Tag Archives: medical malpractice

The Ideal Medical Expert Witness

Ideal medical expert witnesses do exist, and there are certain qualities that Experts Clearinghouse targets when determining who we recommend for medical malpractice cases and pharmaceutical or product liability mass torts.

First and foremost, we target expert witnesses who are board certified in their respective specialties and subspecialties.  Are we saying that a doctor must be board certified to be a good doctor?  Absolutely not, but when it comes to demonstrating expertise within the courtroom, having the training necessary to be certified by an American Board of Medical Specialties entity certainly helps.  Certain states even require it.  As a practice, Experts Clearinghouse only recommends those who are board certified.

Second, we target those physicians who currently hold academic positions.  Again, we are not saying that this automatically means the physician is a good doctor, but what this demonstrates to a jury is that this physician commands enough respect among his or her peers to hold said position.  To be able to both practice and teach students medicine carries weight in the courtroom.

Coming hand in hand with teaching physicians often is the practice of research and publishing scientific papers.  Doing such demonstrates to a jury that this physician is up to date with the latest in one or multiple areas of expertise, even better when those said papers relate directly to the issues at hand in any given legal case.

As discussed elsewhere in this blog, presentability and communication skills are also paramount.  All of the credentials in the world do not carry much weight in the courtroom if the jury does not connect to or understand the expert witness.  I am thinking along the lines of the tree falling with no one around to hear analogy, although in this case, words are heard but the question is comprehension and impact.

As for the expert witness advertising him or herself as an expert witness, I am still on the fence regarding recommending or discouraging this practice.  I can honestly say that the practice is becoming more accepted in the industry, although generally, the medical expert witnesses that Experts Clearinghouse recommends do not advertise.  As stated previously, this is the choice of the expert.  Expert witness work is stimulating and worthwhile for many, and even better that one can be compensated for sharing ones expertise.  I consider myself a sort of expert on expert witnesses, especially medical, and I am glad I get a chance to help push along the tough cases which our beautiful legal system must face.

Because I am compensated for my expertise, I feel even more obligated to act in the most prudent and honest manner possible.  The ideal medical expert witness does the same.

The ideal medical expert witness will have a license in good standing and currently practicing, at least in some capacity.  Experts Clearinghouse has worked with clients who actually prefer Professors who are semi-retired because they have the time necessary for expert witness record and literature review and testimony, particularly for multi-plaintiff mass torts.

The ideal medical expert witness does not do too much expert witness work.  The definition of “too much” will depend on the client, but almost universally sought after is a balanced mixture of Defense and Plaintiffs work.

Are you the ideal medical expert witness?  Please let us know if you are interested in doing expert witness work.  We would love and honor the opportunity to work with you.

Keep pushing and thank you,

Robert Leonard Pham

 

(c) 2012-2013 ExpertsClearinghouse.com – all rights reserved

General Surgery, Vascular Surgery

Experts Clearinghouse LLC consistently delivers the most sought after general and vascular surgeons to law firms, corporations, and governments who need them the most.  Our network includes the absolute best credentialed and respected practitioners who testify in the toughest of scenarios, often when other networks have failed.

Call us today for your free initial consultation at 713-501-8526 or e-mail at medexperts@gmail.com.

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Experts Clearinghouse experts in this Specialty have a certificate issued by:  American Board of Surgery

Subspecialties include:  Complex General Surgical Oncology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Pediatric Surgery, Surgery of the Hand, Surgical Critical Care

Expert Witness Location Difficulty Level:  MEDIUM

States represented by the network:  Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Typical minimum fee for Record Review and Report Writing for this Specialty:  $250 per hour

Typical minimum fee for Testimony for this Specialty:  $300 per hour

For a more complete explanation of Fees, click here

Medical Malpractice issues:  Standard of care

Mass Tort involvements:  General surgeons for Prempro related to breast cancer

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Taken from Wikipedia.org:

General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal contents including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladderand bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland (depending on local reference patterns). They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft tissue,trauma , peripheral vascular surgery and hernias.

