How Much Do Medical Expert Witnesses Charge?

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If you are part of a lawsuit that in any way involves medical malpractice, you will certainly require an expert medical witness to testify before a court or deposition in support of your case. Unfortunately, these expert witnesses don’t come cheap, and may represent the most money that you will spend in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

What is a medical expert witness and what do they offer a legal case?

Medical malpractice cases are often very complex, and they require detailed legal and technical arguments to demonstrate that the medical professional you are suing did in fact harm you through malpractice. Malpractice can involve negligence or mistakes during an operation or in the course of treatment. According to the National Institute of Health, medical negligence is the most common form of malpractice in the US.

In order to demonstrate medical malpractice, your attorney needs to prove the medical professional in question’s relationship to you, the plaintiff, specifically demonstrating the duty of care they were responsible for. Next, your lawyer must prove that the doctor violated their duty in some way, through a mistake or any sort of error. Lastly, your attorney has to show damages to the court and demonstrate that the malpractice caused those damages.

While your attorney will be crafting the actual legal argument behind why the doctor or other medical professionalism is at fault and caused damages, a medical expert witness will be required to testify through their expertise as to what the malpractice consisted of, why it caused damages, and exactly how serious those medical damages are. In order to remain an unbiased and credible source, these experts generally have to be specialists who don’t know you and can offer an outside perspective.

These medical experts are often doctors themselves, and usually, specialists at that, meaning they have a particular focus and expertise that makes their knowledge highly relevant and highly useful to your particular case.

Medical experts might be needed as witnesses in cases involving:

• A botched surgery
• Complications from a misdiagnosis
• Prescribing the wrong medicine
• Birth injury
• Delayed diagnosis

Medical experts are expensive, but they might be necessary for your success in court

Because medical experts are usually specialist doctors, they need to take time off of otherwise very high paying work with patients or clinical research in order to look into the specifics of your case, prepare their statements, and testify in court or by deposition. Given their losses from work, plus the financial incentives to be expert witnesses in the first place, these experts cost a pretty penny.

Generally speaking, a medical expert witness will charge $500 per hour for every hour they spend testifying. This could be testimony given in a court of law before a judge and jury. It could also be testimony provided in a deposition, which is a question and answer session recorded on camera and before attorneys in which the witness must swear to tell the truth, as they would do in court.

Some expert witnesses will charge per day, which can actually be less expensive than per hour, but it will always be more expensive if traveling from out of state.

The time frame is longer than you think

It is standard procedure in the US for expert witnesses to be given at least six months to prepare their testimony for a case. This includes an initial review of your situation in order for them to determine the merits of the case on their own, followed by extensive reviewing of related medical material, associated studies, and similar cases. Finally, they will work with your attorney to prepare their testimony.

Where can I find a medical expert who can help my case?

There are a huge number of doctors all over the country who are willing to serve as medical expert witnesses, but the tricky part is finding one who has expert knowledge on your particular injury or the type of operation or care you received that led to damages. Attorneys with long track records of medical malpractice cases are generally the best resources for locating a good witness. A car accident lawyer can also recommend a suitable medical expert.

Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, which means they receive their fee after the case has successfully concluded. Typically, the medical expert witness’s fee will be covered by your lawyer, who will then be reimbursed for the expense out of your settlement or court award.