2 Temple Gardens

Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Life & Health, Professional Negligence, Inquests

Specialising in clinical negligence and medical law (especially concerning research & genetics; and including data protection and issues regarding medical records); complex personal injury litigation; related professional indemnity insurance; and health and safety claims. Principal work involves neo-natal and adult brain damage; spinal injury; death; psychiatric injury; chronic pain and a broad range of diagnostic and treatment errors in primary and tertiary care. Professional indemnity work usually relates to under-settlement or mismanagement of medical claims. The majority of Caroline's work involves very complex medical or legal issues.

Acts for both claimants and defendants in all areas of her work.

Clinical negligence: Williams (Privy Council. Causation. Whether Bailey applies to indivisible and divisible injury. Whether need to prove doubling of risk if causation factors are sequential); Maytum (Causation. Obverse of Gregg v Scott. Delayed diagnosis breast cancer. 10-year survival always above 50%. Recurrence of metastatic disease. Poor prognosis); Thomas (Locked-in syndrome); Bint (Delayed diagnosis of anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome. Stroke in young man. Later leg amputation. Effect of under-anticoagulation c.f. atherosclerosis); Smith (Wrongful birth. Disabled child. Whether damages payable post-18 years). Lawyers negligence: Carter (Under-settlement of EL claim. Minor injury ultimately causing leg amputation. Failure investigate medical causation); Whitehead (Underlying wrongful birth claim. Novel issues: duty of care to father; when events after notional trial can be taken into account). Personal Injury: Merrett (Brain damage. £14m claim. Young man with pre-existing tetraplegia. Issues: scope of Sklair ‘injury-on-injury damages’; non-delegable duty; vicarious liability for agency nurses); Scott (Head and leg injury to cyclist. No helmet. Contributory negligence. ‘Bizarre presentation’. Difficult management issues. Psychiatric conversion disorder. £4m). Neve (Motor claim. Brain damage and vulnerable personality. £6m); Lyons (Psychiatric injury. Material contribution causation c.f. Jobling v Associated Diaries. Causation and physical injury where second accident prolonged effects of first). Medical Research and Product liability: PIP breast implants; Trans-vaginal and abdominal mesh claims; Consent in: experimental laser therapy; laparoscopic surgery by inexperienced operator. Member of: Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (to 2009); Human Genetics Commission (to 2012); National Research Ethics Advisory Panel (to 2012). Expert witness to House of Lords Science & Technology Committee (cloning, employment and insurance in genetics). Insurance: Willsher (£2m permanent health insurance claim. Discontinued at trial after cross-examination exposed flaws in diagnosis of intractable depression).

PUBLICATIONS: Medical Ethics and Genetics, in Powers and Harris, Clinical Negligence (2008).

PNBA (co-opted member of executive committee).

Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford (1984 MA Hons Philosophy and Theology); City University, London (1985 Postgrad Dip Law); Council of Legal Education Bar finals (1986); King’s College, London (1999 MA Medical Law and Ethics merit).

Fly-fishing, water and snow skiing, food and wine, music and opera, art.