Dr. Wilson was recently cited as a source in an edition of ED Legal Letter™. In the article, he provided insightful information about medical-legal cases and expert witnesses. The article, entitled “Drug Misadventures: Medical-Legal Cases and Caveats for the Emergency Physician,” explained how experts can be used effectively in medical malpractice cases and how to avoid common mistakes when using an expert opinion. Click here to read to the whole article. According to Dr. Wilson, juries are less likely to favor an expert whose opinion seems outside of the realm of possibility.
“In some ways, that can be helpful, because you can martial medical literature to show it’s not valid,” he said, “If the jury thinks that the expert is giving an opinion that is way outside the mainstream, they will probably penalize that side at trial.” According to ED Legal Letter™, expert opinions should always be based on the national standard for best practices – not personal preferences. If an expert opinion is based on personal experience, it is significantly more vulnerable to criticism from the other side of the courtroom. Additionally, a jury is far less likely to take the opinion seriously.
In other cases, differing expert opinions can contradict each other. Sometimes, experts approach information differently. If two experts look at the same evidence from different angles, they could easily draw differing opinions from that information. To make sure that an expert opinion will be perceived as valid by the court, Dr. Wilson gives the expert “everything – all of the depositions, all of the medical records. With a holistic view of the case, the expert won’t have to worry about facing new information in the courtroom.” To learn more about medical malpractice cases in Washington DC, contact our Washington DC medical malpractice lawyer today.
Dr. Michael M. Wilson is an attorney and a physician who earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his legal and medical degrees from Georgetown University. He has focused in the area of medical malpractice for more than three decades and secured more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts on behalf of clients throughout the country. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and New York as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is listed in America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators.
