Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

Know Your Case and Practice Your Testimony Before Your Malpractice Trial

By Gita Pensa, MD | on July 27, 2021 | 0 Comment
Medicolegal Mind
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version
Chris Whissen & shutterstock.com
Chris Whissen & shutterstock.com

Part 2 of 2

In  Part 1 of this two-part series, I discussed the sequence of events at trial and what a defendant might experience in the process. In this article, I’ll discuss how to put your best foot forward at trial, testify well, and be your own best secret weapon.

You Might Also Like
  • Sometimes It’s Better To Settle a Lawsuit Than Go All in With a Trial
  • Physician on Trial: What to Expect
  • Tips for Navigating Discovery and Deposition in a Malpractice Lawsuit
Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 40 – No 07 – July 2021

After deposition, there will likely be a long period in which you do not have to actively participate in activities relating to your case. Your attorney will be working behind the scenes, and you may occasionally be updated or asked to review something. This period may last months or even years. It is normal and healthy to try to put litigation on the back burner during this time if you can. But once a trial date is set, start strategizing with your attorney about plans to adequately prepare to appear and testify at trial. Here are some general principles.

Know Your Chart, Know Your Deposition

Knowing the intricacies of your medical record was essential to performing well at your deposition; knowing both the medical record and your deposition testimony is key to being a strong trial witness.

Your chart will be used as an exhibit, presented to the jury, and projected on a large screen. Once on the stand, you will likely be taken through the chart word by word, line by line, in exhausting detail. The attorney will pore over minutiae that seem to have no real bearing on the medicine of the case. (It bears repeating here that the trial is largely not about medicine; it is about convincing a nonmedical jury to pick a side.) The plaintiff’s attorney will take any and all opportunities to disparage your care, and they will use any charting errors or discrepancies to paint you as hurried, uncaring, unprofessional, or incompetent. It is important to know where the weaknesses in your chart are and how you will address these.

Likewise, you must carefully review your deposition testimony; your attorney will give you a printed copy of it. It is critical that you stay consistent with what you testified to under oath at deposition, even if it was years earlier. Discrepancy at trial will lead to the plaintiff’s attorney reading your deposition words back to you, asking, “Were you lying then, or are you lying now?” If you have come across new evidence or have had your memory refreshed in some way since the time of deposition, you can testify to that—but it is important that you not outright contradict yourself. The jury is more likely to side with you if they view you as sincere, consistent, and trustworthy.

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Topics: LawsuitMalpracticeTestimonyTrial

Related

  • May 2025 News from the College

    May 6, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • A Malpractice Lawsuit Gives Emergency Physician Lifelong Lessons

    May 9, 2024 - 0 Comment
  • Uncovering Hidden ACEP Member Resource Gems

    May 9, 2024 - 0 Comment

Current Issue

ACEP Now: July 2025

Download PDF

Read More

No Responses to “Know Your Case and Practice Your Testimony Before Your Malpractice Trial”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603