Expert Witness Blog

In Chest Pain & Medical Malpractice, medical malpractice expert witness Barry Gustin, M.D. writes:

When a patient comes to an Emergency Room complaining of chest pain, the Emergency Physician is faced with complex and difficult decisions. The physician must decide whether a major diagnostic or therapeutic intervention should be used and then must decide whether the patient is to be admitted or sent home. choosing wrong may result in catastrophic consequences for the patient making the evaluation of chest pain on of the most challenging and studied presenting medical problems, from both the clinical and risk management point of view.

For attorneys involved in litigation concerning misdiagnosed chest pain, it is essential that the complexity of its evaluation be understood and appreciated.

Polymers expert witnesses may opine on conductive polymers, monomers, and related topics. Here the American Chemistry Council defines polymers:

A high-molecular-weight organic compound, natural or synthetic, whose structure can be represented by a repeated small unit, the monomer (e.g., polyethylene, rubber, cellulose). Synthetic polymers are formed by addition or condensation polymerization of monomers. If two or more different monomers are involved, a copolymer is obtained. Some polymers are elastomers, some plastics. (Plastics Engineering Handbook of the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., edited by Michael L. Berins, 1991).

In Financing Your Indoor Waterpark Resort in 2010, finance expert witness David J. Sangree, MAI, CPA, ISHC, and Eric B. Hansen, AIA, ISHC write:

Lender Characteristics If a lender is willing to initially consider your project, then there are several attributes that, if present, will help generate a potential positive lending decision.

Familiarity How well does your lender know the market in which your resort is operating?

In Testifying as an expert witness in computer crimes cases, Deb Shinder writes:

When we think about witness testimony, most of us think first of material fact witnesses (lay witnesses). These are persons who have first-hand knowledge of matters relating to a particular case. For example, if you as an IT professional observed child pornography on the computer of one of your users at work, you could testify to this as a material witness.

An expert witness, on the other hand, is not involved in the case at hand, but has special knowledge and expertise pertaining to the subject matter of the case. For example, if you are recognized as an expert in the subject of malicious software, you could testify as to whether and how a malware infection could cause illegal pornographic images to be downloaded to a person’s computer without his or her knowledge. A major difference between material fact witnesses and expert witnesses is that the former are not generally allowed to give opinions or draw conclusions, whereas experts are. Another difference is that expert witnesses are generally paid for their testimony (by the prosecution or defense, depending on the side for which they’re testifying).

In The Second Coming Of Healthcare Insurance, medical insurance expert witness Stephen George, MBA-HA, writes on Scheduled Medical Plans:

Scheduled Medical Plans, sometimes called MiniMed or Limited Medical Plans provide significant savings. The newest types of plans being sold segment coverage by cause of care like: Wellness, Sickness Only and Accident Only coverage. Many plans now limit hospital and diagnostic care by occurrence, confinement, per diems, and cause. Plans can be mixed and matched with Major Medical, Dental and Vision plans. They can also be combined with Discount Only plans that reduce the cost of non-emergency care. Limited Medical plans generally do not cover catastrophic risk, and are priced at 60%-90% off traditional coverage. Most Limited Medical / MiniMed / Scheduled Benefit Plans are designed to cover basic care and not catastrophic loss. Here in lies the problem for the uninformed buyer who has not taken the time to read the policy.

This reprint by permission of The Self-Insurer and The Self-Insurer’s Publishing Corp. as it appeared in the July, 2007 Edition.

In What is an Automobile “Black Box?,” Dr. Alexander Zhukov, M. Eng., Ph.D., and accident reconstruction expert witness writes:

Starting early-to-mid 90s recordable air bag modules (so called “black boxes”) have been installed in select GM vehicles. SDM, Sensing and Diagnostic Module, is the name given to air bag modules used in General Motors vehicles. Since 1998, recordable air bag modules have been installed in select Ford vehicles. RCM, Restraint Control Module, is the name given to air bag modules used in Ford vehicles.

A. Zhukov, Ph.D. & Associates is offering retrieval of data stored in the “black box” using Vetronix Crash Data Retrieval Tool (CDR Tool). The CDR Tool is capable of harvesting information from vehicle’s SDM and RCM. The device records data on a laptop PC which could later be transferred to any other device, if needed. Recorded data depends on vehicle make, model and year. The following data is typical of what is found on a newer GM vehicle:

In Financing Your Indoor Waterpark Resort in 2010, finance expert witness David J. Sangree, MAI, CPA, ISHC, and Eric B. Hansen, AIA, ISHC write:

The big question for 2010 is as follows: After two years of the frozen tundra in lending, are the capital markets beginning to thaw? Amid a plethora of opinions and sentiments, both positive and negative, where does reality come into play? Yes, the capital markets are beginning to thaw. Some financing has become available and transaction volume has increased, but this has been mainly for distressed properties. There has still not been any movement for new construction lending in 2010, just as there was not any significant new lending in 2009. The bottom line is that financing a new construction hotel and indoor waterpark resort remains extremely difficult.

Due to a lack of confidence in a market that has been ravaged by an economic recession, numerous bank foreclosures, and uncertainty regarding future regulations, lenders have pulled way back on financing new construction projects of all types.

In Forensic Psychiatric Nursing — A Legal Affair: An Expert Interview With Angela Frederick Amar, PhD, RN, and Paul Thomas Clements, PhD, APRN-BC, CGS, DF-IAFN Medscape asks: What is forensic nursing?

Drs. Amar and Clements: Forensic nursing is nursing care with a legal component. Often times, this can mean that a crime has been committed and the client is involved with the criminal justice system as a victim, offender, or an involved family or significant other. Common practice situations include sexual assault, intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, death investigation, correctional nursing, forensic psychiatric nursing, legal nurse consultant, and forensic psychiatric liaison nursing.

Medscape: What is the state of the science for this specialty practice?

In The Second Coming Of Healthcare Insurance, managed care expert witness Stephen George, MBA-HA, writes on plan designs:

The good news is that the market is responding with plan designs that are affordable. These plan designs can be organized into two basic types of benefit packages: Scheduled Medical and Major Medical plans. Key elements that separate these plan types are sufficient Hospital, Wellness, Pharmacy, and provider network. The biggest difference is that Scheduled plans cost and cover much less medical care. Most of the latest Major Medical plan changes reduce coverage and increase out of pocket member costs. These plans include HRA, HSA, HDHP, CDHP, HMO, EPO and PPO plans, and shift this cost to employee by increasing deductibles, co payments, co insurance, and eliminating pharmacy, wellness, mental, vision, dental and, or out-of-contracted-plan care. By definition, Major Medical plans usually cover most catastrophic loss. This is not true for most Scheduled Medical Plans.

This reprint by permission of The Self-Insurer and The Self-Insurer’s Publishing Corp. as it appeared in the July, 2007 Edition