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Here Caren Scott, founder and Managing Director, explains the personal story that led her to launch Inspire MediLaw – which is now one of the leading providers of medico-legal training in the UK.
I’ve worked in the healthcare sector for more than 20 years, but it was a traumatic family experience that inspired the creation of Inspire MediLaw.
Some years ago, my husband fell seriously ill and suffered a cardiac and respiratory arrest leading to a subtle hypoxic brain injury during his hospital stay. He was in the hospital for nine months, enduring every complication imaginable. This experience gave me unique insight into both outstanding care and care that was lacking.
After the relief of finally bringing him home, we faced new challenges. As he began to recover physically, it became increasingly apparent that his short-term memory was significantly impacted. In the quiet moments of reflection that followed, I found myself revisiting various aspects of his hospital care. With time and perspective, I began to recognise what I perceived as shortcomings in his treatment. This realisation was both painful and eye-opening, leading me to question many facets of his hospital care. Ultimately, these concerns compelled us to seek legal advice on a potential clinical negligence case.
Our journey through the legal process proved to be challenging in ways we hadn’t anticipated. Navigating the complexities of funding and helping the legal team understand the intricate medical issues of the case was often overwhelming.
When we finally received the expert report, our hopes for clarity and understanding were not met. The report was surprisingly brief and seemed to overlook our personal statements, relying heavily on medical notes as the definitive account of events. This left us feeling unheard and overlooked.
Most disheartening was that the report didn’t provide the insights we desperately sought about the events leading to my husband’s cardiac and respiratory arrest, or the subsequent challenges he faced. Instead of answers, we were left with even more questions, our need for understanding and closure unfulfilled.
The case had been taken on a “No Win, No Fee” basis, which we initially thought would be helpful. However, this arrangement seemed to limit our options. The solicitors were reluctant to seek a second opinion, leaving us feeling stuck and without recourse.
As a result of this experience, it became important for me to convey to medical professionals undertaking expert witness work just how crucial their opinions are to the pursuit of justice.
The inspiration for Inspire MediLaw stemmed from this personal experience. It drove me to create a comprehensive training programme for medical experts. My vision for the training was to ensure that healthcare professionals left with the knowledge, skills, and support to excel as outstanding expert witnesses.
Reflecting on my experience, I identified several critical issues in the field of expert witness work. Firstly, I noticed a significant disparity in the level of expertise and understanding of the role among medical experts. Secondly, the quality of report writing varied enormously, highlighting a need for improvement in this crucial skill.
Moreover, I recognised a pressing need for better mutual understanding between legal and medical professionals. It became clear that legal professionals must strive to grasp the medical intricacies of each case. Equally important, medical professionals need to hone their ability to explain complex medical concepts clearly and thoroughly to lawyers.
These observations formed the foundation of our approach at Inspire MediLaw, driving our commitment to bridge the gap between the medical and legal worlds and elevate the standard of expert witness work across the board.
My personal and professional experiences in healthcare revealed a gap in understanding between the medical and legal fields. I wanted to bridge this gap by helping lawyers grasp the complexities of medical issues and equipping medical professionals with the legal knowledge they need.
I’ve met many clinical negligence lawyers who are very well-versed in medical matters, which gives me hope that our initial experience was an exception. During my time managing a neurosurgery practice, I observed varying approaches to medico-legal reporting among clinicians. I realized that clear, definitive opinions from experienced clinicians are essential for thorough clinical negligence investigations.
Offering training to both clinicians and lawyers seemed like a natural step to promote excellence and foster closer collaboration between the two professions.
Our goal is to equip and support clinicians in performing medico-legal work effectively. We have recently introduced the University of Strathclyde Inspire MediLaw Expert Witness Certification, and I have been very impressed by the skills and competence demonstrated by the experts completing the certificate. It has given me enormous satisfaction and pride to see that the experts coming through this training have met our stringent training and competence requirements, having been formally assessed.
Support is a crucial component of our training. Frequently, after completing a course, it’s during the application of that knowledge that questions arise. Expert witness work, in particular, can be isolating, so it’s essential to know that we offer ongoing support to help experts succeed.
Our training team is deeply committed to justice and the importance of well-informed, effective experts in clinical negligence and personal injury cases. We are fortunate to have some of the UK’s most distinguished medico-legal experts as trainers. They bring real-world experience and a passion for sharing their knowledge, making our training sessions both insightful and practical.
Our mission is to encourage excellence in the medico-legal sector and inspire healthcare professionals to consider becoming expert witnesses. There are many outstanding clinicians who would make excellent experts, and we aim to support them in this role.
We provide a supportive community where clinicians and lawyers can share knowledge and experiences, ultimately improving patient outcomes and access to justice.
**If you’d like to know more about Inspire MediLaw’s training and events, take a look around the website and get in contact if you have any queries.**