How an Expert Witness Can Help You After a Car Accident
Your main concern in the event of a car accident is, of course, your health and that of any other people in the car with you. After you’ve had the necessary medical attention, you most likely will turn your focus to getting your car fixed. It’s important to remember that car accident lawsuits can be complicated to pursue and could necessitate details that you don’t have. An ER expert witness will help fill in the gaps to help prove the point in cases like this.
What Is an ER Expert Witness?
An ER expert witness is an emergency room expert who is skilled in emergency room medical practices and procedures in the event of a person(s) needing emergency medical care for any reason.
An expert witness is a professional who likely wasn’t at the scene of your accident; witnesses in this capacity are called lay witnesses and testify to the circumstances surrounding how and when your car accident occurred by providing a first-hand account of what happened. An ER expert witness will have experience in dealing with the aftermath of the accident, most specifically in any emergency care given for injuries sustained during the car accident.
How Can an ER Expert Witness Help in the Event of a Car Accident?
Following an accident, an ER expert witness will testify to the cause, existence, and extent of an injured plaintiff’s medical conditions and injuries. They will also testify to the plaintiff’s permanent injury and damages as a direct and proximate consequence of the accident, as well as whether or not the plaintiff may need any medical procedures in the future, such as injections or surgeries.
Personal injury situations, such as those involving cars, trucks, pedestrians, and slip and fall injuries, can be difficult to prove depending on the facts and circumstances. For the injured plaintiff to maximize their case’s settlement or jury value, witness testimony (both lay and expert) is often required.
Experts will attest that the subject accident—not previous accidents, injuries, or preexisting medical conditions—is the primary cause of the injured plaintiff’s present symptoms, injuries, and damages, to the degree that the injured plaintiff has prior injuries or degenerative changes that turned up on imaging tests (such as x-rays and MRIs). Furthermore, these professionals will testify that the accident in question aggravated any preexisting conditions or injuries.
An ER expert witness will also advise you about the limitations or impediments that the injuries can impose on your everyday life.
Choosing to bring an ER expert witness to your personal injury case can allow your legal team to back up your claim with professional advice, especially in cases where there may be no lay witnesses available or there is difficulty in identifying the responsible party. When choosing to bring an ER expert witness, your personal injury lawyer will weigh up the options available to them to determine if the payoff in your case is worth the expense of bringing in this type of witness.
