Physicians serve a vital role in health-care delivery, but also as experts in the legal system.
The legal system requires the opinion of an expert when an issue of fact is outside of the experience and knowledge of a lay person. A medical expert is required to address issues of facts in personal injury matters, especially as to issues of causation. A patient who experiences a clinical pattern of signs and symptoms, suggestive of a lumbar disk herniation, can be diagnosed by a medical expert. However, the legal system is often interested in more than a diagnosis. Only with this type of opinion evidence, may an attorney support his conclusion that the injury caused the patient s clinical complaints.