MALPRACTICE EXPERTS

The penalty for bearing false witness

Hired guns who give questionable expert testimony can be disciplined by medical societies, a court rules.

By Berkeley Rice
Senior Editor

Doctors who end up in court as malpractice defendants curse the plaintiffs' medical experts as "hired guns"—or worse. Some dream of revenge, but usually get talked out of it. For Michael Ditmore, dreaming wasn't enough.

Ditmore, a neurosurgeon in Columbia, MO, was sued by a patient who suffered permanent damage to her recurrent laryngeal nerve during an anterior cervical fusion. The injury resulted in a paralyzed vocal cord, difficulty swallowing, and shortness of breath, requiring a tracheostomy.

At trial, the plaintiff's expert witness testified that "the majority of neurosurgeons" would agree that the woman's injury could only have occurred as a result of Ditmore's negligence. The witness, Detroit neurosurgeon Donald Austin, testified that Ditmore had probably caused the injury by "rushing" the operation. Nonetheless, in 1995, a jury found that Ditmore wasn't liable.

Ditmore then filed a complaint against Austin with the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, charging that there was no basis for his statement that most neurosurgeons would agree that he was negligent. The association's professional conduct committee held a hearing at which Austin admitted that he'd performed only 25 to 30 anterior cervical fusions over his 30-year career. In contrast, Ditmore had done 700, and this was the first time one had resulted in this type of injury.