The Role of Expert Testimony in Seattle Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice claims can be challenging because they are inherently complex. Building an argument that a doctor or other provider was negligent requires the ability to explain medical factors and expected levels of care to people who aren’t medical experts – like the judge and jury. When it comes to building a successful medical malpractice claim, an experienced attorney will know that so much of the case hinges on having credible experts who can explain the case in a way that is easier to understand.

Proving medical malpractice

The key elements of a medical malpractice claim are the following:

• A healthcare provider/patient relationship exists.
• As a result of this relationship, the healthcare provider (such as a doctor or a hospital) owes the patient a duty of competent medical care.
• The healthcare provider breaches that duty of care – in other words – they fail to perform medical care according to acceptable Seattle or Washington state medical standards. Common examples of breaches of duty include:
  • Failing to conduct a complete oral and/or physical examination
  • Failing to prescribe the proper diagnostic tests in a timely manner
  • Failing to interpret the results of any diagnostic tests correctly
  • Failing to inform the patient of the known risks and dangers of any medications or treatments
  • Many other types of failure, depending on the specific type of medical practice
• The breach of care causes harm to the patient. The harm cannot be due to other causes, such as pre-existing conditions.

The standard of care and what constitutes a breach of the standard varies depending on the type of practice. It may vary depending on the certification, education, and practice requirements of each type of medical practice – as defined by state and local medical boards. For example, the standard of care for specialists differs from the standard for family doctors. Within each specialty, such as cardiology or neurology, there are many different requirements and standards.

Why is medical expert testimony essential to a victim’s claim?

In most medical malpractice cases, the people who can file reports and testify about medical malpractice are medical experts. The injured patient (or the family of a patient who died due to medical malpractice) and the doctors and other medical care defendants will each have experts explain what care is necessary for patients with specific medical problems.

The medical experts for the plaintiff will explain what care wasn’t provided (or was provided in violation of acceptable medical standards) and how the negligent medical care caused a patient harm. Medical experts will also testify as to the patient’s current health injuries, the possible treatments for those injuries, and all the ways the patient’s current injuries are affecting every aspect of their life.

The medical experts for the defendants (including the defendants themselves) will usually argue that they provided the correct medical care or that the patient’s current health disorders are due to other causes or were not reasonably preventable.

Who qualifies as a medical expert in Washington state?

There are different types of medical experts for each type of medical practice. Only medical experts in the same field or practice as the doctor or healthcare provider as the professional who caused you (or a loved one) harm can give medical opinions about the quality of care you received.

Generally, the medical experts who present evidence (reports, depositions, and in-court testimony) on your behalf are doctors our seasoned medical malpractice lawyers work with on a regular basis. These experts may include the following:

• Family doctors. These are doctors who diagnose and treat a range of medical problems that don’t require specialization. One possible type of medical malpractice by family doctors is failing to refer you to a specialist when they, as your family doctor, cannot competently help you.
• Medical s Our medical malpractice lawyers work with specialists in numerous fields, such as obstetrics, surgery, geriatrics, neurology, orthopedics, and cardiology, to show that your specialist failed to comply with appropriate medical standards.
• Nurses can also be held accountable for medical malpractice. Medical experts can explain the different types of nurses, such as LPNs (licensed practical nurses) and RNs (registered nurses.
• Pharmacology experts can testify about prescriptions, drug interactions, dosages, and side effects.
• Forensic experts. These medical experts can testify about how a patient dies or the cause of their death.
• Hospital administrators. These experts can testify about proper staffing levels and the policies and procedures hospitals in the Seattle region should have in place for the types of healthcare disorders they handle.
• Nursing homes. Gerontologists can testify about the unique medical issues facing seniors.

Our medical malpractice lawyers may also work with research specialists and medical device experts who understand how the latest medical research affects the liability and damage parts of your claim.

We also work with experts in related areas, such as life planners who can testify about the long-term medical and social care needs of patients who have catastrophic injuries, wrongful death experts who can testify about the value of a wrongful death claim, medical product safety experts, and financial experts who can testify about a patient’s income losses.

How to choose a medical expert

We don’t just choose “any” medical expert to help you. At Smith McBroom, we examine each expert’s qualifications. These qualifications include:

• Professional qualifications. We review each expert’s educational background, licenses, residencies, hospital affiliations, medical board memberships, and experience.
• Practical qualifications. Our lawyers work with medical experts who can explain complex medical terms in language juries can understand. We work with experts who have a history of both practicing in their field and working for personal injury lawyers. Our team prefers to work with medical experts who can prepare reports, testify at depositions, and testify before juries.

We work with medical experts who sound credible but who also can be persuasive. Medical experts should be able to anticipate the cross-examination questions defense lawyers are likely to ask – and understand how to challenge arguments by the defendant’s insurance companies and defense lawyers.

Medical experts should be adept at reviewing medical records, understanding where cases are won or lost, and understanding the need for consistent, clear arguments.

At Smith McBroom, we can handle any type of serious medical malpractice case. We have a network of medical experts with whom we already work, and we understand how to arrange consultations with experts in new fields of medical practice. Contact us today to schedule your free evaluation. Our Seattle medical malpractice lawyers are ready to fight for you now.