{"id":1637,"date":"2023-03-28T09:30:11","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T13:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/28\/who-serves-as-an-expert-witness-in-medical-malpractice-cases\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T13:06:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:06:43","slug":"who-serves-as-an-expert-witness-in-medical-malpractice-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/blog\/who-serves-as-an-expert-witness-in-medical-malpractice-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Serves as an Expert Witness in Medical Malpractice Cases?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Medical malpractice is when a doctor or medical professional\u2019s incorrect or negligent behavior leads to a patient\u2019s injury or death. These cases are often complicated, since most laypeople don\u2019t have an in-depth understanding of factors involved (medical terminology, what should or shouldn\u2019t be done in some cases and so on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s where expert witnesses come in. If you or a family member have been injured and the fault lies with a medical professional, finding a knowledgeable and dependable individual who can explain the circumstances in simple terms is critical; doing so will help you build the strongest possible case for compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Requirements for Expert Witnesses<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each state is a little different with regard to its requirements for expert witnesses, but there are some basic rules that they have to follow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><em>The expert needs to have experience in the field about which they are testifying.<\/em> In other words, they should be licensed to practice the kind of medicine they are being asked about.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The expert should have recent experience practicing in that field.<\/em> A retired doctor who hasn\u2019t worked in over 20 years is less appealing as an expert witness than someone who is currently doing the work; even if the retired doctor has a wealth of knowledge about the subject, a defense attorney in a litigation case could argue that the doctor isn\u2019t up to date on the latest techniques and thus isn\u2019t qualified to give an opinion.<br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>The expert\u2019s testimony should be backed by facts.<\/em> This might seem obvious, but it\u2019s an important point. Just because someone is an expert and has practiced the type of medicine that\u2019s relevant to the case, doesn\u2019t mean that everything they say should be accepted as fact. The testimony they provide needs to be supported by facts that are generally accepted by the medical community (in other words, no \u201cquack\u201d theories).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Does Your Medical Malpractice Case Need an Expert Witness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Usually, yes. The only way you might be able to forego asking a witness to provide expert testimony is if you believe your case is so ironclad that a witness isn\u2019t necessary. Bear in mind, though, that the attorneys representing the defendant will do everything in their power to plant the seeds of doubt in the judge and jury\u2019s minds. And Maryland is a contributory negligence state, so if you\u2019re judged to have even 1% liability in a case, you aren\u2019t eligible to receive compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bottom line: it\u2019s better to err on the side of caution and enlist the help of an expert who can strengthen your case. A qualified personal injury attorney can help you find the right witness.<br><br>If you\u2019ve been injured by a medical professional and you believe you\u2019re entitled to compensation, <a href=\"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">contact the Law Offices of Nicholas Parr in Baltimore, MD today<\/a> to schedule your free consultation. We don\u2019t receive a fee unless we win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Medical malpractice is when a doctor or medical professional\u2019s incorrect or negligent behavior leads to a patient\u2019s injury or death. These cases are often complicated, since most laypeople don\u2019t have an in-depth understanding of factors involved (medical terminology, what should or shouldn\u2019t be done in some cases and so on). That\u2019s where expert witnesses come&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Who Serves as an Expert Witness in Medical Malpractice Cases? | Nick Parr","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn more about medical malpractice cases and the witnesses who testify in them in this article from the Law Offices of Nicholas Parr, based in Baltimore, Maryland.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,68,64],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":94,"label":"Criminal Defense"},{"value":68,"label":"Medical Malpractice"},{"value":64,"label":"Services"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/medical-law-concept-2022-11-02-07-17-37-utc-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Nick Parr","author_link":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/blog\/author\/nick-parr\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":94,"name":"Criminal Defense","slug":"criminal-defense","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":94,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":94,"category_count":10,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Criminal Defense","category_nicename":"criminal-defense","category_parent":0},{"term_id":68,"name":"Medical Malpractice","slug":"medical-malpractice","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":68,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":68,"category_count":4,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Medical Malpractice","category_nicename":"medical-malpractice","category_parent":0},{"term_id":64,"name":"Services","slug":"services","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":64,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":64,"category_count":15,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Services","category_nicename":"services","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3728,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637\/revisions\/3728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naparrlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}