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Characterization of Orthopaedic Surgeon Expert Witnesses in Pediatric Orthopaedic Malpractice Litigation: A
Ashleigh N Pyle1, Haad A Arif2, Devan Devkumar2
1Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Summary
Pediatric orthopaedic expert witnesses are often fellowship-trained and academically affiliated, with no significant differences found between those retained by plaintiffs versus defendants. Their specific training did not appear to influence case outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Medical-Legal Research
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Expert Witness Testimony
Background:
- Expert witness (EW) testimony is crucial in malpractice cases.
- Pediatric orthopaedics has unique medicolegal aspects, but EW characteristics are not well-defined.
- This study characterizes orthopaedic surgeon EWs in pediatric malpractice cases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize orthopaedic surgeon expert witnesses in pediatric orthopaedic malpractice cases.
- To analyze fellowship training, practice setting, and scholarly activity of these experts.
- To determine if characteristics differ between plaintiff and defense-retained experts.
Main Methods:
- A national legal database was searched for pediatric orthopaedic malpractice cases (1980-2024).
- Orthopaedic expert witnesses were identified and their data collected via internet and Scopus searches.
- Data included party retention, fellowship, years in practice, practice setting, h-index, and advertising.
Main Results:
- 83 orthopaedic surgeon EWs provided 92 testimonies in 47 cases.
- Over half (51.8%) of EWs were pediatric fellowship trained (56.5% of testimonies).
- Pediatric-trained EWs were more academic (76.7% vs 40.0%) and had higher mean h-index (26.3 vs 17.4).
Conclusions:
- Orthopaedic EWs in pediatric malpractice cases are frequently fellowship-trained, academically affiliated, and scholarly.
- Pediatric fellowship-trained EWs constitute over half of the experts.
- No significant differences were found between plaintiff and defense-retained EWs across measured characteristics.