2.1 Introduction 2.2 Medical bodies and personnel 2.3 Medical specialities 2.4 Parts of the body 2.5 Common injuries in personal injury cases.

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1 Chapter 2: Outline 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Medical bodies and personnel 2.3 Medical specialities 2.4 Parts of the body 2.5 Common injuries in personal injury cases 2.6 Common medical terms 2.7 Common medical abbreviations 2.8 Common medical scans 2.9 Indirect physical injuries from an accident 2.10 Summary Aims of this Chapter This chapter will enable you to achieve the following learning outcome from the CILEx syllabus: 2 Understand the professional culture and terminology of medical experts involved in the litigation process 2.1 Introduction One of the challenges facing personal injury lawyers is understanding the medical community which, just as lawyers do, has its own language. This chapter aims to introduce you to parts of the body that are commonly involved in personal injury claims and basic medical terminology and abbreviations. 2.2 Medical bodies and personnel You may be in contact with medical personnel as soon as you start making your investigations into the circumstances of the case. You may also be required to find an expert to speak at the trial, to provide evidence. When dealing with medical personnel it is a good idea to have an understanding of the different levels of doctors and the medical bodies they may belong to Medical personnel Some of the medical personnel that you may encounter are as follows. (1) General practitioner (GP) this will be the claimant s own doctor who, in less serious personal injury cases, will have seen the claimant first, usually soon after the initial injury. He may have referred the claimant to a specialist. It is unlikely that you will have much contact with the claimant s GP, apart from requesting the claimant s medical records. (2) Consultant this is the most senior and experienced doctor who will be in charge of handling a patient s treatment, although the patient himself may be seen by a specialist registrar (see below). To practise as a consultant the doctor must be entered onto the General Medical Council s Specialist Register, which can be checked online (see 2.2.2), and will usually have one of the following qualifications, although there are others: AQ07 CLS 7

2 2.2.1 MRCP/FRCP Membership/Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians; MRCS/FRCS surgeons; MRCOG/FRCOG obstetricians and gynaecologists; MRC Psych/FRC Psych psychiatrists. (3) Specialist registrars (StR) formerly called speciality registrars (SpR) these are experienced doctors working within one speciality towards consultant level. (4) Foundation Year 2 doctors (FY2) formerly senior house officers (SHO) these are junior doctors undertaking simple procedures under supervision. (5) Foundation Year 1 doctors (FY1) formerly pre-registration house officers (PRHO) these are newly qualified medics undertaking their first year of practice. NB Although the terms StR, FY1 and FY2 have been in place for the past few years, you will still come across the old terminology, in particular SHOs Medical bodies Here are some of the medical bodies you may come across. (1) General Medical Council (GMC) the regulating body for all doctors: responsible for licensing doctors, setting standards and conducting disciplinary proceedings. No doctor can practise in the UK unless he is registered on the GMC s List of Registered Medical Practitioners (which can be checked online at (2) British Medical Association (BMA) this is an independent trade union and professional association for doctors. Membership of the BMA does not automatically mean that a doctor is registered to practise in the UK. You may also encounter various medical Royal Colleges that administer postgraduate medical examinations required for training as a consultant. (3) Where does a doctor have to be registered in order to practise as a consultant? 2.3 Medical specialities The term physician commonly means a doctor who is not a surgeon, but more specifically means a member of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) who practises one of the specialities specified by statute as covered by the RCP. A surgeon is a doctor trained to perform medical operations. 8 AQ07 CLS

3 2.3 Both physicians and surgeons usually specialise in a particular area. Examples of the types of specialisms you may encounter when looking for an expert in personal injury cases are shown in the table below. Physician/ surgeon Physician Specialism General internal medicine (GIM) or acute medicine Areas of the body it covers All a general medical speciality (usually doctors who work in A&E) Physician Cardiology Heart Physician Dermatology Skin Physician Neurology Nervous system Physician Respiratory Lung and pulmonary system Surgeon General surgery All a general surgical speciality Surgeon Trauma and orthopaedics Muscles and bones 2.4 Parts of the body The skeleton and tissues of the body The human body is made up of: bones the hardest material in the human body, which is either compact (solid to the naked eye) or cancellous (looks sponge-like); muscles specialised tissue that can relax and contract to produce movement; joints places where bones connect (e.g. the knee); tendons cords of tissue that connect muscles to bone; ligaments tissue that connects bones together at the joint; nerves fibres which connect between organs and convey movement and sensation; cartilage a substance which is similar to gristle, is elastic and is softer than bone. Its role is to provide structural support. AQ07 CLS 9

4 Bones in the human skeleton Types of joints (1) Fibrous/fixed immovable joint (2) Cartilaginous/slightly movable between the vertebrae and slightly movable. (3) Snynovial/freely movable classified according to movement possible or to shape. Types of synovial joint: (a) ball and socket (shoulder/hip) wide range of movement; (b) gliding (between carpal and tarsal bones/hands and feet) surfaces glide over each other; (c) (d) pivot (radioulnar joint/wrist) movement round one axis; hinge (elbow/knee) allow flexion and extension only. 10 AQ07 CLS

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