Category: Reporting
The Lucy Letby story
Lucy Letby, 33, was convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six new-borns at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016. To more efficiently navigate this complex article, do expand the TOC button above and click to the area of your interest. The latest speculation is that some who were in senior management could be prosecuted for Corporate Homicide/Manslaughter. Letby was given a whole life sentence. Read the sentencing remarks by the judge. WhyRead More …
Understanding how risk works
To ordinary people risk is something felt and seen. If something is dangerous you expect normally to be aware of it, like the edge of a cliff or an open manhole on some pavement. This post should be read together with Risk – how is that to be managed? If a large dog is growling near your leg, you hear it, see it and if you wait too long you’ll feel it. Do you wait for your leg to be eatenRead More …
Estimating cost of expert reports
This post will deal with psychiatric reports, mainly for the courts. These reports often appear simple but in most cases based on experience, they involve complex and/or demanding underlying issues. This is not advice, not exhaustive and cannot cover all situations. This post is being updated on an intermittent basis. [Updated November 2021, January 2022] Psychiatric reports for courts, tribunals or regulatory bodies can be of two types: 1) professional witness reports 2) expert witness reports. The former does notRead More …
Identifying and selecting the expert
If you developed a rare and complex medical condition, such as autoimmune myasthenia gravis, it would be important to find the right expert to treat that condition. Why? Because you’d want to be cured of the condition, or maximise your life-expectancy with a reasonable quality of life (if it is not curable). Most people with such a condition – I could imagine – won’t be seeking the advice of their local pharmacist, about what pill to take for the condition.Read More …
The importance of questions, inquiring and interviewing
Questions and questioning are obviously important in obtaining information from patients. An interview may include questions but it need not. An assessor can obtain information from pure observation. However, to understand a patient’s internal state, or their motivations, or their risks in different domains, the assessor must ask something. I’ll focus on the word ‘ask’ in a while because questions are taken as ‘the thing’, in terms of asking. [There is a ‘Fat disclaimer’ at the end of this article.] Read More …
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