Expert witness testimony in urology malpractice litigation. 2014

Peter L Sunaryo, and Peter F Svider, and Imani Jackson-Rosario, and Jean Anderson Eloy
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ. Electronic address: psunaryo@gmail.com.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the credentials of urologists choosing to testify as expert witnesses. As health care reform has become an increasingly important topic in national debate, medical malpractice and related issues have come to the forefront of topics for discussion by the medical community. Physicians are often recruited to testify as expert witnesses in malpractice cases. Defining what constitutes an expert in this setting has been an area of controversy. METHODS The Westlaw legal database was searched for medical malpractice litigation. Data regarding number of years of experience and practice setting were obtained for urologists using private practice and hospital listings, academic faculty profiles, and state medical licensing databases. Scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, was calculated by the Scopus database. RESULTS Plaintiff expert witnesses were found to have slightly more years of experience vs defendant expert witnesses (35.7 vs 32.2 years, P = .01), but had a lower h-index (6.8 vs 10.2, P = .03), were less likely to practice in the academic setting (39% vs 60%, P = .001), and were more likely to testify multiple times. CONCLUSIONS Urologists testifying for plaintiffs and defendants both had over 30 years of experience on average, with those in the latter having slightly less experience. Defendant witnesses, however, had greater scholarly impact and were more likely to practice in an academic setting. Organizations such as the American Urological Association may wish to re-evaluate guidelines on expert witness testimony, particularly regarding those who testify frequently.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008318 Malpractice Failure of a professional person, a physician or lawyer, to render proper services through reprehensible ignorance or negligence or through criminal intent, especially when injury or loss follows. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Professional Negligence,Negligence,Negligence, Professional,Professional Negligences
D010820 Physicians Individuals licensed to practice medicine. Physician
D011361 Professional Competence The capability to perform the duties of one's profession generally, or to perform a particular professional task, with skill of an acceptable quality. Competence, Professional,Generalization of Expertise,Technical Expertise,Expertise Generalization,Expertise, Technical
D005104 Expert Testimony Presentation of pertinent data by one with special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject. Expert Opinion,Expert Witness,Expert Opinions,Expert Testimonies,Expert Witnesses,Opinion, Expert,Testimony, Expert,Witness, Expert,Witnesses, Expert
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D014572 Urology A surgical specialty concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the urinary tract in both sexes, and the genital tract in the male. Common urological problems include urinary obstruction, URINARY INCONTINENCE, infections, and UROGENITAL NEOPLASMS.

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