Physicians turned actors to dramatize what medical witnesses should and should not do, at the AMA National Medicolegal Symposium in Miami Beach March 8-9.
More than 1,300 physicians and attorneys were on hand to watch a series of four brief trial scenes demonstrating "Pitfalls Facing the Medical Witness." The Symposium also
Averbach, discussing the medical witness for the plaintiff, pointed out that "the physician need not be, and should not be, a frightened medical witness."
The purpose of the physician's testimony, Averbach said, is "to enlighten, rather than to impress or prejudice the court or the jury."
The difference between the medical
Doctors Star in 'Pitfalls Facing Medical Witness
' included trial vignettes illustrating the place of medical testimony in two different types of litigation, as well as papers on the medicolegal aspects of such subjects as hypnosis, electroencephalograms, and investigational drugs.Drs. John K. Torrans, Albuquerque, N.M., psychiatrist, and Russell