Sample Cross-Examination – Concessions From West Palm Beach car accident Expert (Defense Radiologist)

Practice Tools: Sample Cross-Examination – Concessions From West Palm Beach car accident Expert (Defense Radiologist)

Q: Is it true that some people live with degenerative disc disease, even disc bulges and herniations and never even know it?
A: Yes.
Q: And some people have very significant medical problems that show up as MRI findings that look the same as ones that are not causing any problems in other people?
A: Yes.
Q: In your radiology practice, when you see an MRI like Mrs. Jones’s, how do you go about finding out whether or not the findings are causing pain or loss of function? That information needs to come from the examination and history of the doctor who referred the patient to you for the MRI, doesn’t it?
A: Yes.
Q: Isn’t it true that you do not see most patients who get MRIs that you interpret?
A: Yes.
Q: So when you interpret the MRI, you don’t know how much pain a patient is having, do you?
A: No.
Q: You take a history from the patient to find out if he or she had problems before a car wreck, do you?
A: No.
Q: Is a degenerated disc as strong as a disc that is not degenerated?
A: No.
Q: Do you know what Ms. Jones’s symptoms were regarding her low back in the month prior to the car wreck?
A: No.
Q: Does this MRI, Exhibit ____, tell you where Ms. Jones was hurting when it was taken?
A: No.
Q: Does this MRI tell you how much pain Ms. Jones was having when it was taken?
A: No.
Q: Does this MRI, Exhibit ____, tell you when Ms. Jones began to hurt?
A: No.
Q: Can you ever tell from this MRI, Exhibit ____, whether Ms. Jones was alive or dead at the time it was taken?
A: No.
Q: Do you know how soon after the car wreck Ms. Jones began to experience pain?
A: No.
Q: I will represent to you that Ms. Jones and her treating doctor, Dr. Solomon, have testified that she had no pain in her low back or lower extremities prior to the car wreck for 10 years, and that she started having pain immediately after the car wreck. Do you know of any information that contradicts this testimony?
A: No.
Q: Do you have any reason to believe that Ms. Jones’s treating physician performed any of his examinations incorrectly or incompletely?
A: No.
Q: You have never examined or even seen Ms. Jones before, have you?
A: That is correct.
Q: Doctor, please assume the following facts:
• Ms. Jones had no symptoms regarding her low back for the 10-year period preceding the car wreck.
• She had pre-existing asymptomatic disc degeneration by your testimony.
• Her spine was weakest at the area of degeneration by your testimony.
• She had symptoms attributed by her treating physician to a disc injury directly following the car wreck.
Isn’t it just common sense that Ms. Jones sustained an injury to her disc, the weakest part of her spine, in this car wreck?
A: That is possible, I guess.
Q: Have you seen any MRIs of Ms. Jones’s neck prior to the car wreck?
A: No.
Q: You cannot tell the jury that Ms. Jones’s neck looked the same before the car wreck as it did after the car wreck, can you?
A: That is true.
Q: Does the following accurately summarize your opinions in this case?:
- The disc was already degenerated before the car wreck, which made it more likely to be injured in the car wreck?
A: Yes.
- You can’t tell the jury that Ms. Jones’s disc was not injured in the car wreck because you don’t know what it looked like prior to the car wreck?
A: Yes.
- You don’t know whether or not the disc was causing problems to Ms. Jones before the car wreck, only that it was painful to Ms. Jones after the car wreck?
A: Yes.