Although the cost of claims is far and away the largest call on members’ funds at MPS, they only represent about 20% of the cases we handle worldwide – the rest are complaints, inquests, disciplinary cases and other medicolegal challenges to a member’s professional practice. Our feature, "On deadly ground", illustrates just some of the wide-ranging problems that members contact us for advice on.

Although the cost of claims is far and away the largest call on members’ funds at MPS, they only represent about 20% of the cases we handle worldwide

It is also possible for a single incident to take a member through a series of procedures. For example, a perinatal death might give rise to complaint, claim, inquiry, inquest, disciplinary and regulatory investigations. And doctors who rely solely on employers’ indemnity have no entitlement to ask for assistance with anything other than the claim for compensation – so you might want to have a word in the ear of a colleague who could unwittingly be leaving themselves exposed to a range of sanctions.

Finally, I hope you enjoy reading the case reports – in this edition we share learning from both settled claims and also some very successful defences.

As always, I welcome your feedback – whether in response to content within Casebook or to share your own experiences.

Dr Stephanie Bown – Editor-in-chief
MPS Director of Policy and Communications