Physicians who have treated a personal injury plaintiff before, during or after the events in issue often have a unique perspective which can be helpful to the finder of fact at trial. The purpose of this article is to explore how such non-party treating physicians can be identified, interviewed, and brought to the assistance of the litigants in their search for the truth.
Value as Witnesses
Non-party treating physicians are frequently unaware that their patients are litigating issues which involve their physical condition. Hospital records and even the doctor’s office records may be secured by parties to the litigation without the knowledge of the treating physician, who does not participate in that aspect of medical record management. The patient presumably reports symptoms, history, and treatment outcome in a correct and truthful fashion, oriented to the medical complaints which need to be addressed.
