A day in the life of a mesothelioma expert witness

Charlotte Wells & Company provide an insight into the amazing work undertaken by those acting as expert witnesses in litigation relating to Mesothelioma.  

Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer which is incurable but treatable.  It tends to affect the lining of the lung (the pleura) but can also affect the peritoneum (abdomen) and symptoms vary according to the site of the tumour.

Mesothelioma can often be diagnosed many years after exposure to asbestos and tends to affect men in the majority who have worked in construction, ship building etc.  However, it can also affect their families, particularly their wives who may have been washing their work overalls, and in some very sad cases can affect a whole family due to the insidious exposure to asbestos fibres.

The diagnosis of mesothelioma always comes as a shock to patients and can elicit strong feelings of anger and despair.

Within our work we are instructed to prepare quantum reports for mesothelioma clients with specific focus on their likely care needs as their condition progresses.  As a team our expertise is focused on hospital and community care for cancer patients and their dependents.  Good communication skills are understandably very important.  Our professional training enables us to approach our clients with the utmost sensitivity when they are often at their most vulnerable. Part of our role can involve sign-posting clients to services and helping them to navigate their way through the NHS system which can be complex at times, especially if they are working across county boundaries when communication between medical teams can be very restricted.

Part of our role is to observe a client’s circumstances and recommend equipment or alterations to their home to enable them to live as independently and as safely as possible.  We recommend care packages to ensure that clients receive appropriate care and assistance at home as well as support with cleaning, gardening, DIY etc. 

We meet clients at various stages of their illness.  Some can appear fit and well and others can be bed bound by the time we visit them.  Speed is of the essence and these cases are usually fast tracked by the court and we need to undertake this work as quickly as possible to ensure that solicitors can conclude the case preferably within the client’s lifetime.  We liaise with Mesothelioma UK on a regular basis to ensure that we are up to date with the latest treatments and clinical trials for mesothelioma patients so that we can understand the care implications of these treatments.  Chemotherapy often causes side effects which can be quite debilitating and therefore require increased levels of care.  Side effects of immunotherapy vary but can be sudden and severe, and sometimes more chronic in nature.

With our extensive experience of palliative and end of life care, we are able to recommend the appropriate calibre and level of care for patients to ensure that they fulfil their preferred place of care.   This can include discussions about where they would like to die. Often we find this type of discussion has not been had with any other professional.  A well-planned package of care can help to prevent unnecessary rushed admissions to hospital.  Our experience is that an appropriate level of care needs to be put in place to ensure that patients do not feel a burden to their families and that families feel able to cope without feeling intruded upon.  Sometimes we are the first professional that clients have had an opportunity to talk with about their preferences for future care.

Often when we visit, we find ourselves walking into a very stressful situation where it is clear families are struggling and feeling very anxious, not knowing who to contact for help.  Often there are complicated family situations, and we utilise our nursing expertise to calm situations and encourage clients to seek advice from the medical and nursing teams.  By visiting the client’s home we can often quickly identify items of equipment (which may be simple or complex) that we can see would benefit clients immediately, such as a profiling bed, a stair lift or a shower stool.  Sometimes we refer patients directly to their local mesothelioma specialist nurses and liaise with Macmillan and palliative care services to ensure that clients are better supported.

Sadly, it is inevitable that all our clients will succumb to their illness and as such we recognise the need for ensuring our own wellbeing. We support each other as a team and access team and individual clinical supervision.

Do you currently work with Mesothelioma patients and would be interested in becoming an Expert Witness? 

We have partnered with with Mesothelioma UK to provide training in the core competencies required to be an Expert Witness with a focus on Mesothelioma cases. The training is scheduled for November and you can find out more on the Mesothelioma UK website.