Epilepsy--doctor's dilemma, lawyer's delight? Medico-legal consequences of practising in the field of epilepsy report of an International League Against Epilepsy British Branch meeting--Edinburgh, April 2000.
Six cases are described where the medical management of a person's epilepsy was brought under legal scrutiny. Lessons learnt from this educational exercise include improving doctor patient communication, the function of a Coroner's Court, when is misdiagnosis negligent, the vagaries of expert witnesses, should failure to diagnose a tumour be blamed on the physician or the service when facilities are inadequate, is failure to recognise a rare drug interaction, failure to warn against an interaction, or failure to take a proper history, negligent? The conference also examined the legal ramifications of the nurse/doctor relationship in epilepsy care, the place of epilepsy guidelines and, due to its interactive nature, reflected on the audience's epilepsy knowledge, which, in places seemed significantly deficient. It was a gripping educational exercise.
Betts
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Birmingham University Seizure Clinic, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Birmingham B15 2QZ, UK. t.a.betts@bham.ac.uk
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003416:Criminal Law / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006113:United Kingdom; D000078329:Workforce