Breach and causation reports
Breach and causation reports answer different questions. One addresses the standard of care in the criticised field; the other addresses whether any failing caused the alleged injury or loss. In complex matters those questions may require different experts.
Report scope
What this report is for
Breach and causation reports answer different questions. One addresses the standard of care in the criticised field; the other addresses whether any failing caused the alleged injury or loss. In complex matters those questions may require different experts.
The precise remit, documents and assumptions should be settled in the letter of instruction. An expert’s opinion is confined to their own discipline and the material provided.
Instruction requirements
A focused route to usable evidence
The instruction should keep the clinical chronology, assumed facts and questions separate. It should not ask the expert to determine liability.
Defined questions
Identify the issues the report is asked to address.
Relevant records
Provide the material needed to form a properly bounded opinion.
Transparent assumptions
Separate facts assumed for the purpose of the report from clinical findings.
Independent opinion
The expert’s duty and the applicable procedural rules remain central.
Use the register to identify a suitable discipline, then agree the scope directly.
Find an expert for breach and causation reportsRelated routes
Where this report sits
screening and merits reports and records review reports may be relevant before, alongside or after this report, depending on the issue and stage of the matter.
Report enquiry