When you’re an obstetrician cerebral palsy is never far from your thoughts. A brain damaged baby means years of suffering for patient and family and a field day for lawyers, though most cases have nothing to do with events in labour.

When you retire you try to put these things behind you, though the chance of a lawsuit will still be around for another 25 years. Invitations to meetings won’t, however, and are hard to resist. Recently I spent two days …