Do doctors have a moral duty to serve as expert witnesses in malpractice cases?

Thousands of medical malpractice suits are filed in courts across the U.S. each year.

In virtually all cases, medical experts (usually MD’s) are required to establish whether a defendant doctor met the standard of care in his community and whether a patient’s injuries resulted from a mistake the defendant doctor made.

In many states, a plaintiff must get a medical expert’s opinion before initiating a lawsuit.

Thus, without medical experts, plaintiffs might not even be able to file a malpractice suit and would be unlikely to prove their case in court or win a settlement.

Renal & Urology News would like to ask its urologist and nephrologist readers the following poll question. All responses are confidential.