Category: Pain

Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez  LMS, FRCA, FFPMRCA Consultant in Pain Medicine and leading expert witness discusses the complexities that Complex Regional Pain presents to both the medical and legal profession. In this, the first of a series of articles, he looks at the origins of CRPS. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an extremely painful chronic […]

Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez discusses the complexities that Complex Regional Pain Syndrome presents to both the medical and legal profession in this series of 3 articles. About Dr Ramos-Galvez Dr Ramos-Galvez is a Consultant in Pain Medicine and an experienced expert witness. Find out more about his experience and download his CV here: https://www.medicolegal-partners.com/our-experts/dr-ivan-ramos-galvez/ The thought […]

In this article Dr Chris Jenner discusses the use of surveillance in personal injury cases. Covert surveillance is increasingly used by defendants where a claim involves ongoing pain without an apparent organic cause. Whilst in most cases surveillance footage can be easily explained, there are occasions where it can leave a medical expert unable to […]

In the absence of definitive diagnostic tests, the presence or absence of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) can be hard to establish and this can present many challenges for those involved in litigation. In this article, Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez, Consultant in Pain Medicine, will discuss the issues involved in defending a medico legal claim for […]

Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez LMS, FRCA, FFPMRCA is a Consultant in Pain Medicine and leading expert witness with a speciality in CRPS. In the second of his series of articles he discusses the challenges CRPS can present in both diagnosing and proving a medico legal claim. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) usually presents as chronic pain, which […]

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a relatively common chronic rheumatic pain condition, characterised by widespread pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance. It occurs in around 3% of the population and is more frequently diagnosed in women than in men. While FM is often thought of as a recent discovery, it has in fact been described for centuries. However, […]

Opioids are natural and synthetic substances that activate opioid neuroreceptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems and include morphine, codeine, fentanyl, tramadol, methadone, oxycodone and hydrocodone (1–3). Despite a lack of evidence of their efficacy, they are frequently used to treat chronic pain (2). This condition is estimated to affect 20% of adults globally […]

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage (1)”, writes Dr Chris Jenner, medico legal pain expert. Pain is always subjective and we learn to apply the word to experiences related to […]

Dr Ramos-Galvez considers unexpected complications that can occur following spinal surgery

Research published in October 2018 showed that 3.3% of mesh implants used for urinary incontinence cause complications requiring reversal operations. In this article, Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez LMS, FRCA, FFPMRCA, Consultant in Pain Medicine and expert witness, discusses the history of the introduction of pelvic mesh treatment as a treatment for urinary incontinence and explores the […]

Dr Chris Jenner MB BS, FRCA FFPMRCA, Consultant in Pain Medicine, explores post-mastectomy pain syndrome in this article. He describes the symptoms of this painful condition and also explores the medico legal challenges of establishing causation. Post mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is a type of chronic pain, typically neuropathic in nature that occurs after breast […]

Dr Ivan Ramos-Galvez, Consultant in Pain Medicine, explores the condition of CRPS in more detail and explains the challenges of diagnosis and proving causation, as well as discussing the subjectivity of assessment.  Find out more about his expertise here. What are the diagnostic critera? The Budapest Criteria are used to measure pain.  They involve the […]