Tips from Four Doctors on How to Up Your Game for Trial by Tim Grabe, OTLA Guardian Here’s how to “ring the bell” at your next trial, based on tips from four rockstar doctors who know their stuff. Listen up! “The doctor doesn’t go to court.” You politely thank the medical clinic receptionist and end the call before seeking a doctor who does go to court. On reflection, it’s no mystery why doctors hate committing to testify for a patient in court: finding a parking space, getting half-undressed to go through the courthouse metal detector, then waiting in the hallway before finally testifying takes a half-day, they must read patient history, they have other patients and the legal system puts them through the wringer. My best experience in getting a doctor to help his patient by showing up in court started with a phone call to an out-of-state doctor and hearing “the doctor doesn’t go to court.” So, I persuaded the scheduling person to give me 60 minutes to “confer about the patient’s chart” and then drove 225 miles to Kennewick, Washington. The doctor said he’d never had a lawyer meet at his clinic — lawyers only want a quick phone call. At our meeting, the doctor relented and agreed to testify remotely at a Multnomah County trial. But the defense reflexively objected to our motion because it was filed 29 days before trial, rather than 30 days as required by ORS 45.400. The trial judge refused remote testimony. So because of our bonding in Kennewick, the doctor flew to Portland. The jury loved the gentlemanly, old-school doctor who looked at them and taught them about the medical treatment needed for my client’s injury. The defense lawyer is still probably kicking himself after seeing the jury believe this doctor in a way that would have been lost in remote testimony — and I’m grateful the defense attorney objected to remote testimony. Note: the Oregon Legislature and the judiciary are expected to address changes to the harsh remote-testimony statute in the 2025 session, and may make it presumptively acceptable, or easier, to present remote testimony. Many lawyers’ experience of successfully presenting remote testimony during the Covid years has shown there’s nothing to fear and we can even lower our carbon footprint. Motivating your doctor to be a stellar witness takes creativity and hard work. Rather than pontificate about my views, I interviewed four doctors and got their best tips. These doctors know their way around a courtroom. They include a physiatrist, an emergency room doctor, an orthopedist and a neuropsychologist. Their names are anonymous because of their concerns defense lawyers will accuse them of bias for helping plaintiff’s lawyers. One key tip that no doctor mentioned is to be prompt and professional in paying for the experts’ time and expertise— you can ruin a doctor’s relationship with our legal system by stiffing a doctor in payment of fees or by trying to delay payment until long after you get the invoice. The Physiatrist • The most important thing is to meet for an hour and to structure the testimony. The presentation should be linear, logical, and oriented to time and the chart notes. • Open-ended questions are good, because they allow the doctor some running room, don’t just ask “yes or no” questions. • Warm up the witness with a few questions about the doctor’s CV. Don’t ask dumb questions such as “why did you get into medicine?” • Let the doctor use a laser pointer to teach the jury from a medical diagram, but don’t expect the doctor to draw on butcher paper unless you go over this in advance. TIM GRABE is an Sustaining Guardian who practices personal injury and maritime law in Portland. He also serves as a pro tem judge in Multnomah County and occasionally serves as an arbitrator in UM/UIM cases. You can reach him at [email protected] and 971-645-7176. See Tips from Four Doctors p. 26 25 Trial Lawyer | Winter 2025
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