Learn more about our expert witness service and its key benefits
In this blog post highlight MedCounsel's expert witness service, we will discuss the problem this service was designed to address; provide details about the process and deliverables; and list 3 of the key benefits for lawyers.
The Problem
As further detailed in our post on "Barriers to Justice for Injured Patients", many legitimate medical malpractice claims are either not litigated or unsuccessfully litigated in Canada due to a power imbalance between physicians and patients throughout the litigation process.
We contend that 3 main barriers to justice for patients are: (1) a lack of transparency and awareness about medical error; (2) the complexity, cost, and risk associated with malpractice litigation; and (3) difficulty finding counsel due to lawyer scarcity and case selectivity.
One of the practical issues relating to the lack of transparency and awareness about medical error is the difficultly plaintiffs experience finding qualified expert witnesses willing to impugn the care of their peers. MedCounsel's expert witness service is designed to make medical expertise more accessible and mitigate the impact of this barrier.
MedCounsel's Solution
MedCounsel has an extensive network of pre-vetted expert witnesses available for lawyers to efficiently identify and retain authoritative expert witnesses in any specialty or sub-specialty.
Our dedicated expert placement specialists leverage litigation data and extensive market research to match clients with the best available trial experts for their medical malpractice cases at highly-competitive rates.
i. What does MedCounsel’s expert witness service entail?
MedCounsel can adapt our expert search process to the individual needs of our clients and the unique circumstances of every case. A standard expert witness search may include:
(a) confirmation of case-specific expert requirements;
(b) a comprehensive expert witness search;
(c) provision of an expert recommendation shortlist;
(d) a detailed candidate profile for each recommended expert;
(e) facilitation of a free initial consultation with any recommended expert;
(f) provision of best practices and model documents; and
(g) administrative support throughout any resulting expert engagement.
Depending on the preference of counsel, MedCounsel can review the medical records prior to expert outreach and gather actionable insight from multiple potential experts.
There is no obligation to retain one of our network experts should you allow us to provide expert recommendations for your matter. Our Expert Recommendation Report details the specific rates for all recommended experts, and you can decide whether the rate is agreeable.
ii. Why should law firms use MedCounsel's expert witness service?
MedCounsel’s expert witness service helps firms build winning medical malpractice cases; save time and money; and avoid common expert pitfalls.
1. Develop Winning Cases
Medical negligence claims are typically more difficul to resolve successfully than other negligence actions because the plaintiff will almost always be required to produce supportive expert opinion before resolution.
Our comprehensive expert search process enables law firms to identify expert witnesses willing to impugn the care of others within the tight-knit medical community.
2. Save Time and Money
Our research indicates lawyers are spending too much time and money finding supportive expert witnesses, which is a task well-suited for outsourcing to dedicated researchers specializing in expert witness procurement.
MedCounsel's expert witness service also enables law firms to identify and consider non-supportive expert opinions before any non-supportive expert report is drafted.
By allocating time toward the most valuable legal tasks for resolving outstanding claims, lawyers can maximize return on time spent to increase total effective compensation.
3. Avoid Common Litigation Pitfalls
There are many important factors beyond the experts specialty to consider when selecting the optimal expect for a case.
Retaining an expert from the wrong specialty or the wrong expert within a specialty is one of the most common mistakes found in unsuccessful actions. It often results from use of experts within a lawyer’s limited network.
The expert witnesses recommended by MedCounsel are fully-vetted and skillfully matched based on the specific needs of each client and matter enabling firms to proceed with confidence.
iii. How to Initiate MedCounsel's Expert Witness Service?
For the convenience of our clients, we have developed an expert witness requisition form which they can complete online to recieve our expert recommendation report.
The expert request form ensures we have all the information we need to identify the best available experts, obtain their intial thoughts on the matter, and have them clear conflicts.
Our expert witness requisition form can be found here: Expert Witness Request Form.
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