The Medical Expert Witness Process:
How Lawyers and Physicians Work Together
T
he collaborative relationship between lawyers and physicians allows both these professionals to work together on personal injury cases to help clients and patients. Physicians and other medical professionals step in as medical expert witnesses for attorneys and are valuable resources in their legal cases.
The Lawyer’s Role Many personal injury cases use expert witnesses to explain complex scientific and medical concepts to the jury. These expert witnesses have a wealth of knowledge on these subject matters due to their years of education and experience. Those who want to be a medical expert witness must meet the requirements laid out in Florida Statute 766.202(6) in order to legally qualify. According to the statute, medical expert witnesses need to practice regularly in their field, have a professional degree from a college or university and meet the
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numerous requirements in Florida Statute 766.102(5). “An expert witness is an individual engaged in the practice of a profession who holds a professional degree from a university or college and has special training and experience, or one who possesses special knowledge or skill about the subject on which he or she is called to testify,” stated Ervin A. Gonzalez, a board-certified civil trial lawyer in Florida, in an article he prepared on expert witnesses. He pointed out that experts have been called to testify on issues involving accounting, business, agriculture, medicine science, mechanics, economics, pesticides, DNA and more. Yet, when a lawyer selects an expert medical witness there are steps involved to pick the correct type of medical professional to assist in building their client’s case. “The state of Florida has used two different standards for expert witness testimony. The Frye standard allows medical expert witnesses to give their opinions if the
method they use to reach their conclusions are broadly accepted in the scientific community. This standard keeps judges from overstepping their boundaries in determining who can testify. Experts testify based on their education, training, knowledge and skill. However, the stricter Daubert standard requires a trial court to determine whether certain evidence is relevant or reliable before a jury hears it,” stated Thomas S. Edwards, Jr. senior partner at Edwards & Ragatz, P.A. in Jacksonville and Jennie R. Edwards in an article from the Florida Bar Journal. According to The Florida Bar Journal, in 2019 the Florida Supreme Court made it evident that Daubert should be the standard for allowing expert witness testimony in the state of Florida, but this wasn’t always the case. In 2013, the Florida Legislature revised the statutes to use the Daubert standard. Then in 2017, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Daubert and upheld Frye as the standard
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