The services of an orthopedic expert witness in California acts as an intermediary or a mediator between a plaintiff and the attorneys as they help in understanding the treatments and procedures used in orthopedic surgeries. Experienced and professional orthopedic witnesses will have a strong acquaintance with the subject matter for which they’re providing case reviews and testimony. In other words, if there has been a knee arthroscopy malpractice, an expert witness having specialization on this subject matter should be called by the attorney. Orthopedic witnesses are experienced surgeons having extensive medical and clinical knowledge. It is due to this experience that they’re able to comprehend the risk factors and the complications of orthopedic surgeries. In this context, let’s take a look at how these witnesses play a major role in malpractice lawsuits.
Role of orthopedic witnesses in Medical malpractice
The litigation is a must in orthopedic malpractices and hence, it’s important for the parties involved in a lawsuit to understand how a treatment or a procedure has affected a person and why you deserve a compensation for the same. Having a professional surgeon expert is critical to an orthopedic malpractice case. Their case reports, initial case reviews, and testimony during trials and proceedings play a huge role in deciding the fate of the case. The role played by an orthopedic expert witness can be summarized as follows:
- Provides purposeful support to the court by providing impartial and unbiased case reviews that are within their scope of medical experience.
- The court may want assistance on technician matters. Medical expert witnesses provide testimony regarding technical matters. However, this assistance should be purely based on professional practices.
- Cooperates with the defendant’s expert witness to sort out the disputes in the initial stages of the court case. This assists in eradicating the peripheral issues in the lawsuit and focuses on highlighting the key points of the case.
- Assists by clearly highlighting the postulations and the details upon which their witness opinion is based.
- Provide unprejudiced and un-influential evidence to the court.
- Performs independent medical examination for an objective review of your health condition.
- Points out clearly that a particular matter or question in the lawsuit falls outside their medical experience.
- Can re-evaluate their opinions if they find new facts or if they consider the opinion of another expert.
While playing an important role in malpractice lawsuits, the surgeons must adhere to the professional standards of California. They should have a good clinical practice and even if they’ve retired from clinical settings, they need to retain their license and certification to provide assist in malpractice lawsuits. These expert witnesses are vital as they determine the fate of your case.
