James Badenoch delivers 2016 Baron de Lancey Lecture on Medical Law

On 5 February 2016, Mr James Badenoch QC delivered the 2016 Baron de Lancey Lecture on Medical Law entitled "Montgomery: a dramatic change in the law on patient consent?".

In his lecture James Badenoch outlined the state of the law before the decision in Montgomery and the numerous ways in which it had failed to pay attention to the key distinction, recognised by the Supreme Court in Montgomery, between cases concerning disclosure of information and those concerning the application of medical skill and expertise. He went on to suggest that the decisive break achieved in Montgomery may well prove an apt footing on which to challenge the long-held authority of the so-called 'Bolam' test for whether a medical practitioner has been negligent in situations outside of that considered in Montgomery.

About the speaker: Mr James Badenoch QC was counsel for the successful plaintiff in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11. He specialises in clinical negligence, medical law, and professional discipline and has appeared in a succession of major cases in the House of Lords, The Privy Council, The Court of Appeal, The High Court, The GMC and The GDC. He is a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, a Deputy High Court Judge (since 1994), a President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal (since 1999), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, Chairman Emeritus of the Expert Witness Institute, and has been a Recorder of the Crown Court (1987-2012). He took silk in 1989.

Baron Cornelius Ver Heyden de Lancey (1889-1984) was a wealthy and public-spirited Dutchman who at different times in his life was a dentist, doctor, surgeon, barrister and art historian. In 1970 he created the De Lancey and De La Hanty Foundation, to promote studies in medico-legal topics. The Foundation generously gave Cambridge the Ver Heyden de Lancey Fund in order to fund public events on medico-legal issues of current interest.

A gallery of photographs from the event is available on Flickr (photographs by Nigel Luckhurst).

More information about this lecture, including other recorded formats is available from the Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences website.