Expert Witness (Medical)

[alexb123]

Has anyone here ever had a problem with an Expert Witness?

 

I have had so many problems that I do not know where to begin. And there does not seem anywhere that I can get help. Expert Witness are governed by body's such as the Academy of Experts who are self governing and offer you almost no help while a case is still current.

 

If anyone has been in a similar situation it would be good to hear from you.

[freakyleaky]

Hi Alex. I have asked for your thread to be moved to a forum where you are more likely to get help.

[alexb123]

Thank you I wasn't totally sure where it should go

[poppynurse]

Are we talking an expert witness for civil law or another matter? Is a solicitor/barrister involved?

[alexb123]

Are we talking an expert witness for civil law or another matter? Is a solicitor/barrister involved?

 

Hi Poppy

 

The expert was appointed in an Employment Tribunal claim. He is Single Joint and I am representing myself although the respondent has a Solicitor.

 

Alex

[JonCris]

Yeah but you still gonna have to give us more detail than that. Such as what sort of an expert, medical, engineer who appointed them & what your problem is?

 

Also you'll have to state some of your ET case is it DD (Disability Discrimination) or UD (Unfair Dismissal) etc.

[alexb123]

The EW was appointed to produce a report concerning the limitation act. So it was to help judge if it was just and equitable to hear my case out of time.

 

The EW was a Psychiatrist and the problems that he caused are so many that I cannot list them all. However, his report totally omitted to even mention any of my supporting evidence. He then caused a lot of confusion and never answer my joint questions. He then broke all contact with me until a few days before the hearing, by this time it was too late to arrange him to attend the hearing. He also lied regarding the dating of improtant documents etc.

 

I pulled him up on a lot of the points and instead of sorting them with me, he withdraw from the case. The case by then had already been lost due to his evidance. He also failed to give the reasons that he withdraw which was also part of his protocol.

 

Bascislly what happened was he did a very bad report and has since then done everything he can to prevent being held to account.

[alexb123]

I am sure you also be asking what have the Tribunal done. Well every time I raise an issue with them they tell me this Dr is a highly professional man and that my claims can't be true.

 

I have not submitted to them any detailed account of the misconduct because I am still in the process of writing up all of the issues.

 

But my plan is to push for a judicial review as I have on many occasions requested that the Tribunal ask the EW to adhere to his protocol and they have always just ignored these requests.

[JonCris]

You are getting into very deep territory now & my best advice is that you sit down with a lawyer

 

All I would say is that if he failed to respond to your legitimate questions he can't be considered to have acted as a 'joint' expert. Was the ET Judgment summary based on the experts evidence if so you can appeal

[janichblue]

Hi, I am writing this mainly for others as you have probably resolved your situation by now.

 

I was involved in a 4 year legal claim, luckily via my Trade Union, against my employers for stress etc. During this time I had a number of 'psychiatric' medicals. This culminated with my former employers legal team employing their Expert, whose is a Professor at the leading UK's psychiatric hospital.

 

His report was totally biased against me and in effect, in part, totally untrue and unjustifiable. I countered most of his comments which put me in a poor light with hard 'evidence. It became apparent to me that they can maintain their reputation, even when they lie, because they say it is in their 'professional opinion'.

 

The simple fact is that they work for the 'other side' and you need to continue despite their comments if you believe you are in the right.

 

Shortly after my counter comments my company settled out of court for £65k. It was worth the additional stress of the action to 'win' against a dis-honourable employer whose tactics included bullying and lying etc, etc,

Edited August 4, 2008 by janichblue

[RachDurham999]

Help Please regarding my medical negligence claim and my medical expert.

The NHS have said that for my case they accept Duty of Care but not Causation, so my medical expert who had maintained the same opinion for 5 years has joined up with the defendants (NHS) medical expert and has now significantly changed his opinion so therefore my claim was valued at about £500,000 is now worth £50,000 and I hve been basically forced to sign the agreement for the £50,000 as my solicitor and barrister said I wont get a penny if I dont.....

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

What are you looking for help with, please? If you've signed and it's final, that would look to be the end of your case, but maybe you're asking something else.

 

My best, HB

[BazzaS]

If they do not accept their actions were a breach of the duty of care or that their actions caused harm, they can deny causation, or accept causation but not for all the harm.

 

Was the £50k a settlement without them accepting liability? (They might settle without liability if they thought it cheaper than it proceeding to court).

 

Expert witnesses are no longer selected to act for the claimant or defendant, but their responsibility lies to the court.

 

I don't know the details of your case, but it is possible for an expert to reach a conclusion in favour of one party - if there is later discussion between experts or new material comes to light they might then change their viewpoint.

 

Is it worth asking your legal team how / why the expert's view has changed?