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Lessons Learned as an Expert Witness

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So what I, I really learned from vegan expert witness is

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really critical role, role of clear communication.

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It's, it's very, very important

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because miscommunication will lead is the heart

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of the mal practice.

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Uh, lawsuit claims in radiology and,

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and radiology must ensure their findings are clearly

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and accurately conveyed to the referring physicians

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importance of thorough documentation, uh, self-explanatory,

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that you have to document everything.

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If it's not documented, it did not happen. Okay?

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Uh, they, these things not only support the clinical

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decision making, but they can serve as crucial evidence when

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all the documents are are, are reviewed in a medical,

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uh, uh, lawsuit.

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Uh, understanding the legal perspective.

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That's also, as I said,

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that we do not know much about the legal.

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We are not trained into this.

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So get a handle on the legal perspective that I,

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that I tried to give you, uh, a few examples of, uh,

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in this, in this talk.

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Value objectivity when serving as a witness,

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I think is very, very important.

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As an, as an expert witness, you have

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to maintain impartiality.

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You are being hired by either the plaintiff sides

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or the defense side.

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You get paid for this,

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but still you are, you are, you are serving your

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subject matter,

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and you have to be very objective about

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what you see on the scan.

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Because remember, even though we are doing blinded reviews

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and all the different types of reviews, we know

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that there is something on these scans, uh,

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and we are not completely a hundred percent blinded,

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uh, to, uh, to this.

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And, and it's very easy to be a Monday morning quarterback.

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Uh, and then continuous learning

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and improvement, learn from the cases

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that you are involved in, in the, in the, uh,

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medical legal arena.

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It, it's, it's, it's all these cases have been

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really good individual teachers for me to improve myself,

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uh, when I'm reading, uh, my scans.

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So it has, it has really deepened my appreciation.

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Uh, it has helped me with the communication that I have

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with the physicians and overall made me

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to have a better professional integrity.

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Uh, it, it reminds me the impact our work has on patients'

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outcome and what bigger issues are in play if

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we deviate from that.

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And we have to maintain the highest standard of care, uh,

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when, when we are reading our scans

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and helping out our patients, uh,

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and deviation from that standard of care can be, uh,

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a big factor that can lead us into these medical malpractice

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lawsuits and, and,

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and be mindful that our volumes are increasing,

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our error rates are going high.

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So you have to devise a plan that, how you strike a balance

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between these two.

Report

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Majid Aziz Khan, MD, MBBS

Director, Non-Vascular Spine Intervention

Johns Hopkins University

Mahla Radmard, MD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Kelly P. Yousem, JD

Plaintiff’s Attorney

Tags

Non-Clinical