Medico-Legal Morning Reports

MARCH 2021

The LCA has continued to collaborate with Hempsons solicitors to bring interesting and prevalent medico-legal discussions to the virtual breakfast table throughout this pandemic. We are hopeful that our latest meetings will be the last conducted over Zoom and that the rendez-vous in September will be face-to-face.

Our last meeting discussed matters such as: legal defence of automatism in road traffic accidents – this is where someone cannot be held responsible for their actions if they have no knowledge of the accident. This particular meeting was led by Dr Duncan Dymond who presented two different cases and raised the following points:

• Automatism can arise where a person experiences a total loss of control through no fault of their own. The consequences of a total loss of control in road traffic accidents can be catastrophic and even fatal. Examples of what might constitute an automatism defence include an epileptic fit and a hypoglycaemic attack.
• Currently, there is no scheme in the UK to compensate victims of genuine Automatism and so a person who is injured through no fault of their own has no recourse to be compensated for what are often serious injuries.

If you would like to access the full report and previous reports, please click here.

As always, take care and stay safe.