A Brief Overview of the Role of a Medical Malpractice Expert Witness

Medical malpractice is a touchy subject for both plaintiffs and defendants, and a complicated process at that. For a claim to succeed, proof of the doctor-patient relationship, the doctor’s negligence, and the patient’s injury as a direct result of the doctor's negligence must be firmly established. Before the claim proceeds to court, it must first undergo scrutiny by a panel of experts who will review the merits of the case and determine whether any form of medical malpractice has indeed taken place. Before the trial goes underway, a credible medical malpractice expert witness will need to be summoned to provide sound analysis of the facts surrounding the case. While a prompt apology from a medical practitioner may pave the way for a settlement without the need for litigation, many cases eventually end up in court. Cases that involve missed diagnoses, for instance, often lead to serious complications and untimely death, and as such require thorough investigation.

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The Role of Expert Witnesses in Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor performs treatment that is not recognized as standard healthcare treatment (i.e. advising cancer treatment procedure from the 1950s to treat a patient in 2013). More often than not, medical malpractice cases are caused by the negligence or ignorance of a medical professional.

Most people think that the outcome of a malpractice case falls solely upon the medical malpractice attorney. However, the legal process for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit demands that the doctor (or other healthcare provider) was indeed negligent.

According to medical malpractice laws, medical negligence is present when it is determined that the doctor diagnosed or treated a patient in a way that another doctor would never have done. The only way to determine this is for a medical malpractice expert witness to testify.

A medical malpractice expert witness is often a reputable doctor from the same field as the doctor accused of medical malpractice. These witnesses are required to go through all the medical records of a patient to see if there was indeed negligence on the part of the accused doctor. After reviewing the records, the expert witness will then testify in court if there was negligence on the part of the accused doctor or not.