How Do You Find The Right Medical Expert?
It is not easy. Do you go to your family doctor? He probably is not qualified in the right specialty. If the defendant doctor is located nearby, or is on the staff of the same hospital as your family doctor, he cannot afford to get involved for political reasons.
How about looking up a specialist in the phone book, or on-line, or writing to a medical or dental professor and asking for help? Aren’t doctors supposed to help clean up the their profession? Most doctors are clannish and will not get involved in a medical or dental malpractice lawsuit – no matter what. They see every lawsuit as an attack on their profession and on themselves personally. Most of them will not even talk to you, or answer your letters, much less help you by appearing in court as your expert witness.
What about just serving a summons on a specialist to force him to testify? Would he obey a court order? Yes. He probably would, but then he would shoot your case down in flames. Remember, there are two sides to every case. The practice of medicine is an art, not a science, and bad results can be viewed as unavoidable mishaps or malpractice. If you force a doctor to testify, you can be sure he will agree with the defendant’s position that your injuries were normal complications of your condition and not due to any malpractice.
In our next series of posts, we will discuss some pitfalls and hazards to avoid when trying to find qualified medical expert witnesses or dental expert witnesses.
JD.MD, Inc., has served the legal communities in the U.S. and Canada since 1978. Contact us at 800-225-JDMD (5363) to have your malpractice cases reviewed by our medical experts and dental experts.