Catastrophic injury medico-legal reports
Independent medico-legal reports for life-changing, severe and permanent injuries, coordinated across the specialties a serious injury claim needs and prepared to CPR Part 35 standards for courts across England and Wales.
A catastrophic injury is one that changes a life permanently, a spinal cord injury, a traumatic brain injury, an amputation, severe burns or the combined effect of multiple serious injuries. These claims turn on what the future holds rather than the position on the day of examination, so the medical evidence is broader and more detailed than a single report. Expert Medical Examination coordinates independent reports from the consultants a serious injury claim needs, clinicians who examine the claimant, review the records and set out diagnosis, causation and long-term prognosis for the court.
These are high-value claims that run on the multi-track, and they often need more than one expert working to a consistent picture, condition and prognosis from the treating specialties and, where the claim requires it, evidence on care, rehabilitation and future needs. Each report is prepared to CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35, with the expert's overriding duty owed to the court. We provide the medical evidence; the legal strategy and the valuation of the claim stay with the instructing team.
The right specialists, coordinated
Catastrophic injuries rarely sit inside one specialty. A spinal cord injury can call for spinal surgery, neurology, urology and pain medicine; a brain injury can need neurology, neuropsychology and neuro-rehabilitation. We match each strand to a consultant on the GMC Specialist Register and coordinate the reports so the evidence fits together rather than arriving in fragments.
Long-term prognosis and causation
Severe injury claims are decided on the long view: permanence, the risk of deterioration, life expectancy and the care that follows. The report separates the consequences of the injury from any pre-existing condition and sets out the long-term prognosis the court needs to value the claim, not only the claimant's condition on the day of assessment.
Care, rehabilitation and future needs
Where the claim requires it, we arrange evidence on care needs, rehabilitation and assistive equipment, prepared alongside the Rehabilitation Code 2015 where it applies. This gives the instructing team the medical foundation for future care and loss, prepared to the same CPR Part 35 standard as the condition and prognosis reports.
Serious injury evidence, built to fit together
A catastrophic injury claim can involve several experts and run for years, so the medical evidence has to be consistent as well as thorough. We coordinate the reports a serious injury claim needs, matched to the right specialists and prepared to CPR Part 35, so the instructing team can build the claim on medical evidence that holds together.
- Spinal cord injury reports, including paraplegia and tetraplegia
- Traumatic and acquired brain injury reports
- Amputation and complex limb injury reports
- Severe burns and significant scarring or disfigurement reports
- Polytrauma and multiple injury reports
- Chronic pain and complex regional pain syndrome reports
- Condition and prognosis reports across the relevant specialties
- Breach of duty and causation reports for clinical negligence claims
- Care, rehabilitation and future needs evidence where required
- Oral evidence and Part 35 question responses where required
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Whether you have a single instruction or a high-volume caseload, our team is ready to help. Call us directly or send an enquiry and we’ll respond within 24 hours.