Medicolegal
Professor Henderson is a Consultant Geriatrician and Professor of Ageing and Movement Disorders. She accepts instructions to report on the health, function and prognosis of older people, in the Court of Protection, in civil proceedings including clinical negligence and personal injury, and in family proceedings including financial remedy, whether from a single party or as a Single Joint Expert.
Her overriding duty is to the court. She provides opinions only on matters within her expertise as a geriatrician, and will decline or return an instruction that falls outside it
Areas of opinion
Life expectancy
Estimates of life expectancy, both unimpaired and following injury, illness or a given clinical course, derived from national life tables with individualised adjustment for comorbidity, function and lifestyle, referenced to the published literature.
Condition and prognosis in later life.
The current clinical picture and likely trajectory of multiple long-term conditions, including where symptoms, function or care needs fluctuate.
Neurodegenerative and frailty-related decline
Parkinson's disease and related movement disorders, dementia and cognitive impairment, falls and frailty, including the rate and pattern of expected progression. Care and functional needs. Current and future requirements for domiciliary care, adaptation and residential support.
Mental capacity
Assessments under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in respect of decisions on treatment, residence, conduct of proceedings, contact, marriage and financial matters, and clinical analysis to support best interests decision-making.
Instructing
When making an enquiry, please include the nature of the proceedings, the questions you need answered, the approximate page count of the records, and any deadline. Please also provide the names of the parties, the treating clinicians and the institutions involved, so that a conflict check can be carried out.
A response will usually follow within three working days, with a medicolegal CV, a schedule of fees and terms, and an estimate of turnaround.
Records are preferred as paginated, indexed PDFs by secure transfer. Where the opinion concerns baseline health, the complete GP record is usually essential.
Reports are usually provided within four to six weeks of receipt of the complete records and a full letter of instruction. Expedited timescales are available by prior agreement where a court deadline requires it.
Standards
Cardiff University Bond Solon Civil Expert Witness Certificate (2024).
Familiar with the duties of an expert under CPR Part 35 and Practice Direction 35, the Guidance for the Instruction of Experts in Civil Claims, and Part 15 of the Court of Protection Rules 2017.