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Comparison of ACS and AMA Policies on Expert Witness
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QUALIFICATIONS
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ACS
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AMA
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| Licensure | Valid license in state where practicing | Licensed in state where case is filed or some other state; medical boards should provide temporary license for expert witnesses |
| Board Certification | Must be Board Certified by an ABMS-recognized board | Should be certified. If certified, must be an ABMS-recognized board having acknowledged expertise and training directly related to issue at hand |
| Experience/Specialty | Appropriate to subject matter of case; have experience or demonstrated competence in subject of the case | Must be trained/experienced in same discipline or school of practice as defendant |
| Clinical Practice | Active practice of the specialty or subject matter of the case during time the testimony or opinion is provided; familiarity with standard of care at the time of the occurrence | Active practice within 5 years of date of occurrence; or substantial time devoted to teaching at accredited med school or university-based research in medical care and type of treatment at issue |
| CME | Should demonstrate evidence of CME relevant to specialty or subject matter of the case | NA |
| Compensation and Frequency | Document % of time serving as expert witness; disclose amount of fees or compensation; total number of times has testified for plaintiff or defendant | No contingency fee allowed; can be cross-examined for amount of compensation, frequency of expert witness activities, % time devoted and income derived from expert witness activities, and frequency of testimony for plaintiff or defendant |
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GUIDELINES
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ACS GUIDELINES
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AMA POLICY
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| Medical Information | Review/testify to content fairly, honestly, and in balanced manner; when drawing inference or opinion from facts of case, should apply same standards of fairness/honesty | Testify honestly and truthfully; should not be an advocate or a partisan in the legal proceeding |
| Negligence | Distinguish between negligence and unfortunate medical outcome | |
| Standards of Care | Review standards of practice at time of alleged incident | |
| Foundation of Testimony | Indicate basis of testimony or opinion - personal experience, specific clinical references, evidence-based guidelines or generally accepted opinion in the specialty; discuss alternate methods and views | Should be based on widely accepted theories of medical science or theories supported by a respectable minority of experts in the field at issue; Should be subject to peer review |
| Compensation | Reasonable and commensurate with time and effort given; unethical to link compensation to case outcome | Unethical to accept compensation contingent upon outcome of litigation |
| Truthfulness | Ethically and legally obligated to tell the truth; testimony and depositions subject to independent peer review | Condemns false testimony; supports peer review process for expert witnesses; should be disciplined by medical boards and state/county medical societies |