What records I will need and what is likely to be missing.
- What the report will cost and what timetable is realistic.
- Whether an examination is required or whether the papers are sufficient.
What that conversation is not for. I can tell you whether the clinical issues are ones I can address and what evidence would be needed to address them. I cannot advise you on the merits of the claim, and I will not. That is a legal assessment, it is your job rather than mine, and an expert who strays into it undermines the independence of everything else he says.
What to send
Essential
- Letter of instruction, setting out the questions you want answered and the deadline.
- Complete GP records.
- Complete hospital records for the relevant admissions, including nursing notes, observation charts and drug charts.
- Operation notes and anaesthetic charts where surgery is in issue.
- Radiology reports, and access to the imaging itself, not only the reports.
- Statements of case, where proceedings have been issued.
- Any existing expert evidence you are able to disclose to me.
Helpful, where available
- A paginated, indexed bundle. If your firm cannot produce one, say so at the outset — I would rather agree a paginating fee in advance than surprise you with one afterwards.
- A chronology, however rough.
- Witness statements from the claimant and from treating clinicians.
- The claimant’s own account of the ongoing effects, if you have taken one.
Imaging
Chest imaging decides more thoracic cases than any other single category of evidence, and the radiologist’s report is not a substitute for the images. Please send imaging as DICOM on encrypted media, a secure PACS link, or a cloud viewer. If imaging cannot be obtained, tell me before I begin; it changes both what I can say and how firmly I can say it.
How to send it
- Secure electronic transfer: Egress, Mimecast, ShareFile, or the solicitor’s own encrypted platform.
Please do not send unencrypted medical records by ordinary email attachment. If that is the only route available to your firm, contact us first and we will arrange an alternative. Full detail is on the data security page.
What happens next
I confirm in writing, before any work begins:
- That I accept the instruction and have no conflict.
- The fee, or the fee band and what would move it.
- The date the draft report will reach you, agreed with you rather than asserted.
- Anything missing from the records that I need before I start.
Not every case needs one. Where it does:
Appointment availability is confirmed when you instruct. Where a limitation deadline or a listed hearing requires it, tell me at the outset and I will say plainly whether it can be met.
Chaperones are available on request. A claimant may bring a family member or their solicitor. If an interpreter is required, please arrange one; I can conduct examinations in English and Italian without one.
Drafts are delivered to the timetable agreed at the point of instruction. I would rather quote a date I can meet than a short one I cannot: a report produced in a hurry is worth less to you than a report produced properly, and the records volume in most clinical negligence instructions makes a fast turnaround unrealistic.
Every report is checked against the published checklist before it is released.
What you receive:
- The report in PDF only, paginated and bundle-ready.
- A chronology, cross-referenced to the record pagination.
- My CV as an appendix, in the form required by PD35.
- The Part 35 declaration and statement of truth in current form.
- A list of the documents I considered.
After the report
I remain available on the case. Included within the report fee: one round of clarification by email or phone.
Charged separately, at the rates on the fees page:
- Conferences with counsel, in person or remotely.
- Experts’ meetings and the preparation of joint statements.
- Addenda following further disclosure or a change in the claimant’s condition.
- Attendance at trial or at inquest.
Please tell me listing dates as soon as you have them. A consultant surgeon’s operating list is fixed further ahead than most diaries, and late notice is the one thing that genuinely creates difficulty.
The administration of my medicolegal practice — enquiries, instruction handling, receipt of records, scheduling and invoicing — is provided under contract by Lexmed, an independent medicolegal services company. Lexmed is not part of my practice and has no involvement in the substance of any opinion I give.
In practice this means your enquiry, your letter of instruction and your records will be acknowledged and handled by Lexmed, and the report, any Part 35 questions and any conference will be dealt with by me. If you want to speak to me about the clinical issues before instructing, Lexmed will arrange it.
- Cases outside thoracic surgery. Cardiac surgery, respiratory medicine and thoracic radiology are adjacent specialties, not mine, and a report from the wrong specialty is worse than no report. I would recommend an alternative expert if I can, to help.
- Cases where I have treated the claimant, or where I have a professional relationship with a clinician whose care is in issue such that my independence could reasonably be questioned.
- Instructions where the deadline cannot be met properly. I would rather decline than produce something rushed with my name on it.
Start with a call
Enquiries are handled by Lexmed on my behalf. A fee estimate, confirmation of availability, and my CV and terms can be sent to you without waiting for me to come out of theatre.