Jasper Gold

Jasper is frequently instructed in clinical negligence cases for claimants and defendants, and regularly appears in interlocutory hearings in the high court and county court, as well as advising on liability and quantum and representing parties at settlement negotiations.

Jasper has experience across a wide range of medical issues, including:

• Mental health (inpatient and in the community), including cases resulting in suicide
• Informed consent
• Gynaecological and obstetric issues
• Delayed diagnoses
• Dentistry
• Ophthalmology
• Issues with medical equipment, including product liability
• Loss of reproductive capability
• Treatment provided in care homes
• Treatment provided in prison
• Claims for psychiatric harm including the exacerbation of pre-existing mental health conditions

Jasper was seconded for six months to a leading healthcare law firm where he specialised in inquests, which provided regular experience of investigating complex medical issues in conference with clinicians and of questioning clinicians giving live evidence. He is comfortable acting as both inquest and claim counsel for families and other parties.

Jasper is the co-author (with Philip Havers KC) of the chapter on breach of duty in the forthcoming 5th edition of Principles of Medical Law (OUP, Laing & McHale eds.)

As a result of his training in commercial law, Jasper is also comfortable with cases involving private healthcare providers containing contractual elements.

Jasper is a regular contributor to the Quarterly Medical Law Review.

Jasper accepts instructions from families and other Interested Persons and has particular experience in medical inquests, having spent six months seconded to the advisory team of a leading healthcare law firm, where he attended court multiple times per week for inquest and pre-inquest review hearings as well as advising on legal issues and the preparation of witness and documentary evidence, and drafting applications and submissions.

Jasper has experience of ‘Middleton’ (Article 2) inquests and inquests before juries, spanning a range of psychiatric and physical illnesses and injuries. He is happy to consider acting pro bono in appropriate cases.

Jasper is the co-author of two chapters in the forthcoming second edition of The Inquest Book: The Law of Coroners and Inquests (Bloomsbury): Juries (with Richard Mumford) and Inquests Involving Intelligence Services and Agencies (With Sir Neil Garnham and Neil Sheldon KC).

Selected Cases

• Inquest touching the death of EA: represented the family at a three day inquest examining the death of an 89-year-old woman who died after fracturing her skull in a fall at a care home. The care home did not accept there had been failures in her supervision, but the Coroner found that lack of mandated supervision caused EA’s death, and added a neglect rider to her conclusion. She issues a Prevention of Future Deaths report identifying five separate areas of concern.
• Inquest touching the death of CS: represented an NHS Trust who had provided care to CS, a non-verbal autistic 17 year old who had an ingested foreign object lodged in his oesophagus. The foreign object was missed in radiological imaging, and CS died after being overwhelmed by infection. The Coroner gave a non-critical narrative conclusion and did not enter a Prevention of Future Deaths report.
• Inquest touching the death of KA: represented an NHS Health Board at a six day 'Article 2' jury inquest examining the death by ligature of a prisoner with a history of mental health struggles and suicidal ideation.
• Inquest touching the death of SW: represented the family at the inquest of a woman who died, following placement of a pacemaker, in circumstances where the cause of death was not clear.
• Inquest touching the death of CT: represented, and advised on prevention of future deaths evidence for, an NHS Trust in a two day 'Article 2' inquest resumed following a criminal trial in which it was found that the deceased, an inpatient in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, had been beaten to death then set on fire by another patient. The Coroner did not issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report.
• Inquest touching the death of SH: represented an NHS Trust in an inquest examining the death of a healthy man in his 40s who attended hospital with symptoms indicating a pulmonary embolism. The Family’s position that the treating clinicians had failed to give anticoagulant medication in line with Trust policy, then failed to be honest about it. The Coroner entered a conclusion of natural causes and found that all Trust witnesses had given honest, helpful evidence.
• Inquest touching the death of JL: advised an NHS Trust on strategy, witness preparation and evidence gathering in an inquest where there was a potential malfunction of sophisticated medical equipment.
• Inquest touching the death of AD: represented an NHS Trust in an inquest into the death of a patient who had suffered a cardiac arrest following a needle dislodgment during routine dialysis. Successfully resisted arguments seeking a finding of neglect.

