A medical consultant is a healthcare professional with Board certification in their field of expertise who is in good standing. Generally, they provide services to patients, hospitals, insurance carriers, and law firms.

Firms may hire medical consultants for a variety of reasons. Overall, they should be able to provide objective expert opinions on matters within their field of specialty. This can be vital in instances where creating a stronger case is necessary.

There are generally two standards that courts accept – the Frye standard, and the Daubert standard.

Firstly, the Frye standard looks at polygraph machine usage and is from 1923. It focuses on the scientific validity of lie detector machines. The case decision set forth the Frye standard. It shows that the admitting expert testimony produced from a well-recognized, scientific application or discovery must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the field.

The Daubert standard was established in 1993. During this, the court ruled that the federal standard includes general acceptance, but also its application to science. Therefore, if there is a journal acceptance of the theory that has applied testing that has been validated, it may have sufficient evidence to be admissible in court.

An expert witness is someone who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, training, or education. Generally speaking, the expert’s scientific, technical, and specific knowledge will help those understand the evidence or to determine the effect of an issue. Typically, a testimony focuses on reliable principles and methods, and an expert applies them to the facts of the case.

Overall, the majority of states follow the Daubert standard for expert witnesses. It summarizes that experts, who are qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education can testify in a case. In order to be considered an expert, they must be a general acceptance of that individual, level of training, and experience.

Expert witnesses generally review documents, perform research, and sometimes conduct an investigation into the case. These investigations may include gathering additional data, forming an evidence-based opinion, and providing it orally and/or in writing to counsel.

Experts should demonstrate confidence in their field, excellent communication skills, reliability, and most importantly; honesty. These are traits that are most desirable to counsel.