Articles

Lead Article – May 2022 Repetition It is both fascinating and infuriating that little seems to change in the medicolegal sphere. There have been some major advances over the last decade or two with PIPA and the CLA but in … Read More

Case Vignette – May 2022 Do X-rays Lie? With traumatic lesions, there is an old saying that the situation can “never be better than the worst x-ray”. There is much truth in this axiom. It means that if you can … Read More

General Advice – May 2022 How to Succeed with a Negligence Claim Don’t expect to read about any tricks. There are none. Instead, careful scrutiny of all of the records and radiographs, separation of complications from under-performance, a careful analysis … Read More

Lead Article – April 2022 No Wonder Plaintiffs Are Confused I recently examined a patient with a sore back. He had a congenital (from birth) pars defect at L5 and a spondylolisthesis of L5 on the sacrum. In simple language, … Read More

Case Vignette – April 2022 How Much Is An Injury Really Worth? I recall a youngish woman (33 years of age) who was bumped by a horse and fell gracefully onto soft lawn. The entire event was witnessed by many … Read More

General Advice – April 2022 Why Do Orthopaedic Surgeons Do It? Orthopaedic Surgeons who proffer advice through medicolegal reports are usually motivated by at least two stimuli.   The first is a genuine interest in matters of both medical and … Read More

Lead Article – March 2022 Mandatory Reporting I recently attended a dinner hosted by, and for, members of both the legal and medical professions in Queensland. There were three speakers dealing with the topic of mandatory reporting and all came … Read More

Case Vignette – March 2022 I Sometimes Change My Mind Prior to seeing a patient for a personal injury claim, I read the available documentation. This includes hospital and medical notes, recordings from the general practitioner and importantly, specialty notes … Read More

General Advice – March 2022 Please Pay Your Bills Medical negligence cases typically involve reams and reams (or megabytes and megabytes) of material to decipher, digest and analyse carefully. It takes many hours.   Some solicitors, typically those acting for … Read More

Lead Article – February 2022 What’s the Difference Between the Heart and the Brain? From the medical perspective, there are very significant differences between these two important organs. I won’t bore you with them.   From the legal perspective, the … Read More

Case Vignette – February 2022 The Features Some Plaintiffs Suffer I saw a fellow recently who had been working in western Queensland as a helicopter musterer for about 11 years. He had obviously started early because he was only 30 … Read More

General Advice – February 2022 The Plight of the WorkCover Patient I rarely perform IME’s for WorkCover, but regularly see plaintiffs being sent along for a second opinion after having received an unpleasant WorkCover settlement offer.   Whilst the principal … Read More

Lead Article – December 2021 Beware the Recidivist Claimant Very few of us will ever lodge a civil claim for personal injury in our lifetime. A small proportion of us will have one claim and possibly two, although that would … Read More

Case Vignette – December 2021 It’s All a Matter of Scale I recently saw a young man who sustained an injury in the region of his cervical spine whilst playing touch football at an Army base in 2015. It appears … Read More

General Advice – December 2021 Fair Enough I understand that lawyers often take sides in matters. In fact, firms declare themselves as being either pro-claimant or pro-defendant. They wear it as a badge of honour. I sometimes try to put … Read More

Lead Article – November 2021 Personality Does Matter Over the last two months, I have seen two plaintiffs alleging medical negligence against a so-called “first surgeon”. Both patients had undergone total hip replacements by different surgeons. Let’s call them surgeon … Read More

Case Vignette – November 2021 Beware of Some Chiropodists There have been recent reports in “The Australian” newspaper about a patient who had undergone some form of “body modification” procedure by an unqualified practitioner. As I understand, a silastic compound … Read More

General Advice – November 2021 Some Things Never Change I have had an undying interest in medicolegal reporting for four decades. There have been some changes over that period and in particular, the Court processes do appear to have been streamlined. … Read More

Lead Article – October 2021 Who’s in Charge of Medicolegal Report Quality Control? I really don’t know! Medical graduates in Australia are subject to registration requirements imposed by the Medical Board of Australia and its administrative arm, the Australian Health … Read More

Case Vignette – October 2021 Sexual Boundary Violations I know, this is a very unusual topic for an Orthopaedic Surgeon to be exploring. The Notifications Committees of the Medical Board of Australia not infrequently deal with complaints of inappropriate behaviour … Read More

General Advice – October 2021 Qualities You Should Look for in an Expert Since I have spoken about the need for some form of quality control with medicolegal reports, it is also appropriate that I list some of the qualities … Read More

Lead Article – September 2021 Orthopaedic Injuries Can Make You Mad I am using the word “mad” quite loosely.  I am not suggesting that the orthopaedic injury will give rise to psychiatric or mental illness but instead, can be irritating, … Read More

Case Vignette – September 2021 Can You See the Funny Side? Whilst my sympathy for injured individuals is genuine and maintained, I can also sometimes see an element of humour.  At the risk of causing offence, I keep my mirth … Read More

General Advice – September 2021 Try Not to Pre-empt the Consultation Plaintiffs presenting for medicolegal examinations will have various expectations.  Some think that the whole process may take several hours.  Others will believe that the examiner will hurt them (either … Read More

Lead Article – August 2021 You Can’t Be Serious! You will all recall this famous phrase, commonly attributed to John McEnroe. Whilst I would never publicly condone poor sportsmanship, especially in the public arena, I did derive great pleasure from … Read More

Case Vignette – August 2021 Horses are Heavy A 28-year-old secretary was visiting a local winery on a Sunday afternoon. By all accounts, she enjoyed herself enormously. The food was excellent, the wine flowed copiously and although she was able … Read More

General Advice – August 2021 You Get What You Pay For I have touched on this subject before. I recently received a request to perform a medicolegal examination (dealing with alleged medical negligence) by a medical defence organisation. Accompanying the … Read More

Lead Article – July 2021 “Over a Period of Time” Injuries It is timely that we revisit this particular topic. Claims are becoming more frequent, the cases are more complex and the outcomes are even less certain. Causation is so … Read More

Case Vignette – July 2021 Osteoporosis of Pregnancy Osteoporosis refers to demineralisation of the collagen structure in bone. It presents clinically as fractures caused by minimal force and radiographically by bones that are far less radio-dense than normal. Whilst the … Read More

General Advice – July 2021 Patient Demeanour All of us are subject to bias. Even the most revered of judges in the Supreme Court will have some preconceptions based upon past experiences in life.  Orthopaedic surgeons are no different. Patients … Read More