a Peer-Review of Expert Witness Testimony

The Case

A patient with a history of alcoholism was brought to the emergency department by ambulance after falling five days earlier. After the fall, the patient experienced significant back pain and had been laying on a mattress in his basement. His physical examination was significant for superficial bed sores and back tenderness. His neurologic status was intact, although there is testimony that the patient developed increasing weakness in one leg before he left the ED. Spinal X-rays and CT showed fractures of the posterior body and posterior element of L1, the transverse processes of L2 and L3, and a fracture of T12 with moderate distraction of fracture fragments. The X-rays also showed findings consistent with ankylosing spondylitis.