Mediating medical disputes

• Mediation is becoming an increasingly popular option in medical disputes, including in clinical negligence and withdrawal of treatment cases.

In his 2010 speech to the Civil Mediation Council National Conference, Lord Neuberger, then Master of the Rolls, emphasised the role of mediation as a new mechanism for resolving disputes, albeit not one which was intended to replace other established forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Even then he was very evidently a firm, if not devout, believer in the power of mediation. It would seem his faith deepened, and almost exactly five years later, once again delivering a lecture to the same body, he recalled how mediation had initially been perceived as a ‘trendy’ idea without substance, and even in 2015 still had a credibility gap with some practitioners. However, Lord Neuberger suggested his audience should ‘be pretty uninhibited about supporting the idea of mediation in civil and family disputes’.

A human story

Four years on