Medico-Legal Experience

Dr Ximena Watson’s medico-legal practice is grounded in her work within acute, high-risk clinical settings where clear reasoning, accurate documentation and timely decision-making are central to patient care. A Consultant in Neuro Critical Care and Anesthesia, she has experience reviewing complex clinical cases and contributing to serious incident reviews, mortality reviews, morbidity and mortality meetings, and wider governance processes.

Her expertise is relevant to cases involving clinical deterioration, escalation of care, ICU admission, consent, capacity, best interests decision-making, perioperative risk and acute neurological presentations. She is experienced in applying national guidance, including NICE, FICM and DAS guidance, and in communicating complex clinical issues clearly to patients, families and multidisciplinary teams.

Dr Watson provides structured, clinically grounded opinion in matters where the timing, appropriateness and documentation of clinical decision-making are central issues.

Clinical Experience

Dr Watson is a Consultant in Neuro Critical Care, Anaesthesia and Critical Care Outreach at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she has worked as a consultant since 2020. She has over five years’ consultant experience in a tertiary referral centre, with a clinical focus on critically unwell neurological patients and the early recognition and management of deteriorating patients across the hospital.

Her Neuro Intensive Care work includes the management of complex neurosurgical and neurological patients, including traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid haemorrhage and stroke. She is involved in prognostication, escalation decisions and end-of-life care discussions, and regularly communicates with families in high-stakes clinical situations.

Within Critical Care Outreach, Dr Watson assesses and manages deteriorating ward patients, including peri-arrest and acutely unwell patients. She makes decisions regarding escalation, ceilings of care and ICU admission, working closely with multiple specialties to coordinate safe and appropriate care.

Dr Watson maintains regular independent anaesthetic practice across orthopaedics, general surgery, gynaecology and endoscopy, including elective and emergency cases. She has strong expertise in perioperative medicine, including risk assessment and optimisation of high-risk patients. She is actively involved in governance, quality improvement, teaching and research, including work as Lead for Quality Improvement in Neuro Critical Care and Faculty Tutor in Intensive Care Medicine.

Special Interests

• Neurocritical care
• Critical care outreach
• Acute neurological deterioration
• Traumatic brain injury
• Subarachnoid haemorrhage
• Stroke in critical care settings

Memberships of Professional Bodies

• General Medical Council 7015450

Further information

Download Dr Watson’s CV to learn more about her qualifications and clinical experience.