Scope

General surgeons may sub-specialize into one or more of the following disciplines:

Trauma surgery/ Surgical Critical Care

In the United States and Canada, the overall responsibility for trauma care falls under the auspices of general surgery. Some general surgeons obtain advanced training in this field (most commonly surgical critical care) and specialty certification surgical critical care. General surgeons must be able to deal initially with almost any surgical emergency. Often, they are the first port of call to critically ill or gravely injured patients, and must perform a variety of procedures to stabilize such patients, such as thoracostomy, cricothyroidotomy, compartment fasciotomies and emergency laparotomy orthoracotomy to stanch bleeding. They are also called upon to staff surgical intensive care units or trauma intensive care units.[citation needed]

All general surgeons are trained in emergency surgery. Bleeding, infections, bowel obstructions and organ perforations are the main problems they deal with. Cholecystectomy, the surgical removal of the gallbladder, is one of the most common surgical procedures done worldwide. This is most often done electively, but the gallbladder can become acutely inflamed and require an emergency operation. Ruptures of the appendix and small bowel obstructions are other common emergencies.

Laparoscopic surgery

This is a relatively new specialty dealing with minimal access techniques using cameras and small instruments inserted through 0.3 to 1 cm incisions. Robotic surgery is now evolving from this concept (see below). Gallbladders, appendices, and colons can all be removed with this technique. Hernias are now repaired mostly laparoscopically. Most bariatric surgery is performed laparoscopically.[citation needed] General surgeons that are trained today are expected to be proficient in laparoscopic procedures.

Colorectal surgery

General surgeons treat a wide variety of major and minor colon and rectal diseases including inflammatory bowel diseases (such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease), diverticulitis, colon and rectal cancer, gastrointestinal bleeding and hemorrhoids.

Breast surgery

General surgeons perform a majority of all non-cosmetic breast surgery from lumpectomy to mastectomy, especially pertaining to the evaluation and diagnosis, of breast cancer.

Vascular surgery

General surgeons can perform vascular surgery if they receive special training and certification in vascular surgery. Otherwise, these procedures are performed by vascular surgery specialists. However, general surgeons are capable of treating minor vascular disorders.

Endocrine surgery

General surgeons are trained to remove all or part of the thyroid and parathyroid glands in the neck and the adrenal glandsjust above each kidney in the abdomen. In many communities, they are the only surgeon trained to do this. In communities that have a number of subspecialists, other subspecialty surgeons may assume responsibility for these procedures.

Transplant surgery

Responsible for all aspects of pre-operative, operative, and post-operative care of abdominal organ transplant patients. Transplanted organs include liver, kidney, pancreas, and more rarely small bowel.

Surgical oncology

Surgical oncologist refers to a general surgical oncologist (a subspecialty of general surgery), but thoracic surgical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists and so forth can all be considered surgeons who specialize in treating cancer patients. The importance of training surgeons who sub-specialize in cancer surgery lies in evidence, supported by a number of clinical trials, that outcomes in surgical cancer care are positively associated to surgeon volume—i.e., the more cancer cases a surgeon treats, the more proficient he or she becomes, and his or her patients experience improved survival rates as a result. This is another controversial point, but it is generally accepted—even as common sense—that a surgeon who performs a given operation more often, will achieve superior results when compared with a surgeon who rarely performs the same procedure. This is particularly true of complex cancer resections such as pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer, and gastrectomy with extended (D2) lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer.

Cardiothoracic surgery

Most cardiothoracic surgeons in the U.S. (D.O. or M.D.) first complete a general surgery residency (typically 5–7 years), followed by a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship (typically 2–3 years).

Pediatric Surgery

Pediatric surgery is a subspecialty of general surgery pediatric surgeons do surgery on patients age lower than 18. pediatric surgery is 5–7 years of residency and a 2-3 fellowship

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