Jasper gained experience of public law during pupillage under the supervision of Amy Mannion. As a pupil, he drafted and assisted with the drafting of pleadings and skeletons in a range of judicial review matters before in the High Court and Court of Appeal, including Richards v Environment Agency and another [2022] EWCA Civ 26.

Jasper has a range of academic experience in public law, including time spent researching constitutional remedies as the Oxford Human Rights Hub-Rhodes University Travelling Fellow in human rights law at Rhodes University, South Africa. He has given lectures on topics including the separation of powers and legitimate expectations.

In appropriate cases, Jasper is happy to consider acting pro-bono.

Jasper’s experience includes:

• Advising a government department in connection with a judicial review raising issues at the intersection of data protection and healthcare (led by Amy Mannion).
• Advising a government department in connection with a proposed challenge to the lawfulness of a policy concerning modern slavery (led by Andrew Deakin).
• Advising a statutory corporation on the domestic implications of a proposed regulatory amendment by a foreign regulator, encompassing treaty law, data protection, human rights, employment law and health and safety regulations (with Alasdair Henderson).
• Acting for members of a GPs’ practice in a challenge to the decision of an NHS Integrated Care Board on grounds of procedural irregularity. The decision was withdrawn following the letter before action.
• The Undercover Policing Inquiry: Jasper spent over a year instructed as a member of the counsel team for the Metropolitan Police.
• Operation Kenova: Jasper was instructed as junior to Oliver Sanders KC advising on the Maxwellisation of the Operation Kenova interim report.

Jasper is also a member of the Attorney General’s ‘Junior Junior’ panel.

Jasper is instructed by claimants and defendants in data protection cases. He also accepts instructions for advisory work related to data protection and in public law and judicial review matters which raise data protection issues and privacy. He has a particular interest in the overlap between data protection privacy and healthcare and regularly covers cases in straddling these areas for the QMLR.

Jasper has developed particular experience in ‘data injury’ cases, where breach of the GDPR (and/or breach of confidence and the misuse of private information) have caused psychiatric injury. He is frequently instructed to appear in court, draft pleadings, and to advise on liability, quantum and strategy in such cases.

Illustrative cases include:

• Settling detailed grounds of resistance for an NHS Trust in a judicial review concerning challenges to decisions about access and changes to health data.
• Acting for a government department in a judicial review concerning a challenge to a policy raising data protection and healthcare issues (led by Amy Mannion).
• Advised a multi-national manufacturer of internet-of-things products on compliance with new domestic regulatory requirements pertaining to cyber-security under the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.
• Acting for a claimant whose sensitive medical records were unlawfully shared with third parties leading to psychiatric harm.
• Advising on quantum a claimant whose intimate personal photos were accessed without their consent.
• Advising the Metropolitan Police on the prospects of obtaining an injunction for the removal of a pornographic video depicting a non-consenting party.

Jasper was a panel speaker at the Data Protection Forum’s December 2022 conference on children and data protection, where he spoke on age verification law and the Online Safety Bill.

Jasper gained experience of tax law as a pupil under the supervision of Amy Mannion and spent a short time on secondment with HMRC as a junior tenant. He accepts instructions as a junior or in his own right.

Jasper was instructed by HMRC to assist Sarabjit Singh KC in Gray & Farrar International LLP v HMRC in the Court of Appeal.

Jasper is currently instructed by the Department for Business and Trade in the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. Previously, he spent over a year as a member of the Metropolitan Police counsel team for the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Jasper accepts instructions for claimants and defendants in personal injury matters. He frequently appears in fast track and small claims track trials in the county court, and advises on liability and quantum. He is also often instructed in CCMCs and allocation hearings.