Please click here to view the Notice of April 28, 2016 Meeting.

Please click here to view the Notice of March 3, 2016 Meeting.

Please click here for the Notice of Meeting

NOTICE OF DINNER MEETIG

DATE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2015

TIME: 6 PM NO-HOST BAR | 7 PM DINNER

PLACE: SHAUGHNESSY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

            4300 Southwest Marine Drive, Vancouver

COST:        $65 Members | $80 Non-Members

PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING

CROSS-EXAMINATION OF A TREATING PHYSICIAN

Guest Speaker – Dr. Tracy A. Pickett, MForensic Medicine, FRCPC, FFCFM (RCPA)

Dr. Pickett obtained her B.Sc. (Honours) from Queen’s University in 1991, her MD from the University of British Columbia in 2000 and completed her 5 year Royal College specialty training in emergency medicine in 2000. She recently graduated with a Masters in Forensic Medicine from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and was awarded the Monash University Academic Medical for Excellence in Graduate and Postgraduate Coursework Study, for having the highest record of academic achievement. Tracy is currently the only physician in North American with both an academic degree and a Fellowship in clinical forensic medicine. Tracy has also been honoured as a Founding Fellow in the Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia.

Tracy is currently an Emergency Room physician at Vancouver General Hospital and the Medical Director, Sexual Assault Service for the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Dr. Pickett and Michael Thomas will demonstrate a cross examination of a treating physician in a typical motor vehicle accident scenario. Particular emphasis will be placed on questions pertaining to clinical records; including the cross examination technique of boxing. Every physician who has provided treatment to a patient and is called upon to testify should be aware of this type of questioning. A brief presentation will follow the demonstration which will explain the type of questions asked along with a brief explanation of how the evidence will impact the case at large.

Co-ordinator – Michael Thomas

Please be sure to mark your calendar with the tentative dates for meetings following the November date:

February 4, 2016;

March 3, 2016;

April 28, 2016; and

May 26, 2016 (Annual General Meeting)

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before November 16, 2015 to:

Ms. Carol Gielens

Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP

1800 – 510 West Georgia Street

Vancouver, BC

V6B 0M3

PLEASE INDICATE THE NAMES OF MEMBERS & GUESTS ATTENDING THIS MEETING

WE REQUIRE 24 HOURS’ NOTICE OF CANCELLATION

NOTICE OF DINNER MEETING

DATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015

TIME:  6 PM NO-HOST BAR | 7 PM DINNER

PLACE:   SHAUGHNESSY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

4300 Southwest Marine Drive, Vancouver

COST: $65 Members | $80 Non-Members

PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING

 

EXPERT MEDICAL EVIDENCE & THE ART OF PERSUASION

Guest Speaker – The Honourable Mr. Justice Nathan Smith

The Honourable Mr. Justice Smith was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia on May 19, 2005.  Prior to his appointment to the Bench, his legal practice focused on medical malpractice litigation.

Mr. Justice Smith has observed physician’s testify from both the Bench and Bar.  He will provide his views as to what is persuasive and what is not.  Please join us for this entertaining talk.  We will have an extended amount of time for questions so that members can take advantage of this opportunity to obtain insight from the Bench.

This year The Medical Legal Society of British Columbia is offering a series of dinner meetings focusing on expert evidence in the court process.  In addition to the talk presented by Mr. Justice Nathan Smith, topics for future dinners will, tentatively, include insight into strategies employed by counsel to cross-examine medical experts, how physicians should prepare to testify in court, and common causes of medical malpractice claims.  All of the topics will culminate in a mock trial held at the Annual General Meeting in the spring of 2016.

The tentative dates for meetings following the October date are as follows:

•          November 19, 2015;
•          February 4, 2016;
•          March 3, 2016;
•          April 28, 2016; and
•          May 26, 2016 (Annual General Meeting)

CO-ORDINATOR –  MICHAEL THOMAS

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before October 19, 2015 to:

Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
1800 – 510 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 0M3

PLEASE INDICATE THE NAMES OF MEMBERS & GUESTS ATTENDING THIS MEETING

WE REQUIRE 24 HOURS’ NOTICE OF CANCELLATION

DATE: THURSDAY, May 28, 2015

TIME: 6 PM Wine Tasting / 7 PM Dinner

PLACE: Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club
4300 Southwest Marine Drive
Vancouver

COST: $75 Members / $85 Non-Members
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING.

Wine Tasting 6PM

We are pleased to have the  Mistress of Wine, Kate Keates, return again this year with a new wine tasting format.

We will have a selection of great wines that are readily available in most restaurants and Kate will educate us on some of the finer points of each of the wines through a blind tasting. The tasting will allow her to demonstrate the basic differences  in some of the wines and provide some colorful commentary.

A Crash Course On Roadside Screening Devices

Guest Speaker:
Carolyn Kirkwood

Following dinner, Carolyn Kirkwood, a Forensic Alcohol Consultant with BAC Consulting, will provide a short talk on the medical and scientific issues surroinding the use of roadside screening devices and the limitations in the devices that could invalidate their results.

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before April 7th, 2015 to:
Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
1800 – 510 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B 0M3

Please indicate the names of members and guests attending this meeting.

This meeting is open to members and guests. As this is the AGM of The Society, only paid-up members may vote at this meeting.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 16, 2015

TIME: 6 PM NO-HOST BAR / 7 PM Dinner

PLACE: TERMINAL CITY CLUB
837 West Hastings
Vancouver

COST: $65 Members / $80 Non-Members
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING.

