Health and justice legal experts

Our health and justice specialist lawyers can provide quick, practical advice, including outside of normal office hours.

• NHS healthcare providers in prisons
• Independent healthcare providers in prisons
• Commissioners of healthcare to prisons

We pride ourselves on providing clients with a full range of services in relation to health and justice.

Recent work has included:

• We represented two healthcare providers at a complex prison inquest. We were able to work cooperatively and efficiently with both organisations to ensure the most helpful evidence was provided to the Coroner and demonstrate to the court that the organisations were working together effectively during the prison contract transition. We were praised by the Coroner for the collaborative working between the two organisations
• We dealt with four inquests relating to deaths in prison custody as a result of Psychoactive Substances. We developed a close working relationship with the healthcare team at the prison, supporting them through the inquest process
• We represented a healthcare provider at an inquest relating to the self-inflicted death in custody of a prisoner with complex issues involving social and mental health care. This included cross-examining an expert witness, and lengthy legal submissions
• We jointly represented two healthcare providers at the Inquest into the death of a prisoner.  The clients jointly provide healthcare services to that prison. The Inquest was an Article 2 Inquest requiring investigation into the circumstances in which the gentleman came by his death, heard before a Jury.  We acted as advocate at the Inquest and during preliminary hearings.  Both other interested persons were represented by Barristers.  This was beneficial to the clients as it reduced the costs incurred and provided consistency throughout the case for the benefit of witnesses
• We advised two clients to be jointly represented at legacy death in prison custody inquests. We were able to work cooperatively and efficiently with both organisations, to ensure the most helpful evidence was provided to the Coroner and demonstrate to the court that the organisations were working effectively together during the transition of the prison contract from the one provider to the other. This secured praise from the Coroner with regards the collaborative working between the organisations
• We represented a healthcare provider in relation to judicial review proceedings brought against the Claimant (‘JJ’), a prisoner so profoundly disabled that he needs to be fed by a care team employed by the Defendant. Because of his condition, eating any food poses a risk of death or serious injury by choking or aspiration but some foods pose a more significant risk than others. Following a Speech and Language Therapy assessment, the provider refused to feed the Claimant food that it was advised would be of a higher risk. The question of the Court was whether the refusal to feed JJ the food he wished to eat was unlawful. The claim was rejected
• We represented a healthcare provider at an inquest touching upon the self-inflicted death of a transgender prisoner
• We represented a healthcare provider at an inquest where a prisoner had stockpiled medication and went on to die as a result of an overdose of the same medication
• We represented a healthcare provider at an inquest where the Clinical Review had made criticisms in relation to the care provided to the deceased, who had died from a complex combination of polypharmacy and physical health issues. Despite those criticisms, the jury found that none of them were causative of the deceased’s death
• We represented a healthcare provider in relation to the death of a prisoner by choking and where there were concerns regarding the emergency response
• We represented a healthcare provider via its insurers in relation to the death of a prisoner who suffered from a serious condition which had had not been noted on reception screening, leading to a failure to make onward referrals