A never-ending journey of learning
Expert witnesses are often unique individuals who combine intellect with talent at the top of their field along with a continual desire for continuous learning.
Simon Lammy is a prime example. One of the most well-known consultant neurosurgeons in the country, his interest in his chosen career was ignited in childhood.
“I read a book when I was nine years old by Ben Carson. He was the first neurosurgeon to separate craniopagus twins, (conjoined twins joined at the head) in 1987 at Johns Hopkins University in the United States,” he explains.
“It was groundbreaking for its time and an inspiration for me. I wanted to be a doctor when I was four, but when I read that biography life changed. And everything I did after that was geared towards neurosurgery.”
Now, Mr Lammy is a consultant neurosurgeon at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham having been profiled in The Lancet and even The Sunday Post during neurosurgical training at the Institute of Neurological Sciences and he is an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow.
He has expertise in brain and spinal tumours, degenerative cervical and lumbar spine conditions, Chiari malformations, CSF and hydrodynamic issues, traumatic brain and spinal injuries and general neurosurgical issues.
Mr Lammy reached his position after completing a Royal College of Surgeons (RCSeng) senior clinical fellowship in neuro-oncology in Nottingham following an out of programme research clinical fellowship at the School of Cancer Sciences in Glasgow. He is a former RCSeng associate surgical specialty lead in neurosurgery (amongst other managerial and leadership roles).
“I used to be a Course Director and Faculty Tutor in Critical Care at RCSeng and I revised and published the second and third edition of Surgical Critical Care alongside publishing numerous times in RCSEd Surgeons’ News.
“Overall, I have been a Co-Principal Investigator on five published British Neurosurgical Trainee Research Collaborative prospective cohort studies and multiple COVIDSurg studies and supervised over 40 medical students and junior doctors during neurosurgical training.”
With more than 60 publications and having delivered over 40 presentations, Mr Lammy teaches at RCSeng and The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. And like many prominent surgeons, education is continual rather than a means to an end and he is currently studying for a PhD in Cancer Studies at the University of Glasgow.
He is also a member of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and a member of the British Neuro-Oncology Society.
Now, he has decided to spread his expertise still further by taking on medicolegal work and has become a full TLA member. Again, the reason for his decision to become a medicolegal expert goes back many years.
He says: “I remember being asked if neurosurgeons should be legally trained during the interview process for National Neurosurgical Selection in 2014. My answer was yes due to the high incidence of litigation in neurosurgery.”
Also being medicolegal trained means improving your understanding of patient expectation and patient communication.
“It also improves your understanding of aspects of patient expectation you are not necessarily always aware of, and can serve to help improve your own communication, explanation and awareness of a patient’s understanding of risks and complications.
“You can offset lots of issues if you just take time to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with patients. The majority of complaints are based on communication. If you just take time to explain to patients’ certain things and let the patient feel heard, the outcomes are invaluable.”
Mr Lammy also believes being involved in medicolegal work will also help with his own practice as a neurosurgeon.
“It does inform and improve my own practice, how I go about keeping patients up to date, how I go about explaining things. Also when you do come across cases where certain things haven't been done which should have been done, it makes you think more about how best I can serve my patients.”
For his medicolegal work, Mr Lammy prefers clinical negligence over personal injury cases. Away from work he has a wide variety of interests including photography, mountaineering, running and cycling.
He explains: “I'm a self-taught photographer. If life had been different, I would have pursued it, but this job demands everything from you emotionally and to be a photographer you need space in your head from an artistic, creative and emotional perspective.
“I used to do a lot of winter mountaineering throughout Scotland, randomly fell into mountain running and since moving to Nottingham have re-discovered road cycling. Just like road cycling, being a surgeon is a never-ending journey of learning.”
Please email Kelly Booker, Senior Case Manager at TLA for Mr Simon Lammy’s CV and further details kelly@tla-medicolegal.com