Mr. David Barniville:

To put the other side or a bit of balance in that issue, there may well be cases which, at the outset and during their progress, appear to be cases that could be successfully defended by the medical practitioner involved, but evidence could emerge, whether it is a late expert report or a piece of information, that shows late in the day that these are cases that should not be defended. Those sort of cases do happen. It should be encouraged that there should be as early an admission of liability in such cases as possible. That means that if it is clear at the very outset that liability cannot be resisted then it should be admitted at that stage. If it means during the course of the case that something emerges that shows a case that looks like it could be a case that could be successfully defended no longer is, there should be an encouragement to admit liability at that point.