Professor Jason Payne-James
Jason Payne-James is a Specialist in Forensic & Legal Medicine. He is an independent forensic physician in active clinical practice. He is a Medical Examiner. He is an independent researcher, author and editor. He qualified in medicine in 1980 at the London Hospital Medical College and undertook additional postgraduate education at assorted institutions including Cardiff Law School, the Department of Forensic Medicine & Science at the University of Glasgow and the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
He is Director of Forensic Healthcare Services Ltd and is Honorary Clinical Professor at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, UK. He is Lead Medical Examiner at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Trust. He is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on the Medical Implications of Less-Lethal Weapons. He is President of the European Council of Legal & Forensic Medicine. He was President of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians from 2015-2017 and President of the World Police Medical Officers from 2011-2014.
His forensic and legal medicine interests include the Medical Examiner system, complaints against healthcare professionals, healthcare of detainees (prisoners), principles of care, deaths, harm and near misses in custody, spithoods, torture, drugs and alcohol, wound and injury interpretation, elder abuse, asphyxia, sexual assault, neglect, non-accidental injury, restraint and use of force injury (including Taser and irritant spray), acute behavioural disturbance, police complaints, age estimation and photographic imaging of injury. He is co-author of Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine including management after exposure to Taser® and irritant spray, head injury and choking. Some other examples of research and other academic publications and his research background can be found at www.researchgate.net and J Jason Payne-James (0000-0002-3713-8922) – ORCID.
Jason has developed, co-edited, co-authored and contributed to a number of books including the Encyclopedia of Forensic & Legal Medicine; Forensic Medicine: Clinical & Pathological Aspects; Symptoms and Signs of Substance Misuse (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions with Margaret Stark and Mike Scott-Ham); Artificial Nutrition Support in Clinical Practice; Symptoms and Early Warning Signs; Medicolegal Essentials of Healthcare (1st and 2nd editions); Colour Atlas of Forensic Medicine. He is co-author of the 13th and 14th Editions of Simpson’s Forensic Medicine (an Irish edition co-authored with Cliona McGovern was published orientated in the context of law in Eire); he co-authored the Oxford Handbook of Forensic Medicine and co-edited both Age Estimation in the Living with Professor Dame Sue Black and Anil Aggrawal and three volumes of Current Practice in Forensic Medicine (co-edited with John Gall). The book Monitoring Detention, Custody, Torture and Ill-treatment was highly commended in the BMA Medical Book Awards. He has co-edited with Suzy Lishman The Medical Examiner System in England & Wales: A Practical Guide. Most recently he has co-edited with Roger Byard Forensic & Legal Medicine: Clinical & Pathological Aspects and the 3rd edition of the Encyclopedia of Forensic & Legal Medicine.
He provides expert opinion and advice for defence solicitors, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, Service Prosecuting Authority, HM Coroners and other agencies in the UK and overseas. He was founding Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Forensic & Legal Medicine. He has developed new scales (the ForensiGraph®) for use in forensic imaging – www.forensigraph.com and with Cathy Cooke the ForensiBag® and OOHBag® . He designed the forensic medical documentation App, ForensiDoc®. He advises on, contributes to, presented and has broadcast widely in a number of media settings, including documentaries on Jack the Ripper . He has presented 12 episodes of the Channel 5 series, Autopsy and a documentary on serial killer Trevor Hardy. He has contributed to podcasts of causes of death in countries such as Canada and New Zealand.
