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Personal Injury
Given Mr Britten’s expertise and experience in complex lower limb injuries and post-traumatic limb reconstruction, he is happy to receive instructions from both Claimant and Defendant solicitors for lower limb fractures in general, particularly tibial and femoral fractures.
Having performed around 1,000 Ilizarov frames over the last 22 years for all indications, he has a particular interest in tibial fractures treated by Ilizarov circular external fixators, and also treated with a Taylor Spatial Frame, locked intramedullary nailing, and with locking plates.
Such fractures of the tibia include open tibial fractures treated in collaboration with plastic surgery colleagues, intra-articular fractures of the tibial plateau and tibial pilon (plafond), and segmental fractures of the tibia. With a colleague, he has published a personal series of his first 40 segmental tibial fractures treated by the Ilizarov method in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery with excellent clinical results; and also jointly published work on the successful treatment of paediatric tibial fractures using the Ilizarov method.
Over the years he has treated many complications of tibial fractures referred in from colleagues, from surrounding peripheral hospitals, and occasionally complications of his own. He accepts instructions for the complications of tibial and femoral fractures including non-union, mal-union and deformity, limb length inequality, bone loss and amputation.
Working with his colleagues in plastic surgery and medical rehabilitation, Mr Britten has an amputation practice, and he is happy to receive instructions for cases involving amputation in orthopaedic trauma. Mr Britten gave oral evidence which was well received by the court in the case of
Riley v Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWHC 2417 (KB).
Associated injuries
Given the high energy mechanisms of injury, many of Mr Britten’s complex tibial and femoral fracture patients have other associated musculoskeletal injuries which require surgical treatment, and receive follow up in Mr Britten’s limb reconstruction clinic. As a result, he is happy to receive instructions for cases of polytrauma, and can comment on most associated injuries, including pelvic and acetabular fractures, and straightforward fractures involving the upper limb and spine.
Sometimes Mr Britten will recommend a report from an expert in complex upper limb injuries or spinal surgery, as he recognises the importance of ‘Stick to what you know’ in medico-legal reporting.