Martin Andrew Mansell MD FRCP

b. 28 September 1948; d. 24 April 2020

Martin was a Consultant Nephrologist (kidney specialist) in London who later in his career developed an interest in legal medicine and medical ethics and became President of the Medicolegal Society.

After school Martin trained at Guy’s Hospital qualifying in 1971. He trained in nephrology at St Thomas’s Hospital and the St Peter’s Hospital and the Institute of Urology. In 1983 he was appointed to the post of Consultant Nephrologist at the St Peter’s Hospitals, London and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nephrology at the Institute of Urology and Nephrology. With the transfer of the St. Peter’s Hospitals to the UCLH Trust in 1992 he became Consultant Nephrologist at the Middlesex Hospital. In 2005 the Nephrology Department at the Middlesex Hospital moved to the Royal Free Hospital where he worked until he retired from NHS practice in 2010.

He was President of the Medicolegal Society from 2012-2014 and received an LLM in Medical Law and Ethics from the University of Kent in 2017.

Martin’s specialist interest in nephrology was renal stone disease and he was a noted authority on oxalate stones and the condition of oxalosis.  His unit became an international referral centre for this condition.

Martin was highly regarded by his patients as well as his colleagues, and he had a large and successful private practice. Many of his trainees have gone on to Consultant positions in the UK and around the world.  He was very supportive of his colleagues. He was renowned for his quick wit with a dry sense of humour.

Martin was also renowned as a medico-legal expert who acted for both claimants and defendants in clinical negligence and personal injury cases. He received Cardiff University Expert Witness Accreditation in 2005 and was  a member of the Expert Witness Institute and Academy of Experts.He was an Accredited Expert for AvMA and APIL and was a member of the Clinical Claims Review Group of the UCLH Trust. This group aimed to settle meritorious claims as expeditiously as possible. He had also given evidence as an independent medical expert in the Coroner’s Court and the Criminal Court and served on several Independent Review Panels.

Martin’s great skill as an expert was that he not only provided a carefully considered, objective and unbiased opinion but that he sought to pass on his extensive technical knowledge in a way that could be readily understood by lay clients and lawyers. Indeed, he was a popular guest speaker at the AvMA conference and assisted in training lawyers to understand his specialism. Above all, although scrupulously impartial,  he showed great compassion for those bringing or defending claims.

He will be remembered as a fine and accomplished expert but he will be missed by his medico-legal colleagues for his integrity, kindness and amiability.

Martin married Cathy in 1979, meeting her on a shift in Accident and Emergency at St Thomas’ Hospital. They have one son, Nicholas, and six daughters, Alexandra, Hannah, Victoria, Sophie, Josephine and Hattie, as well as four grandchildren. Martin was also devoted (although he might not have admitted to it) to the English and Irish setters dogs they have had over the years. He retired from the NHS about 10 years ago and he and Cathy moved to Beltinge on the North Kent coast, where they had always spent their family holidays. Despite continuing to be extremely busy with medico-legal work, he indulged his passions as a polymath, completing Masters’ degrees in the History of Art, Military History and Philosophy, as well as the afore-mentioned Medical Law. He enjoyed regular trips to Scotland, where he and Cathy flew birds of prey, and often joined the RSM (Urology Section) ski trips where he was an enthusiastic contributor both to the scientific meeting and to the social life. He had recently taken up cycling along the wind-swept sea-front and loved a good dinner with a drink or two beforehand, especially if he had family or friends to join him.

Dr James Pattison, Professor Guy Neild, Linda Lee, Sophie Cisler

Eddie Josse 1933-2020

Eddie Josse, or more formally Doctor Sylvain Edouard Josse, OBE, was a man of many interests and areas of expertise united into one by his desire to improve the lot of humanity. With a firm foundation in his Jewish faith, a knowledgeable and very supporting wife, and a copy of the Magna Carta on his study wall, he helped the very many who turned to him for his professional advice. Many of these were forensic physicians of various disciplines including police surgeons, lawyers and court experts. For many years he ran a thriving general medical practice and practised as a consultant chest physician and medico-legal expert until the day he was admitted to hospital, in early November 2019. He became deeply involved in medical politics and strove to improve the quality and standing of general practice and forensic medical practice in the United Kingdom.

An example of his work to improve standards in general medical practice occurred when he was appointed to inspect training practices. He was sent to an RAMC training practice, which although well equipped, did not arrange suitable instruction sessions nor time set aside for directed study. The officer in charge argued that his doctors were very well provided for and needed nothing more. Eddie declined to approve the practice, and very rapid changes took place.

Eddie took great care of any police surgeon who turned to him for help in times of trouble. In one case the principal of a team saw a prisoner in a police station cell and found nothing seriously amiss. The prisoner became very ill and died. The doctor was accused of negligence by the police. It was only after exhaustive investigation instigated by Eddie that it was found that the prisoner’s sister had brought a large quantity of drugs into his cell after the doctor had seen him, and these had caused his death.

Eddie was a very regular attender at Medico-Legal Society meetings, as at many other learned societies. He added value to any meeting he attended by invariably asking an interesting and penetrating question. He was a very sociable man and was always encouraging towards old friends and also to newcomers. He had a great breadth of knowledge and loved engaging in conversation- sometimes in French! He will be missed on the social side of forensic medicine, as well as on the academic side.

Daniel Haines