Expert Witnesses in Your Ohio Medical Malpractice Case May 11, 2012.

If you’ve been injured by a physician error and are pursuing an Ohio medical malpractice case, you will be learning about the various aspects of filing a claim and become familiar with the important players who will help prove your case. You can count on your lawyer to hire expert witnesses.

Expert witnesses are medical professionals who contribute their educated opinion on the circumstances of your illness or injury. They can help clarify the nature and extent of your injuries, and explain how – had the doctor acted differently – you would likely not have suffered physical damage.

In order to prove a medical malpractice case, there needs to be evidence that the physician (nurse or hospital) departed from the standard of good medical practice when they were treating you. There also needs to be evidence that their departure from this standard of care caused you harm. In order to do this, the expert witnesses will look at the scenario that allegedly caused your injury. They can draw from their own medical knowledge and experience and explain how most competent healthcare providers should have proceeded in a similar situation.

The standard of care is based on how the average doctor would act in a particular medical situation, although specialists are usually held to a higher standard. It’s not up to the expert witness to make your doctor look like a bad person; it’s simply to explain that he or she did not provide you with the acceptable standard of care.

Expert witnesses are expected to provide credentials to show that they are qualified to evaluate your medical malpractice case, and can meet with your attorneys to undergo interviews and present medical reports that meet legal standards.