Viscount Simon LC discussed the role and status of medical assessors, saying: ‘But to treat a medical assessor, or indeed any assessor, as though he were an unsworn witness in the special confidence of the judge, whose testimony cannot be challenged by cross-examination and perhaps cannot even be fully appreciated by the parties until judgment is given, is to misunderstand what the true functions of an assessor are. He is an expert available for the judge to consult if the judge requires assistance in understanding the effect and meaning of technical evidence. He may, in proper cases, suggest to the judge questions which the judge himself might put to an expert witness with a view to testing the witness’s view or to making plain his meaning. The judge may consult him in case of need as to the proper technical inferences to be drawn from proved facts, or as to the extent of the difference between apparently contradictory conclusions in the expert field.’
. . And ‘The material question, as this House recently pointed out in Steele v. Robert George and Co. (1937) Ltd. is not whether the medical advice given to the workman against an operation is more soundly based than advice in favour of it, but whether the workman who refuses to be operated upon is acting reasonably in view of the advice he has received.’
Judges:
Viscount Simon LC
Citations:
[1944] AC 62, [1944] 1 All ER 110, 36 BWCC 259
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Steele v Robert George and Co Ltd HL 1942
Where it is claimed on behalf of a defendant that a claimant has failed to mitigate his damages by refusing recommended surgery, the onus rests upon the defendant to show that the claimant’s refusal has been unreasonable in the circumstances. The . .
Cited by:
Cited – Skandia Property (UK) Limited Vala Properties Bv v Thames Water Utilities Limited CA 27-Jul-1999
The defendants were liable after a flood invaded and damaged the plaintiff’s premises. Having been advised professionally that the waterproofing system in the property would need replacing, the plaintiffs so replaced it but, it turned out, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Damages, Litigation Practice
Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.196011
