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Other appointments included being an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at the Heartland and Birmingham Children’s Hospitals. I have been a Clinical Director of Spinal Services, a Responsible Officer, Director of Workforce and Regulation, and Head of a Research Laboratory for the study of spinal biomechanics with assessment of the mechanical behaviour of spinal implant devices.

I am a member of the British Association of Spinal Surgeons, Society of British Neurological Surgeons, British Scoliosis Society, and the Cervical Spine Research Society. I am a past President of the British Cervical Spine Society and the European Cervical Spine Research Society. I have held positions of responsibility and been an advisor to a number of bodies on matters relating to the spine and its treatment. I have lectured and taught extensively on spinal conditions and been an editorial reviewer of a number of learned journals. My clinical and academic expertise encompasses nearly all spinal conditions, their treatment and prognosis. This includes persons suffering from or treated for a wide variety of spinal problems including degenerative disease, disc prolapses, spinal cord compression, traumatic injuries, congenital problems, spinal deformity, primary/secondary tumours and infection.

What can I do for you?

As a long-established consultant neurosurgeon and spinal surgeon my expert witness work includes advising solicitors, insurers, and leading counsel on all aspects of causation and condition involving spinal conditions. I have extensive experience since 1992 in preparing expert medical reports, attending legal conference and in giving expert evidence in court. I can advise upon claims arising from personal/workplace injury, medical negligence, and informed consent. I have previously been an advisor on consent issues in surgery and have compiled a booklet on standards for taking informed consent for a leading NHS Trust.

In particular I can advise both plaintiff and defendants and take single joint instruction. My experience and interest in spinal disorder claims includes large complex cases involving multimillions of pounds. I can also take instruction on smaller claims and am prepared to do rapid initial screening reports to indicate what are the important medical issues and their relevance to a claim.

COMMON INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDE:

  • Prolapsed disc
  • Back and neck strains
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Epidural haematoma
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Epidural abscess
  • Peri- operative injury
  • Low back pain
  • Cauda equina syndrome
  • Nerve injury
  • Cervical myelopathy
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Discitis & Spondylodiscitis
  • Causation from delays in diagnosis


What do others say?

His Honour Judge Bursell QC
In his Judgement on Claim No. 6BS50093, 2008 said this:
“With all this in mind, I return to my assessment of the evidence of the two experts. Both experts are eminent in their field, but it is my duty to decide whose evidence of the two I prefer. At the end of the day however, I accept the evidence of Mr Jackowski over and above that of Mr Anonymous. Not only did he stand up best to cross-examination, but he had an impressive knowledge of the literature and had a clearer understanding of the research…. had also checked the literature noting a mistake in quotation of one paper. I therefore accept his view of the evidential literature. I accept that environmental factors can play a part in cases such as the claimant’s, but I also accept Mr Jackowski’s evidence that the claimant has a congenital narrowing of his spinal canal. I find that the claimant has failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that it has been accelerated by the heavy lifting which he undertook some years before. In particular, I accept Mr Jackowski’s evidence that the claimant’s symptoms are not sufficiently contemporaneous to demonstrate causation between the two.”

 

His Honour Judge Bidder Q.C
In his Judgement on Claim No. 6CFC2578, 2008 said this:
“As to an indirect causal link, the accident predisposing, as Mr. Anonymous would have it, to a prolapse, by weakening the annular fibrous outer surface of the disc to allow in due course a herniation or prolapse of the nucleus… I prefer the more logical view of Mr. Jackowski, that, if no continuity of radicular symptoms is established, the prolapse would have happened on the 17th anyway. They were not the cause of any loss of work and would not have been. Even had the radicular symptoms been present reasonably consistently from shortly after the accident I would have preferred the evidence of Mr. Jackowski to that of Mr. Anonymous on the basis that Mr. Anonymous’s evidence has, in my judgment, shifted from his reports to his oral evidence and that Mr. Jackowski’s has been logical, consistent, and supported by his very substantial clinical experience as a spinal surgeon.”

CV
What else need you know?

My full CV, details of current availability, turn-around times and full terms and conditions can be supplied upon request or can be downloaded from the website. My PA is called Karen Punt and will be happy to deal with your enquiries She can be contacted by telephone or email as above. All medicolegal instructions and correspondence should be sent electronically