Key Legal and Ethical Topics

Victoria Metaxa

Consultant Intensivist and Trauma , UK

Dr Victoria Metaxa is a full-time Critical Care and Major Trauma Consultant, at King’s College Hospital in London. She is a King's College London Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, and has a PhD in neurosciences and an MA in Medical Ethics and Palliative Care from Keele University. Her clinical interests include bioethics, end-of-life care, critical care outreach and the management of patients with haematological malignancies. Dr Metaxa is a member of the European Society of Intensive Care (ESICM) Ethics section, and the representative of the section in the e-learning committee. She is the UK National Outreach Forum board Secretary and a member of the Legal and Ethical Advisory Group of the UK Intensive Care Society (ICS).  

Thearina de Beer

Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthesia, UK

Dr Thearina de Beer MBChB FRCA DICM FFICM LLM (Health Law) RCPathME , is a Consultant in Anaesthetics and ICM including Neuro-ICM at Nottingham University Hospitals. Thearina is currently Divisional Director for the Clinical Support Division. She is a Medical Examiner at NUH and is deputy lead ME for NUH. She is on the ICS – Legal and Ethical Advisory Group. Her special interests are delirium and the impact on long stay patients, legal and ethical issues around critical and neuro-critical care.

Dan Harvey

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine , UK

Dr Dan Harvey is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Nottingham University Hospitals, Hon. Professor at the University of Nottingham, and a member of the UK Intensive Care Society Legal & Ethical Advisory Group. Dan has an active research interest as National Lead for Innovation & Research in Organ Donation for NHS Blood and Transplant, and joint Chief Investigator for the SIGNET study, the world's largest interventional study in organ donation.

Rob Tobin

Partner at Kennedys Law,

Rob leads Kennedys’ healthcare team in Cambridge. He advises NHS Trusts on healthcare law, medical negligence litigation, end of life decisions, judicial reviews, consent and capacity to treatment, inquests and mental health and capacity law. Working with NHS Resolution he manages a team of lawyers working on clinical negligence claims of the utmost severity, including cerebral palsy, neurological injuries, neonatal deaths and psychiatric injuries. He has a specialist practice in medical treatment cases involving declarations to treat and withdrawal of treatment and lectures on these topics. He is legal advisor to the Intensive Care Society’s LEAG and to Thrive LDN, a mental health taskforce.  He sits on the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust clinical ethics advisory group. During the pandemic, Rob actively advised the ICS and the National Executive Critical Care Committee. Rob’s recent high profile cases include: AH v Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2021) – obtaining a declaration to withdraw ventilation from a 56 year old, described as “the most complex COVID patient in the world” and Tafida Raqeeb v Barts Health NHS Trust and others (2019) – complex Judicial Review and treatment case concerning withdrawal of life sustaining treatment for 5 year old Muslim child.

Anna Conway Morris

Consultant Psychiatrist in Eating disorders ,

Dr ACM is a consultant psychiatrist in eating disorders at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge. She is a trained child psychiatrist and neurodevelopmental specialist who now works in an adult eating disorders service with a large student population. Dr ACM is the head of school for psychiatry in the East of England and the vice chair of the Eastern Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Her research interest is in compulsive behaviour.

: @AconwayM