Medicolegal Practice

As of December 2023 I have suspended my medicolegal practice due to pressure of clinical work at CCL and in the NHS.

 

 

 

I read the Medical Ethic and Law Module at Cambridge University in 1985 which sparked an interest in the law which has persisted in to my large and active medicolegal expert practice today.

I have given more than 100 expert opinions in the field of general surgery over the last 10 years and will take instructions from solicitors acting on behalf of the Claimant and defence without preference. I adhere rigidly to the standards required by the courts as a result of the reforms introduced by Lord Wolfe.

Reflecting the high degree of speciality of my own clinical practice I now only accept cases in which the alleged negligence occurs as a result of actions concerning the conduct or delay in provision of:

  1. Endocrine disease (surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal)
  2. Hernia surgery including aspects of surgery related to the use of meshes in the repair of herniae and postoperative pain as a result of this surgery. As can be evidenced in other pages on this website I agree with authorities such as the British Hernia Society about the benefits of using meshes in the repair of hernia. This does not include surgery of the hiatus hernia which is an upper gastrointestinal surgery unrelated to architectural and functional surgery of the abdominal wall
  3. Emergency surgery including appendicitis; bowel resection for adhesion obstruction and wound infections.
  4. Gastric band surgery. I have a vast personal experience of this type of surgery and this includes surgery for complications related to the presence of the band including slippage and infections.

I do not accept instructions for gallbladder surgery since I stopped this surgery myself 5 years ago as a result of increasing specialisation of us in the NHS department at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

I prefer digital notes and have a reputation for working quickly and am frequently instructed by solicitors and defence organisations on a recurring basis. A normal causation report using digital paginated notes and a professionally assembled chronology will take normally around 4 hours. My usual rates are £270per hour although I may quote a larger figure for cases which present particular difficulties.

I am happy to accept instructions from NHS trusts in Serious incident enquires in anticipation of legal action and potential coroners cases.

I rarely take personal injury cases.

I normally turn cases around within 2-4 weeks and respond to further questions within around a week. All correspondence is encrypted using Egress encryption and is issued via email.

I do not accept deferred payments and my terms are 31 days from issue of invoice.

I do not do screening or time limited reports although if a case for a claimant appears to have little merit or prospect of success I will issue a short report outlining my views and invite the solicitor to consider my views prior to requesting a full report.

Any enquiries for my medicolegal services should either be addressed to the practice address or preferably to wjbsmellie@gmail.com I respond to enquiries usually within 48 hours. I will suggest alternate experts who I know are active if the case lies outside of my field of expertise.

 

Training:

I read the Medicine and the Law module at Cambridge University during my medical training at that Institution.

I have attended Bond Solon training courses

I have attended Bond Solon expert Witness Conferences.

Areas of expertise:

I accept instructions in the field of general surgery and particularly in the following subspecialities:

Thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgery. (I am a central London Endocrine Surgeon and have a very large NHS and private practice in these fields)

Laparoscopic gastric band surgery and complications (I have recently published papers on complication rates of gastric bands and also revisional surgery)

Hernia surgery (especially inguinal hernia surgery and post inguinal surgery pain syndromes and nerve entrapment) NOT hiatus hernias.

Emergency surgery particularly cases which depend on opinions around delay in diagnosis or treatment of appendicitis.

These fields accurately reflect my current clinical practice as a teaching hospital London Consultant Surgeon.

Fees and Terms:

My usual current rates are £270 per hour for reading the record; preparation of chronology; reflection, preparation and issue of opinion and reports; clarifications and amendments; counsel meetings including travel and joint expert meetings and reports.

My court fees are £3000 per day reduced to £1500 if cancelled less than 2 weeks in advance.

I do not ever accept deferred payment terms and invoices are strictly payable 31 days from issue. Instructions that required deferred payment are always declined.

I will give an indication of times at the instruction although I much prefer not to have a backlog of cases. I will not accept cases that cannot be completed in 4 weeks.