I read with great interest the article ‘Bill to propose damages for pain and suffering’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, January 5).
Although now retired in Gozo, as a consultant in pain medicine with specific medicolegal training, I have spent the best part of 35 years as an expert on pain problems for the UK courts, including the General Medical Council, and my views on this matter appeared in an interview I gave to Times of Malta in March last year.
If the Maltese courts are going to award damages for pain and suffering, they will need to rely heavily on the opinions of court experts; it is therefore vital that doctors who intend to become involved in any medico-legal work involving pain and suffering, as opposed to disability, receive the proper training in compiling such highly specialised medical reports.
In my opinion, we need to follow the UK system, where the expert remains strictly neutral in order to assist the court and not become a ‘hired gun’ acting on behalf of the claimant or defendant who pays his or her fee.
A medical report dealing with pain and suffering, if it is to be of any use to the court, must not be prepared by a doctor who has had a significant medical input in the case, as this tends to cloud one’s judgement. Indeed, the doctor preparing the report must not regard the person claiming damages as a patient but as a claimant.
Drawing up a comprehensive pain management report is a skill one needs to acquire by attending highly specialised courses; these also include training on giving clear evidence in the witness box and on coping with the inevitable cross-examination by lawyers.
Doctors also need to be taught how to view DVD surveillance evidence with a critical yet fair eye. I have little knowledge of the Maltese legal system, but in the UK, there is no real right of privacy, and the claimant is invariably covertly filmed as he or she goes about his or her business; such evidence is routinely used by the defendant to destroy the claimant’s allegations.
One sometimes has to sit patiently through hours of surveillance material in order to come up with an honest opinion.
The Medical Association of Malta needs to take the lead and both encourage and facilitate the proper specific medico-legal training in this highly specialised field.
There is no doubt that claims of pain and suffering are open to abuse and misrepresentation; the proper training of a cadre of medico-legal experts will minimise this and be of immense help to the courts.