After your healthcare provider commits negligence mistakes in your treatment, you may have the right to seek financial recovery for your injury or harm through a medical malpractice claim. However, most kinds of medical malpractice cases require harmed patients to present expert witness testimony. Understanding the role that expert witnesses play in medical malpractice cases can help you strengthen your claim against a negligent medical provider.
Why Do You Need Expert Witnesses?
In New York, courts typically require patients who file medical malpractice claims to present expert testimony to prove that a provider committed malpractice. Expert witness testimony can establish the applicable standard of care in the patient’s case and explain how a provider’s actions failed to comply with the standard of care and caused the patient’s harm. Without expert witnesses, a court may dismiss a patient’s case for lack of evidence.
Patients may not need expert witness testimony in medical malpractice cases where a provider’s negligence may seem obvious to a lay juror without understanding technical medical science, such as when a surgeon leaves tools inside a patient’s body.
Qualifications for Expert Witnesses
An expert witness in a medical malpractice case must hold a valid professional license and have experience or specialization in the specific field of medicine for which the patient sought treatment. For example, when a patient alleges negligent cancer treatment, the patient may have to present expert testimony from an oncologist. Similarly, when a patient alleges negligent nursing care, they may have to present expert testimony from a registered nurse.
In most cases, an expert witness in a medical malpractice case must actively practice in the healthcare field or have recent professional experience. Experts must also demonstrate an understanding of the applicable standard of care in New York.
When an expert witness does not have experience in the relevant medical field or does not have active or recent experience, a court may deem the witness unqualified to provide opinion testimony.
What Do Expert Witnesses Do in Malpractice Cases?
In a medical malpractice case, an expert witness’s duties may include:
- Reviewing medical records to understand what occurred during a patient’s treatment and determine how the healthcare providers’ treatment may have fallen below the applicable standard of care
- Preparing written reports explaining the expert’s opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty
- Testifying at depositions and trials to further explain their opinions
- Discussing how the evidence in the case applies to the four elements of a malpractice claim for the jury: duty, breach, causation, and damages
Although plaintiffs may have an affirmative duty to present expert witnesses to prove their cases, defendants in medical malpractice lawsuits frequently present rebuttal expert witnesses to explain the deficiencies in the plaintiff’s expert’s opinion and provide a contrasting opinion.
Strategic Use of Expert Witnesses by Parties
Parties in medical malpractice claims use expert witnesses for different purposes. A plaintiff must use an expert to prove that their healthcare provider committed negligence and caused their alleged harm. A defendant may use an expert to show that their actions met the applicable standard of care or disprove that the defendant’s treatment caused the patient’s harm. Parties also use their experts’ testimony to undermine the credibility of the opposing side’s expert(s). Parties can also challenge an opposing expert’s credibility through cross-examination to highlight deficiencies in the expert’s expertise or logical errors in the expert’s opinion.
Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney
When you suffer adverse complications from medical care, expert witness testimony can help you establish your healthcare provider’s liability for your harm and loss. Contact McCann Legal, PC today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a medical malpractice lawyer to learn more about the importance of expert witness testimony in your medical negligence claim in New York.