Birmingham Injury Blog

The Baltimore Injury Lawyer Blog has posted an article about the cross-examination of defense doctors because of financial incentive.

Maryland law allows discovery of how much a professional witness earns from testifying, as well as what percentage of his overall income is earned from working as a paid witness.

It's generally a bad idea to take the doctor's word for the amount he/she is paid by the defense attorneys or insurance company for their testimony. Acquiring a subpoena to obtain the actual records is much more reliable. Usually, before the financial statement is produced, the doctor backs out of testifying.

The doctors and the defense bar think we do this because we know that if the records are ordered to be produced the doctor will refuse to testify. Obviously that makes my job as plaintiff’s counsel easier. The truth of the matter is that we subpoena these records because it is the only way to ensure a good cross-examination.

There aren't many defense doctors testifying in Alabama, but this is still an important strategy to keep in mind.