Causation in Law and Medicine

Ian Freckelton, Danuta Mendelson

’...it is impressive even to attempt to grapple with this daunting subject and for that academics, and interested practitioners, will give thanks.’New Law Journal ’Causation in Law and Medicine is an interesting, provocative work and a welcome addition to the literature of legal medicine...this book offers a very useful summary of the problem of causation in law and medicine in a wide variety of contexts and from a wide variety of perspectives and is well worth reading. The questions it raises and the thoughts it provokes are central to the quest for justice wherever, and under whatever legal system, it is carried out.’ Journal of Legal Medicine '...pays more than the usual lip-service to the need for an approach which transcends the boundaries of law and science...reveals how much more coherent the law in various jurisdictions would become were such a reform to be adopted.' Modern Law Review

• Contents: The Concept of Causation in Law, Medicine and Science: Principles and values underlying the concept of causation in law, Antony Honoré; Scientific and legal approaches to causation, Jane Stapleton; The cause of disease and illness: medical views and uncertainties, Peter Greenberg; Aspects of causation in Hippocratic medicine and Roman law of delict, Danuta Mendelson; Rebels without a cause?: judges, medical and scientific evidence and the uses of causation, Gary Edmond and David Mercer. The Concept of Justice and Causal Responsibility in Tort Law: Legal rules governing the requirement of causation in tort law, Ian Callinan; Fault, causation and responsibility: is tort law just an instrument of corrective justice?, Keith Mason; Loss of chance, Harold Luntz; Causality and spinal pain: the problem of back pain, Dennis Smith. Issues of Causal Responsibility, Agency and Harm in Criminal Law: Principles of causation in criminal law, David Lanham; Death causation in palliative medicine, Michael Ashby; Euthanasia and the criminal law: what will sever a causal link?, David Malcolm; Issues of medical and legal causation relating to Alzheimer’s disease, Robert Helme and Danuta Mendelson. Causation in Forensic Medicine and Coronial Law: Cause in forensic pathology: the cause and manner of death, Stephen Cordner; Forensic medicine: issues in causation, David Wells; Causation in coronial law, Ian Freckelton. Causation, Evidence and Proof in Law and Medicine: Causation in law and psychiatry, Ralph Slovenko; Causation in the context of medical practitioners’ liability for negligent advice, John Doyle; Statistical proof of causation, Eric Magnusson; Epilogue: dilemmas in proof of causation, Ian Freckelton; Table of cases; Bibliography; Index.