THE OBJECTIVE CONCUSSION TESTS: THE HOLY GRAIL OF CONCUSSION RESEARCH

Guest Speakers:
Dr. Paul van Donkelaar, PhD
Alexander (Sandy) Wright, MSc

Concussions occur at an alarmingly high rate, with estimates reaching 25% for contact sport athletes. Currently, the diagnosis and management of these injuries is based largely on patient-reported symptoms. Given the number of young athletes in Canada participating in these sports, combined with concerns over the long-term consequences associated with repetitive head trauma, objective and reliable techniques are urgently needed to better our ability to determine when a concussion has occurred, how a patient is progressing towards recovery, and to unmask potential intervention approaches to prevent / mitigate these injuries in the future. Dr. Paul van Donkelaar and Mr. Alexander Wright will discuss the current state of research in this field, with a focus on promising work being done at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Paul van Donkelaar is a Full Professor and Director of the School of Health and Exercise Sciences at UBC’s Okanagan campus. Dr. van Donkelaar received his PhD in Clinical Neuroscience from the University of Calgary in 1994, and has been actively involved in concussion research for 15 years. As Director of the Integrative Sports Concussion Research Group, his research is aimed at better understanding the sensorimotor, neurocognitive, and cerebrovascular effects of concussion and how to more objectively assess and manage this injury.

Alexander (Sandy) Wright is studying in the combined MD/PhD program at UBC. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in 2009, and a Master of Science in Biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in 2011. A recipient of the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Mr. Wright’s doctoral research takes a multi-modal approach towards improving our understanding of sports-related concussions, combining techniques in biomechanics, cerebrovascular physiology, and advanced neuroimaging

CO-ORDINATOR – Dr. John Butt, CM, MD

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before April 7th, 2015 to:
Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
900 – 900 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2M4

DATE: THURSDAY, February 19, 2015

TIME: 6 PM NO-HOST BAR / 7 PM Dinner

PLACE: TERMINAL CITY CLUB
837 West Hastings
Vancouver

COST: $65 Members / $80 Non-Members
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTED DYING:

A MEDICAL LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Guest Speaker – Dr. Derryck Smith, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C)

Dr. Smith is the Co-Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of Dying with Dignity Canada and a Board member of DWD Canada and The World Federation of Right to Die Societies.

Dr. Smith will discuss a number of issues on “Dying with Dignity”, including:

• Carter, et al v. Attorney General for Canada, et al – The Supreme Court of Canada will shortly hand down its decision in Carter; a case arising from the decision of Madame Justice Lynn Smith of the Supreme Court of British;
• Bill 52 – a Bill that will shortly come into force in Quebec. Quebec will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to have a legislative framework for assistance with dying;
• The recently released Canadian Medical Association position paper on Physician Assisted Dying.

CO-ORDINATOR – MICHAEL THOMAS

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before February 16, 2015 to:
Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
900 – 900 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2M4

DATE: THURSDAY, January 15, 2015

TIME: 6 PM NO-HOST BAR / 7 PM Dinner

PLACE: SHAUGHNESSY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
4300 Southwest Marine Drive
Vancouver

COST: $65 Members / $80 Non-Members
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING.

Psychological | Psychiatric Assessments:

HARD SCIENCE PRINCIPLES FOR CROSS-EXAMINING SOFT SCIENCE EXPERTS

Guest Speaker – Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.

Dr. Cochrane will discuss the nature of hard and soft science as each applies to psychological | psychiatric assessments and the reports arising from these assessments. In addition, he will illustrate, with selected cross-examination suggestions, how to determine the psychometric validity of commonly used psychological tests and how to determine if that which is being assessed has acceptable construct validity.

Dr. Cochrane, R. Psych., is a member of the Executive of The Medical Legal Society of B.C. He is qualified by the State and Provincial Boards of Psychology in the US and Canada and has been published in a number of law journals in both countries.

CO-ORDINATOR – MICHAEL THOMAS

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before January 12, 2015 to:
Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
900 – 900 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2M4

DATE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2014

TIME: 6 PM NO-HOST BAR / 7 PM Dinner

PLACE: SHAUGHNESSY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
4300 Southwest Marine Drive
Vancouver

COST: $65 Members / $80 Non-Members
PAYMENT IN ADVANCE ONLY, WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT PAYMENT AT THE DOOR FOR THIS MEETING.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LAW REGARDING THE ADMISSIBILITY OF EXPERT REPORTS

Guest Speaker – The Honourable Mr. Justice Abrioux

The Honourable Mr. Justice Patrice Abrioux was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver on September 30, 2011. Prior to his appointment, he was a partner with the firm of Quinlan Abrioux in Vancouver where his practice focused on general litigation including personal injury, negligence claims, insurance, commercial and real estate matters.

In June of this year in a case called Maras v. Seemore Entertainment Ltd., Mr. Justice Abrioux ruled that a number of reports in which the experts were asked to review voluminous material were inadmissible. He disapproved of the fairly common practice where an expert provides a detailed summary of the interview that occurred with the plaintiff and commentary on documents provided to him or her. Mr. Justice Abrioux has agreed to discuss the role of experts and what an expert should or should not include in his/her report.

CO-ORDINATOR – MICHAEL THOMAS

Please forward your cheque payable to “The Medical Legal Society of B.C.” before November 24, 2014 to:
Ms. Carol Gielens
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP
900 – 900 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2M4