I read that a GP was recently found to have unreasonably induced a patient to accept a cosmetic procedure by offering a discount if it was booked with two other patients. This and other failings led the General Medical Council (GMC) to impose 10 conditions on his registration.

The GMC was concerned that the discount increased the pressure on the patient to proceed. Other cosmetic surgeons have been criticised for offering ‘buy one, get one free’ deals on breast operations. Like the decision to undergo surgery, the decision to bring a claim for compensation, potentially resulting in legal proceedings, needs a cool head.

Litigation is invariably stressful and few, save perhaps for Russian oligarchs, embark upon it with relish. A claimant’s honesty might be challenged and the legal documents drawn up along the way carry a risk of contempt of court proceedings and a criminal conviction. The lawyer’s job is to explain these risks carefully at the outset, free from irrelevant considerations, so that the decision to proceed is properly taken in the client’s best interests.

Personal injury victims are presently being bombarded by some firms with offers of cash or gadgets. These inducements and those offered to cosmetic surgery patients are cut from the same cloth. Both inappropriately distract from and interfere with important decisions.

Unfortunately, while the GMC displays a keen understanding of the issues underlying unethical inducements, this is presently lacking at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Richard Edwards, solicitor-advocate, E. Rex Makin & Co, Liverpool