There are many aspects of medical malpractice. Namely, the medical professional may fail to provide his/her patient adequate medical treatment, may fail to tend to an injury or to provide proper test results or make some other mistakes, all of which affect the patient negatively. In such occurrences, the patient has every right to sue the medical practitioner or the whole medical institution, seeking refund for the harm that has been caused. Then, it is best to have a medical expert witness to back up your accusations in court. In fact, both medical practitioners and patients tend to use medical expert witnesses for their defense often.
Who Can a Medical Expert Witness Be?
Basically, any person experienced in the area encompassing the injury or act of malpractice in question can be a medical expert witness. Thus, heart surgeons, pediatricians, dentists, psychiatrists and many other people for different medical branches can fit the profile. These people can read and interpret the medical data which was created for the dissatisfied patient and explain the act of malpractice in details, providing valuable proof for negligence or other failures to provide successful medical treatment.
Benefits of Having a Medical Expert Witness
First of all, in court, the judge and the jury may find it hard to understand all the medical terms regarding your injury. Thus, a medical expert witness can help them see where mistakes have been made. Moreover, these people are unbiased and act solely as medical experts. Therefore, they will not affect the judgment in favor of the patient, unless there are reasons for this. So, they are solely experts in their field of medicine and do their job honestly and justly, providing precise data regarding the matter of malpractice.
Secondly, a medical expert witness can describe the exact damage caused by the injury and help the people in the courtroom understand the whole matter completely, regardless if he/she is defending the patient or the doctor. This witness is respected and praised by his/her peers, being credible enough to take the stand and prove malpractice or prove it wrong.
Finally, a medical expert witness is more than capable of using and understanding medical equipment and medical readings. Any diagnostic tools like X-ray devices and others are easily interpreted by the expert witness. Thereby, these people play a vital role in the outcome of a certain case of this type.
All in all, having a medical expert witness by your side in the court can make all the difference when it comes to you winning the dispute and receiving justice for the damage done to you.
- www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/pdfs/rr6501e1er.pdf
- www.who.int/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/Executive-Summary_EML-2015_7-May-15.pdf
- Photo courtesy of Khmer Rouge Tribunal (ECCC) by Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/39971069@N02/3793822775/
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