The Ethical Medical Expert Witness Test

1) Serving as an expert witness in a court of law necessitates:

a) The consideration of a number of ethical obligations that are rarely delineated by those who seek or provide such testimony.
b) A license to practice medicine in the state where the incident occurred.
c) A certification by your specialty board that you are trained as an expert witness.
d) A fundamental disconnect between your superego and id.

2) Because expert witness testimony can directly affect the standard of care that will be applied to future medical malpractice cases:

a) Providing such testimony can be considered to be within the realm of the practice of medicine and may be subject to the same scruitny and regulation.
b) It is important to be board certified and outstanding in your field of expertise that you are rendering an expert opine on.
c) It is important to always error on the side of the defense.
d) It is better not to get bogged down with the conundrum of details that are part and parcel of a medical malpractice case unless the remuneration warrents it.

3) Because lay juries are generally not knowledgeable about medicine or other highly technical fields:

a) Courts in most states depend on expert witnesses to help them to understand and depend complex cases.
b) It's best to hire a professional jury in matters as serious as medical malpractice.
c) It's best to allow the judge to adjudicate the case without a jury.
d) Obtaining a jury made solely of physicians would aid in our current medical malpractice crisis.

4) Expert medical witnesses should meet all of the following criteria except:

a) It is ethical for an expert witness to accept compensation that is contingent on the outcome of litigation.
b) Misconduct as an expert, including the provision of false, fraudulent or misleading testimony, may expose the physician to disciplinary action.
c) Expert witnessess should be chosen on the basis of their experience in the area in which they are providing testimony and not solely on the basis of offices or positions held in medical specialty societies, unless such positions are material to the witness' expertise.
d) After this process is completed, the expert's opinion should reflect the state of medical knowledge at the time of the incident.

5) When the state law does not otherwise specify, the qualification of a witness as an expert is determined by:

a) The judge on a case-by-case basis.
b) The number of journal articles the physician has published on the topic.
c) The size of the expert's usual and customary routine charges.
d) Joint agreement between the plaintiff and the defense counsels.

6) Questions posed to the expert must, for the most part, come from attorneys representing the party rather than directly from the judge, unlike in one country where the judge can appoint their own experts and question them directly. Name that country:

a) France.
b) Germany.
c) North Korea.
d) Iran.

7) Occasionally a judge may disqualify an expert, but this seldom occurs because:

a) Of the potential of provoking a mistrial or appeal.
b) The system is not set up to accommodate this easily.
c) Judges usually come from plaintiff's firms.
d) It interferes with ADLs.

8) As a general rule, an expert witness should be:

a) A member of the same profession and specialty as the defendant, unless the defendant was clearly practicing outside the confines of his specialty.
b) Licensed to testify and provide legal medical opinion.
c) Sympathetic to the needs and goals of the side that is paying him.
d) Outstanding in his field and knowledgeable of pharmacology.

9) The standard of care, which is frequently not well understood by many expert witnesses, if frequently defined as:

a) The degree of care that would be rendered by a reasonably competent physician practicing under the same or similiar circumstances.
b) That which the plaintiffs' expert decrees and says.
c) The minimum care necessary for the patient to have the best clinical outcome, with the least possible cost, while abiding by the rules and regulations set forth by the patient's HMO in a timely fashion.
d) Anything the patient either did or did not do that in retrospect might have changed the outcome of the case for the better.

10) It is ethical and appropriate for physicians to serve as an expert witness. The hallmark of the ethical expert witness must be to:

a) Always provide unswerving dedication to the integrity of the process and, ultimately, to tell the truth!
b) Review cases that you think will provide proper remuneration for the time and trouble that you are investing.
c) Uncover data in medical literature to support your side no matter how plausible the facts might be.
d) Represent your side in the proper light in order to get the verdict your way.