5.4 Finding Experts

• Library: Medical Malpractice Law in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2017 Ed.)

5.4 FINDING EXPERTS

5.401 In General. Finding an expert witness should begin with research to ensure that the most qualified expert available is retained on behalf of the client. Since plaintiff's counsel is usually investigating the merits of a case before defense counsel even knows there will be a case, the plaintiff has the advantage of trying to beat defense counsel to the preeminent experts on a given disease or medical procedure. Research is necessary to find out who those experts are.

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5.402 Academicians. Academic physicians who teach at medical schools are often more willing to serve as an expert for the plaintiff than are community doctors. They are usually well-credentialed, have taught doctors in training what the standard of care requires, have the teaching skills necessary to educate the jury, and are interested in learning what medical mistakes are being made to use as instruction material for students. Often they will have written authoritative literature on the subject matter of the law suit. Since academicians are likely to have previously testified for both plaintiffs and defendants, they may appear less biased than other expert witnesses. However, they can be susceptible to an "ivory tower" attack and accused of not knowing what goes on "in the trenches."

One way for counsel to locate an academic expert is to first identify a well-respected medical center in a nearby geographic area (for example, any of the Virginia medical schools, Johns Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, Wake Forest, University of North Carolina). Most of these centers have websites that list faculty physicians by specialty, special clinical and research interests, and academic title. With this information, counsel can determine whether the potential expert has a special interest in the medical issue involved in the case. Experts are more willing to participate in cases that involve their special area of...