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The Medical Defence Union (MDU), the UK's leading medical defence organisation, has welcomed newly-published guidance from the GMC, Acting as an Expert Witness, which sets out the role and duties of doctors who act as expert witnesses*.

As well as instructing experts on behalf of members in a variety of legal proceedings, including negligence claims and GMC cases, the MDU has also assisted members with ethical dilemmas, complaints and claims arising from their expert witness work and has experience of many of the pitfalls they have encountered.

Dr Peter Schütte, head of advisory services at the MDU said: "Instructing credible experts is central to the work that the MDU does in defending our members, for example in claims and GMC investigations, so we appreciate the qualities necessary to do the job. At the same time we regularly advise doctors on their duties and responsibilities when undertaking the role of medical expert in personal injury or criminal cases and help members with problems arising from the medico-legal work that they carry out, from writing a report to giving evidence in a court or tribunal."

"The expert witness is a key player in most cases, as the court or tribunal will want to hear the opinion of an experienced, impartial medical expert witness to assist in making a decision about the case. In our experience, the vast majority of expert witnesses are perceived as doing a good job, but occasionally there can be allegations - which may or may not have merit."

The MDU has advised hundreds of members on the telephone advice line with regard to expert witness work, and over a recent eight-year period, opened 137 files. During the same period, the MDU assisted with 18 complaints to the GMC and 57 claims arising from expert witness work.

While there is no evidence that these criticisms were justified in all cases, the most common allegations against members were:

-- Giving misleading advice to a court

-- Failure to properly examine papers or the patient

-- Failure to declare a conflict of interest

-- Putting themselves forward as something they were not, eg not being an expert in the relevant specialty.

Dr Schütte continued: "These cases, while unusual, highlight the relevance of the new GMC guidance as it clearly sets out what is required from expert witnesses and we advise doctors to familiarise themselves with the contents. The guidance makes clear that doctors who act as an expert witness should ensure that the instructions they are given are clear and unambiguous and that they restrict any statements to areas where they have relevant knowledge or direct experience and which fall within the limits of their professional competence. Doctors are expected to include all relevant information and give a balanced opinion. However, if there is not enough information to reach a conclusion on a particular point, the GMC says that you should make this clear. Hardly anything in medicine is 100 per cent, so we advise doctors to stick to their guns if they are inappropriately asked to commit to a certainty."

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