The system is broken beyond repair. Legit med mal reform in the United States could save the U.S. health system 500 billion dollars per year. Less unnecessary tests ordered. Less CYA consults called. Less soft admissions. We all know this.
I have turned down every single opportunity to be an "expert" witness when solicited to do so by both defendant and plaintiff attorneys. Why? Although I acknowledge that bad care runs rampant in the U.S. and there are legit cases to be settled, I know that the one certainty from the entire process is that all of the lawyers will get paid and any participation from me just continues to feed the beast. Why is there no med mal reform? Defendant and plaintiff attorneys get paid, and last I checked lawyers fill state and federal legislatures.
I had the chance to review the expert witness disclosures one time for a stroke case. There were two "expert" plaintiff witnesses set to testify against the Stroke Neurologist. One was a community Neurologist with fellowship training in Epilepsy . . . nowhere close to an expert. The other plaintiff "expert" in the stroke case was a Hospitalist. Yes. A Hospitalist with zero training in EM, Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neurointervention, or any other field with Stroke expertise.
When I looked at their disclosures, both "experts" had served in > 50 cases each, always for Plaintiffs, and billed themselves as "Plaintiff advocates". Each showed billings of around 30k for the case. If that is their average, it means that each of these physicians had earned 1.5 million simply from this racket.