---
title: "Letter of instruction to an independent medical expert on breach of duty and causation (medical negligence)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/health-and-medical-law/expert-instructions-medical-negligence-breach-and-causation"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a32-expert-instructions-medical-negligence-breach-and-causation"
area_id: "A32"
kind: "letter"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
task_ids: ["A32-A20260923-1"]
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-18"
---

# Letter of instruction to an independent medical expert on breach of duty and causation (medical negligence)

> A letter instructing an independent medical expert to give a liability opinion: the expert's duty to the court, the code of conduct, the documents, neutral assumptions, and questions on peer professional opinion,…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/health-and-medical-law/expert-instructions-medical-negligence-breach-and-causation  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-18

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

A letter instructing an independent medical expert to give a liability opinion: the expert's duty to the court, the code of conduct, the documents, neutral assumptions, and questions on peer professional opinion, breach and causation.

## Key facts

- Kind: Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Practice area: [Health & Medical Law](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/health-and-medical-law.md)
- Jurisdictions: New South Wales, Australia
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-18
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-18 against the 5 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Australia.

## When to use it

Use when instructing a specialist to give a report on whether a doctor or health service met the standard of care and whether any breach caused the harm, including the supporting report a professional negligence claim in NSW must be filed with. Use a separate letter for quantum experts.

## Used for these tasks

- [Draft an expert brief from the records and the issues list](https://ailawframework.com/practice/health-and-medical-law.md#A32-A20260923-1)

## How AI may be used

AI may index the records and prepare the chronology and document list for the brief; the lawyer frames the assumptions and questions, checks the brief is complete and neutral, and signs the letter.

**AI may:**

- Index and paginate the clinical records and prepare a neutral chronology for the lawyer to verify
- List the documents enclosed and flag gaps in the records (missing dates, missing imaging)
- Check the letter against the code of conduct requirements and the court's rules on expert reports

**AI must not:**

- Must not draft questions or assumptions that suggest the answer or leave out unhelpful facts
- Must not summarise the clinical issues in a way that replaces the records the expert must read
- Must not prepare any part of the expert's report, which is the expert's own work and subject to the code's generative AI rules

**The lawyer checks:**

- The expert practises in the same field as the defendant practitioner at the relevant time, and has no conflict
- Every relevant record, helpful or harmful, is enclosed, and the chronology has been checked against the records
- The assumptions are stated neutrally and the questions track s 5O, s 5P and s 5D without leading
- The code of conduct is enclosed and the expert is told about the court's generative AI rules for expert reports

## Authorities

- [Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 31.23 and Sch 7 (expert witness code of conduct, including cl 3(2) to (5) on generative AI and expert reports)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2005-0418)
- [Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) r 31.36 (expert report on breach, damage and causation to be filed and served with the statement of claim in a professional negligence claim)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2005-0418)
- [Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5O (standard of care for professionals: peer professional opinion) and s 5P (duty to warn excluded)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2002-022)
- [Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5D (causation)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2002-022)
- [Federal Court of Australia, Expert Evidence Practice Note (GPN-EXPT), paras 3.1 to 3.4 and the Harmonised Expert Witness Code of Conduct (Annexure A)](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/law-and-practice/practice-documents/practice-notes/gpn-expt)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/health-and-medical-law/expert-instructions-medical-negligence-breach-and-causation and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*