5 Reasons Your Medical Malpractice Expert Will Let You Down

Posted on January 27, 2008 - Filed Under Legal and Law

1. He no longer practices medicine and is “semi-retired.”

There are some medical “experts” who after practicing medicine for many years hook up with expert-witness companies that lawyers use to evaluate their cases. The doctor is able to earn additional income in his golden years, without the exposure of his own medical malpractice that goes along with treating a patient inappropriately.

The lure of additional income in the retirement years is enticing. Make money from criticizing and commenting on someone else’s treatment? What could be easier? Come into court and give opinions about the standard of medical care- why not? “I’ve been doing this for 35 years,” says the “expert” gynecologist.

The problem is that the defense will shred the doctor’s credentials if they no longer practice medicine and are retired or “semi-retired.” The will show the jury that the doctor hasn’t done this procedure or treated a patient like this for many years. The doctor will likely not have written articles or textbooks on the subject and simply will be giving opinion about things he did “back-in-the-day.” As you can tell, juries typically do not like this.

2. He is not up-to-date with the current medical techniques and treatment regimen

If your medical expert has not performed a delivery in the last 10 years, and he’s in court on your case giving testimony about how a delivery should be done, be wary. Your case is in jeopardy with testimony from such an expert.

3. He is not board certified

While there is no legal requirement in New York that a doctor be board certified in order to testify, I guarantee that if you produce a doctor who is not board certified, the defense will make sure to emphasize that every doctor on behalf of the doctor and hospital were board certified. Board certification is important to show that the expert has a specific level of knowledge and skill that can be quantifiably measured by a certifying organization.

4. He is an “Ivory Tower” doctor who does not practice much

A doctor who does not practice much loses credibility when compared to doctors who have active practices and do these procedures or treatment in your case. Beware the expert that does not practice.

5. He gives opinions based on incomplete information

An experts’ opinion is only as good as the information he reviews. If crucial information is missing or left out, the defense will certainly point out this glaring omission. If additional information had been provided originally, your expert’s opinion might be totally different. Ask your lawyer exactly what information your expert was given to review.

Gerry Oginski is an experienced New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney and practices exclusively in the State of New York. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice and injury cases in the last 19 years. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office.

Take a look at Gerry’s website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there’s something for you. http://www.oginski-law.com 516-487-8207

Also, take a look at Gerry’s FREE NY Medical Malpractice video tutorials at http://medicalmalpracticetutorial.blogspot.com

Tags: attorney, doctor, expert, injury, lawyer, malpractice, medical error, medical malpractice, mistake

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