Your client has accused a prominent doctor of malpractice. Her case goes to trial, and your first witness is the well-respected doctor. How do you cross-examine him?
1. Learn as much medicine as possible that's involved in the case.
You have to be a mini-expert on the medicine before ever getting up in Court to question the doctor. Read medical textbooks, medical literature, and use other physicians as experts to teach you the medicine.
2. Ask only leading direct questions.
You must keep a tight leash on any witness whom you cross-examine. If you ask an open-ended question ("Tell us why the patient bled to death Doctor...") you will suffer the dire consequences of a 10 minute lecture to the jury by this medical witness. Big mistake. You don't want the jury to see how educated and wonderful this physician is. You want them to see how he answers YOUR questions.
"You operated on Mrs. Jones 1 year ago?"
"You perforated her aorta while examining her nose?"
"The patient bled to death as a result of that puncture, correct?"
"Good medical practice dictates that when doing this procedure you should stay away from the aorta, correct?"
"The aorta is not in the surgical field, right?"
Do not ask "So how is it that you ruptured the aorta while doing this procedure?" (That's an open ended question.) Instead ask "Did you expect to puncutre the aorta during this procedure?" "What steps did you take to make sure the puncture did not occur?" ...and on it goes.
3. Do not ask a question when you don't know the answer!
During the course of a lawsuit you will have plenty of opportunity to learn everything about what happened. In New York, this is called the discovery phase of the lawsuit. If you are at trial, and do not know the answer to a specific question, I strongly suggest you NOT ask the question, unless the answer will absolutely not harm you or your case. Remember, you never know what will come out of the witnesses mouth.
Here's a great example. A dispute arises between two men in a park. It's twilight. A scream is heard, and a witness to the scream turns and sees two men standing near eachother. One man's nose is gone and his face is bleeding profusely. The other man is just standing there.
On the witness stand, the defense attorney asks the witness whether he actually saw his client bite the man's nose off. The witness replies "No. I didn't."
"Then you're not sure my client was the one who bit his nose off?"
"Oh, I'm sure allright. It was your client."
"Really? How can you be so sure?" asks the defense attorney.
"Because I saw your client spit out the man's nose from his mouth!"
Cross-examination of a doctor is not easy. Experience is the key and learning all the medicine possible helps frame your questions.
Attorney Oginski has been in practice for 17 years as a trial lawyer practicing exclusively in the State of New York. Having his own law firm, he is able to provide the utmost in personalized, individualized attention to each and every client. In our office, a client is not a file number. Client's are always treated with the respect they deserve and expect from a professional. Mr. Oginski is always aware of every aspect of a client's case from start to finish.
Gerry represents injured people in injury cases and medical malpractice matters in Brooklyn, Queens, New York City, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. You can reach him at http://www.oginski-law.com, or 516-487-8207. All inquiries are free and totally confidential.