What Expert Witnesses Are – The Legal Definition

What is an expert witness legal definition? According to Federal Rules of Evidence, an expert witness is a qualified person with knowledge, experience, training, education, and skills to testify before the court in the form of an opinion.

An expert witness with scientific, technical, and specialized knowledge helps the judge or jury understand the evidence and determine a fact in issue. Expert witness testimony is admissible when the court approves that the expert testimony is reliable and based on scientific principles.

Many people ask: what is an expert witness legal definition? We have already given you the definition, and it is crucial to go through the Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 702 to know the details. Read on!

What Is A Medical Expert Witness?

What is an expert witness legal definition, particularly in the medical field? According to Legal Medical Consulting, a medical expert witness has expertise and experience in examining the material facts of medical malpractice, negligence, and personal injury cases. An expert witness prepares written statements, reports and creates models to ensure the judge or jury understands the case facts.  

Our medico-legal experts can break down the case technicalities, medical complexities, and scientific terminology, allowing the judge and jury to understand medical terms without training. The purpose is to let them know about the crucial aspects of the case. Our expert witness also provides hard facts in a medical case.

Bear in mind that our medical expert witness offers an independent, impartial, and objective opinion to parties involved in a medical-legal claim. Our experts help the court rather than the parties who hire us. Any comment, statement, or report given by our expert witness is credible, objective, unbiased, and defensible.

What is an Example Of An Expert Testimony?

A medical expert opinion is based on personal experiences in the medical field. For instance, a medical expert witness breaks down the technical and scientific language or terminology to the judge or jury who doesn’t understand the critical issues of a medical negligence case.

Therefore, a medical expert witness prepares a testimony using unscientific or untechnical language to ensure the judge or jury understands the facts of a medical case. However, the testimony includes factual, relevant, and evidence-based information. The testimony helps the court or jury conclude the matter.

For example, surgical errors are common medical negligence claims that occur due to missed communication. Most people who file lawsuits against surgeons have problems like medical instruments or tools inside the body that cause infections. Likewise, other issues include puncturing internal organs or muscles, not operating on the right side of the body, or amputating the wrong muscle or limb.

Besides, transplant surgeries are complicated procedures that require thorough research, planning, preparation, timing, and execution. Studies show that transplant surgeries are rarely successful and about 40% of heart and 25% of kidney recipients experience organ rejection soon after the procedure, leading to malpractice lawsuits against surgeons.

Medical Malpractice – Case Example

In this section, we will give you a case example that will help you understand a medical malpractice case and expert testimony related to it. A patient, Barbara John, underwent an intrauterine pressure catheter (IUPC) surgery, but after a few months, she experienced a stabbing pain in her pelvic region.

Barbara consulted a doctor who performed an x-ray and ultrasound to know the underlying cause of the pain. The diagnostic procedures revealed that the nurse failed to remove an 11.3 cm portion of the IUPC. That’s why Barbara felt severe pain in her pelvic region. The case required the expertise of a legal nurse to opine on the nurses’ standard of care in surgical procedures.

A legal nurse consultant, also called a forensic nurse, engages in clinical and scientific knowledge related to a medical-legal case. The nurse interviewed Barbara and reviewed her medical records to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of her case.

In this case, the nurse offered critical expert witness testimony before the court about the traumatic injury or pain caused by a negligent nurse who failed to provide adequate care to the patient. The court awarded Barbara nearly $2 million in damages.

Contact Legal Medical Consulting

Legal Medical Consulting is a professional firm with qualified, licensed, trained, and skilled medical expert witnesses with many years of experience. We provide unbiased, impartial, honest, and evidence-based testimonies, allowing the judge or jury to make a fair decision and compensate the plaintiff. What is an expert witness legal definition? Contact us today for more details or call us to schedule an appointment to discuss your medical-legal case.