Below are several important things to consider when selecting a medical expert for your case.

Active practice and surgery: Rendering opinions on medical treatment and conditions requires a current reference point.   An expert that is actively practicing and/or actively performing surgery in their specialty can demonstrate that they continue to use clinical medical judgement in the active care of patients.

An active expert’s income from medico-legal work should be a relatively small percentage of their overall income when compared to income derived from their practice.  In support of this concept, we take care to avoid referring an excess of work to any expert.

Schooling: A physician who has attended a highly accredited school is important for credibility. Experts that have graduated from such programs command a great deal of respect by virtue of their completion of these institution’s competitive schooling and training programs.

Experience: An expert with many years of practice experience carries weight in court and in the minds of jurors.  Opposing counsel may be able to discredit younger experts with less practical experience in their field.

Academic Standing: A medical expert with extensive academic experience related to the injury and treatment being evaluated is much preferred. For example, if an injury is musculoskeletal, many board-certified orthopedic surgeons may be able to adequately do the evaluation.  However, an orthopedic surgeon with a command of the relevant literature related to the injury will have more credibility as an expert witness.