A good lawyer will hire the appropriate medical malpractice expert to testify at trial and he will arrange to make all the documentary evidence he had or can access available to that expert as necessary to facilitate his testimony at trial.
Expert in Medical Malpractice Action: Standard of Care
The basic purpose of expert witness testimony in a medical malpractice case is to detail and describe the relevant standard of care to be applied in each specific medical practice instance, to identify any breaches in those standards, and to render an opinion as to whether those breaches or acts of professional negligence caused the injury at issue in the case. The expert witness will review all the case related medical records and other reports or documents and then compare the applicable standards of care with the facts of the case to then, based on the facts, form his opinion as to whether or not the evidence indicates a deviation from the standard of care which, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, was the cause of the patient’s injury. The expert may also be asked to describe acceptable treatment methods that fall within the standard of care and give his interpretation of the case related facts to assist the court in distinguishing an instance of medical malpractice, involving professional negligence, or “bad medical care,” from a simple non-negligence associated “bad outcome.”
Expert Testimony Concerning Actual Damages
An expert may also need to testify about the current clinical state of a patient to assist the process of determining damage amounts. An expert can testify as to the cost of future medical care due to the injury, financial losses such as lost wages and lost future wage and the cost of rehabilitation and other future and family related concerns as appropriate and indicated.
Getting Legal Help
There are many, many professional expert directories available out there. However, if you or a member of you family has suffered an injury due to negligent treatment and care it is best to contact a medical malpractice attorney to properly evaluate the circumstances of the injury before trying to access an expert witness that might be able to testify at a trial concerning the injury.
