Medico-Legal Expert Witnesses –
Starting a Reform
By Dr Michelle Tempest
The Chief Medical
Officer (CMO) is proposing a radical overhaul of the current medico-legal
expert system to improve the quality of the service and to ensure a sustainable
supply of expert witnesses. The report Bearing Good Witness: Proposals for
reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases has
been launched for a period of public consultation ending on 28th February
2007. The report was originally commissioned in response to some very high
profile court cases. One such case, involved the memorable flawed statistical
evidence given by Professor Sir Roy Meadow that initially helped convict Sally
Clark of killing her two sons.
The CMO’s key
proposal is that the NHS should establish teams of specialist doctors and other
professionals within local NHS organisations. These teams would be offered
mentoring, supervision, peer review and teaching of skills required for court
appearances. Currently, the proposals are focused on developing the guidelines
for the family courts, however, it is easy to see how these proposals could be
rolled out as a generic guidelines for all medico-legal expert witnesses.
These proposals
come in the wake of legal wranglings as to the professional position of experts
in legal proceedings. In 2005, a High Court ruling offered immunity to
medico-legal experts from disciplinary proceedings for evidence given in
court. However, this has recently been overturned in the Court of Appeal.
This was welcomed by the General Medical Council whose Chief Executive Finlay
Scott said that they did not believe in any immunity solution “that placed
doctors and other professionals beyond the reach of their regulator.”
Overall, it seems
that combining accountability with support for medico-legal experts is a
welcome combination.
Dr Michelle
Tempest is an NHS psychiatrist and was the editor of ‘The Future of the NHS’
(xpl Publishing, 2006). She writes The Psychiatrist Blog (www.thepsychiatristblog.com).
