On 29 February 2016 Hugh Johnson, Senior Associate in Clinical Negligence department, co-hosted a meeting of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) Spinal Injuries Group at the London offices of Stewarts. The APIL Spinal Injuries Group runs a series of meetings throughout the year dedicated to the practice of spinal injury claims.
The speakers at the event were Gerard McDermott QC of Outer Temple Chambers, who outlined the causation challenges of spinal injury claims and Dr Philip Yoong, Consultant Radiologist, who has a specialist practice in Musculoskeletal and sports imaging. Hugh was co-hosting in his capacity as Secretary of the Spinal Injuries Group.
With a theme of “keeping it simple” Gerard McDermott addressed complexities in a range of spinal injuries cases, to include:
- contributory negligence and seatbelt use in road traffic accidents;
- the progressive nature of injury in Cauda Equina Syndrome and the importance of clear evidence as to the timings;
- the Court of Appeal Judgment in Reaney which addressed damages arising from pressure sores; and
- the case of Young v AIG in which he had been Counsel, instructed by Stewarts. The claim concerned a road traffic accident and, unfortunately, a chain of medical complications thereafter – all of which were ultimately proven to be linked to the original accident.
Philip Yoong took the audience through the essentials of radiology – addressing the core standards expected of radiological reports and demonstrated through the use of CT, MRI and x-ray imaging 4 case studies (a tumour, a spinal infection, a prolapsed disc and a pedestrian vs car trauma case).
The use of video within the slides allowed Dr Yoong to talk through sequences of imaging and to compare the diagnostic images and the strengths and weaknesses of each and where imaging can, in some circumstances provide false reassurance.
Hugh Johnson said:
“It was a pleasure to host the APIL Spinal Injuries Group at Stewarts. Gerard McDermott and Philip Yoong were very engaging speakers; we are grateful to them for sharing their expertise.”
Further meetings of the APIL Spinal Injuries Group are planned for July and November 2016. Details of those meetings will be available on the APIL website.
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Media contact: Lydia Buckingham, Senior Marketing Executive, +44 (0) 20 7822 8134, lbuckingham@stewartslaw.com
