Robert Wheeler

I have been a Consultant in Paediatric & Neonatal Surgeon in Southampton since 1994. My main surgical interest is in paediatric oncology, especially in techniques of tumour dissection in babies and older children.
I have also been an Hon. Senior Lecturer in Clinical Law at the University of Southampton since 2009, after LLB Hons & LLM.

As the Director of the Department of Clinical Law at University Hospitals of Southampton since 2009, the first such department in the NHS, I have dealt with, in writing, over 1300 enquiries from clinicians of all the regulated professions. Due to this experience, I have some grasp on what clinical legal questions make clinicians uneasy. Around 80 of these enquiries have each led to a short anonymised briefing note:
http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/HealthProfessionals/Clinical-law-updates/Clinicallawupdates.aspx

I have separate regular clinical legal columns in the house journals of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Paediatrics & Child Health. I have surgical and legal chapters in medical and legal textbooks; most recently, co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Medical Ethics & Law. I have published widely in peer reviewed journals, including ‘Betrayal of trust in medical manslaughter’ J Crim Law, 2019 83(6)489-502 and 'Clinical law: what do clinicians want to know? The demography of clinical law', J med. Ethics, April 2022.  I am the author of ‘Clinical Law for Clinical Practice’.