Why are medicolegal issues important?

Medical Protection has drawn on the experiences of other doctors and expert advice from our risk management professionals to bring you this guide to use during your foundation year.

When a routine optician appointment identifies papilloedema, Mrs T makes a claim against her GP for not giving her an earlier urgent referral.

When a routine optician appointment identifies papilloedema, Mrs T makes a claim against her GP for not giving her an earlier urgent referral.

The quality record-keeping of a GP member is key to the defence of this claim.

The quality record-keeping of a GP member is key to the defence of this claim.

Basic safety checks were overlooked in this incident, which saw a claim against a consultant gynaecologist.

Basic safety checks were overlooked in this incident, which saw a claim against a consultant gynaecologist.

A patient makes a claim against an anaesthetist member following intra-operative accidental awareness, which she alleged resulted in psychiatric injury.

A patient makes a claim against an anaesthetist member following intra-operative accidental awareness, which she alleged resulted in psychiatric injury.

Baby T was eight weeks old when his mother brought him to his GP’s morning surgery. His mother had become increasingly concerned about his general irritability and frequent crying episodes, which lasted up to two hours. These had become apparent over the past three days, not settling with breast feeding.

Mr S was a 60-year-old lorry driver. He was overweight and smoked, and couldn’t walk far because he suffered with pain in his calves.

When Mrs C, a keen golfer in her early forties, began to experience constant pain in her lower back, she consulted a GP at her local surgery. Dr P took a history of slow onset of pain with restricted mobility. He did not examine her, but prescribed an NSAID and advised Mrs C to return in two weeks if there was no improvement.