(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury case and its proceedings.)
It is also worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, U.C. Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Sutter, or any skilled nursing facility.
Allowing Dr. Lee to testify regarding the standard of care for the plastic surgeon or the hospital would constitute clear reversible error as he is not a qualified surgical or hospital standard of care expert.
Here, it is readily apparent that regardless of what opinions Dr. Lee may have expressed in his declaration (in a matter which was taken off calendar and never truly even addressed), it would be clearly improper to knowingly elicit expert opinion testimony from Dr. Lee in specialty medical fields in which he clearly is not a qualified expert.
The California Evidence Code and cases clearly provide for a mechanism to exclude such an improper opinion, and further make it clear that Dr. Lee should not be permitted to opine at trial in areas where he is not a qualified expert. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
If a witness is testifying as an expert, his testimony in the form of an opinion is limited to such an opinion as is:
(a) Related to a subject that is sufficiently beyond common experience that the opinion of an expert would assist the trier of fact; and
(b) Based on matter (including his special knowledge, skill, experience, training, and education) perceived by or personally known to the witness or made known to him at or before the hearing, whether or not admissible, that is of a type that reasonably may be relied upon by an expert in forming an opinion upon the subject to which his testimony relates, unless an expert is precluded by law from using such matter as a basis for his opinion. (Emphasis added.) (Calif. Evid. Code section 801.) (See Part 6 of 9.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.