The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently held that although a medical expert witness does not use the medical tools alleged to have caused harm does not mean he or she may not testify to the standard of care needed while using them. The court found the fact that urology expert witness Dr. Robert Lewis “uses a different method to perform a urethral dilation procedure does not disqualify him from giving testimony on the standard of care to be employed when performing this type of procedure.” LegalNewsline.com also reports:
“What this case demonstrates is how this Court’s decision to abandon the locality rule in medical malpractice cases in favor of a standard of care more national in approach is often misemployed to prevent qualified physicians from offering testimony in cases brought under the (Medical Professional Liability) Act,” Justice Joseph Albright wrote.
“As we observed in Paintiff (v. City of Parkersburg, 1986), the need for employing a locality rule in medical malpractice cases was no longer present due to the omnipresence of medical information relative to the treatment of diseases and injuries.”