Paediatric medico-legal reports

Causation and Prognosis Reports

A claim often turns on causation, whether a failure in care actually caused the child’s injury. We provide independent paediatric causation and prognosis reports addressing what caused the injury and what it means for the child’s future. You see the expert’s CV before you instruct. The report is written to the expert’s CPR Part 35 duty to the court. We act for instructing solicitors on either side.

Find an expert now 0800 161 3395
  • Same-working-day quotation
  • CVs before you instruct
  • An expert allocated within 48 hours
Claim contextClinical negligence and personal injury
Central questionDid the failing cause the injury, and what follows
Report coversMechanism and timing, but-for, material contribution, trajectory
ExpertsNeonatology, neurology, neuroradiology, paediatrics

Overview

What a causation and prognosis report is

A causation report addresses whether, on the balance of probabilities, the injury was caused or materially contributed to by the care in question. A prognosis addresses the child’s likely course and outcome.

Medical records and imaging of the kind reviewed when addressing the cause and timing of an injury
Causation and prognosis are assessed from the medical records and imaging alongside the clinical timeline.

Why it matters legally

When a causation and prognosis report is commissioned

It is commissioned in clinical negligence and personal injury claims once breach of duty is in issue, and wherever the defence disputes that the failing changed the outcome.

What the report covers

The questions a causation and prognosis report answers

Mechanism and timing How and when the injury came about on the evidence.
The “but for” question Whether the injury would have been avoided but for the failing.
Material contribution Where the injury has more than one cause, whether the failing contributed materially.
Expected trajectory The child’s likely course and outcome as they develop.

Who produces it

The specialist depends on the injury

The relevant specialist produces the report: a neonatologist, paediatric neurologist, paediatric neuroradiologist or consultant paediatrician, depending on the injury.

Neonatologists Causation around birth and the neonatal period. View experts Paediatric neurologists Cause, timing and neurological prognosis. View experts Paediatric neuroradiologists Imaging evidence on cause and timing. View experts Consultant paediatricians Coordinating causation across the clinical picture. View experts

Where it is used

Claims that rely on this report

Causation and prognosis reports support cerebral palsy and HIE and hypoxic brain injury claims, and clinical negligence and birth injury proceedings more broadly.

Consultant paediatrician reviewing medical records and imaging for an independent causation report
Every report is written to the expert’s CPR Part 35 duty to the court, for instructing solicitors on either side.

FAQ

Causation and prognosis reports: common questions

Factual causation asks whether the failing caused the injury in fact; the legal test is applied by the court to those findings.

Yes, where the injury has more than one cause, the expert can address whether the failing made a material contribution.

In clinical negligence and personal injury claims once breach of duty is in issue, and wherever the defence disputes that the failing changed the outcome.

Yes. Where the parties agree, our experts can act as a single joint expert; otherwise as a party-appointed expert. Either way, the duty is to the court.

Within 48 hours of your enquiry, with the CV sent for review before you instruct.

Related pages

Cerebral palsy HIE and hypoxic brain injury Clinical negligence and birth injury Neonatologist expert witnesses
Causation and prognosis reports

Instructing on a causation report?

Send your case details and we will allocate the right specialist within 48 hours, with a same-working-day quotation and the CV before you instruct.

Find an expert now 0800 161 3395