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Disability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on managed care, HMOs, and insurance claims. Medical expert Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H. explains that for someone with fibromyalgia, it’s a difficult step to apply for disability and upsetting if an insurance company representative appears not to believe that they are actually very ill. He says the patient can improve their fibromyalgia disability claim by imagining themselves in the medical insurance examiner’s place.

Medical Expert Witness Issue #3:

With fibromyalgia, when you physically push through your limits the expected flare-up of symptoms might not occur right away. Often the flare-up is delayed for hours or even a day. This pattern of fibromyalgia disability is very different from that of most other illnesses. Insurance industry representatives and indeed many physicians– don’t yet understand this very basic fact.

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In How to Write a Medical Malpractice Expert Witness Report, attorney Vivian Pearson explains:

Your medical malpractice expert witness report should be targeted to your attorney’s specifications. Before you begin to prepare your report, know what he or she is expecting in terms or length, formatting, font, and amount of details to include. To ensure that you meet your attorney’s guidelines and ensure you are paid on time, give your attorney a draft of the report to review before you put it in final form.

3. Describe the education and experience that makes you qualified to be an expert witness in the case. You will need to begin your report by discussing what degrees you hold, how long you have been working in the medical field, and for how many cases you have served as an expert witness.

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In David and Goliath: Silverton and Qwest Battle Over Fiber Optic Line telluridewatch.com reports:

“Qwest was paid to build an information superhighway to Silverton, and they barely widened the existing mule trail.” So said San Juan County Administrator Willie Tookey on June 30 of this year, when Silverton and San Juan County filed a complaint with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission against Denver-based Qwest Communications.

Silverton’s technical expert was Corey Bryndal, who owns a Durango-based company that installs fiber-optic systems, most recently for the cities of Durango, Bayfield and Cortez. Bryndal testified that the 7 megabits of download speed Silverton has available might have been considered fast 10 years ago, but that international standards are many times that now.

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JDSupra writes: Litigation Advisory – Changes to Federal Rules Regarding Expert Witness Discovery:

A major revision to Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing expert witness discovery went into effect on December 1, 2010. As a result of these changes, Rule 26 no longer allows full discovery of draft expert reports or broad disclosure of communications between attorneys and expert witnesses, as had been the case since 1993. Instead, draft expert reports and communications between counsel and expert witnesses are now protected by the work-product doctrine. While prohibiting discovery of draft expert reports and significantly limiting discovery of Attorney-Expert communications, Rule 26 continues to require full disclosure of the expert’s opinions and the facts or data used to support them.

Read more: JPSupra.com. Contributor: Mintz Levin

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The Ledger.com writes: It should have been a simple eminent domain case. The city of Lakeland, FL, pays two residents for property it needed for townhouses and condominiums. Instead, the case has dragged on for nearly five years, cost the city $168,000 in lawyer’s fees and led to major problems for two holdouts. At issue in August was who would pay the fees for engineering expert witnesses and land planners. Mark Miller, the lawyer for the city, agreed to pay for the three witnesses used before the attempt to settle in 2007.

Read more: theledger.com.

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From The Journal Gazette: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted this spring promised sweeping changes, but many local public and private employers are exempting themselves from some of its most stringent rules. Many of the public employers couldn’t offer specific provisions they wanted to avoid, but the uncertainty created by the law has led many to seek the exemption, according to a local insurance expert.

Denny Wright, president of IntraHealth Solutions and past president of the Indiana State Association of Health Underwriters, said the law has caused uncertainty for businesses. His company is a third-party administrator of health insurance for other businesses.

Read more: journalgazette.net.

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In How to Write a Medical Malpractice Expert Witness Report, attorney Vivian Pearson explains:

Your medical malpractice expert witness report should be targeted to your attorney’s specifications. Before you begin to prepare your report, know what he or she is expecting in terms or length, formatting, font, and amount of details to include. To ensure that you meet your attorney’s guidelines and ensure you are paid on time, give your attorney a draft of the report to review before you put it in final form.

1. Ask the attorney you are working for to help you define the scope of your report. Most jurisdictions have written rules that define what you may include in your medical malpractice expert witness report. Before you begin to work on the report, get a written set of guidelines.

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Disability insurance expert witnesses may write reports and opine on managed care, HMOs, and insurance claims. Medical expert Richard N. Podell, M.D., M.P.H. explains that for someone with fibromyalgia, it’s a difficult step to apply for disability and upsetting if an insurance company representative appears not to believe that they are actually very ill. He says the patient can improve their fibromyalgia disability claim by imagining themselves in the medical insurance examiner’s place.

Medical Expert Witness Issue #1:

Your insurance company isn’t allowed to assume that you are telling the truth just because you say so. Insurance companies have learned by hard experience with other forms of illness that a few individuals exaggerate their symptoms. Therefore, a disability insurance company has not only the right, but an obligation to satisfy themselves that the claims they pay are, in fact, valid.

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Media analysis expert witnesses may write reports and testify on mass media and related topics. In What the #$%& is Social Marketing?!! Media Communications Association- International member Susan Solomon writes:

Relationships begin with conversations. With the advent of social marketing, technology has shifted the power away from editors, publishers and the establishment to the people.

According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer survey, people are saying, “I can no longer rely on a single source of information. The omniscient, all-powerful, single source – whether it’s a news anchor, doctor, CEO or government is gone.” One of the most trusted sources of information is word of mouth, from friends and family. When you develop a social marketing strategy for your product or service, think of it as a conversation – not a campaign. This second of our 2-part series will cover the broad functions of MySpace, Twitter and You Tube, within the social marketing landscape.

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