Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 30 - Professions and Occupations › Part 2635 - Practice of Medicine › Chapter 8 - Medical Expert Activities by Physicians › Rule 30-2635-8.8 - Compliance Policy and Exemptions

Current through June 25, 2024
In assuring compliance with these rules, the duty shall be
				  on the physician, not on the party who engaged the physician to perform medical
				  expert activities and not on any other person or entity, to ensure that his or
				  her medical expert activities comply with these rules. Any physician who claims
				  to be exempt from these rules shall have the burden of proving to the Board
				  that the exemption is valid.
Amended May 20, 2010.
References.
Mississippi Code, Sections
				  11-1-61,
				  73-25-27,
				  73-25-29,
				  73-25-30,
				  73-25-33,
				  73-25-34,
				  73-25-83,
				  73-25-87,
				  73-43-11,
				  73-51-1,
				  et al
Mississippi Rule of Evidence 702
"Rules, Laws, and Policies of the Mississippi State Board of
				  Medical Licensure." Published by the Mississippi State Board of Medical
				  Licensure and available at Internet address
www.msbml.ms.gov
Hall v. Hilbun, 466 So. 2d 856 (Miss. 1985)
Code of Medical Ethics, Current Opinions with Annotations.
				  Published by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs of the American
				  Medical Association, 2006-07 edition.
" The Role of Licensing Boards in the Evaluation and
				  Discipline of the Expert Witness." Authored by William J. Wenner, Jr., M.D.,
				  J.D. Published in the Journal of Medical Licensure and Discipline, Vol. 90, No.
				  3, 2004, Pp. 15-20 (collecting cases and scholarly publications)
Findings of Fact adopted by the Mississippi State Board of
				  Medical Licensure on May 18, 2006. 
				  **
_____________________________
**COMMENT: Based on information
				  presented to the Board at a public hearing on this matter on March 9, 2006, and
				  on May 18, 2006, and on research and analysis of information obtained by Board
				  members and its staff and attorneys, and also on comments received from
				  numerous sources, including the Board's Consumer Health Committee, leaders of
				  the medical and legal professions, former judges, officials from the Federation
				  of State Medical Boards, and members of the public, the Mississippi State Board
				  of Medical Licensure makes the following Findings of Fact:
1. A physician's professional practice,
				conducted pursuant to the privilege of possessing a medical license,
				historically has been subject to regulation by other members of the medical
				profession, by methods such as peer review, performance evaluation, quality
				assurance monitoring, and other methods of regulation. However, there is a
				problem in Mississippi with the lack of regulation of medical expert activities
				by physicians. This lack of regulation causes the performance of medical expert
				activities to be vulnerable to fraud, abuse, dishonesty, deception,
				incompetence, and other forms of unprofessional, dishonorable, and unethical
				conduct by physician experts, all of which are harmful to the public.
2. A physician's performance of
				medical expert activities involves a lawful part of a physician's practice that
				is historically an area of state concern and that the Board has the statutory
				authority and duty to regulate in order to protect the public.
3. A physician's medical expert activities
				involve practices that are likely to affect the health, safety, rights,
				remedies, and general welfare of persons in Mississippi.
4. In keeping with the public policy and
				provisions of law in Mississippi, the performance of medical expert activities,
				regardless of the physician expert's location or state(s) of medical licensure,
				is a lawful practice that requires a qualified physician, and is therefore
				subject to regulation by, and professional accountability to, the Mississippi
				State Board of Medical Licensure.
5. Due to its physician membership and
				statutory authority, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure is
				uniquely able to establish and enforce licensure requirements, qualification
				requirements, and Professional Standards related to the performance of medical
				expert activities by physicians, especially with regard to ethical conduct and
				competent practice.
6. Regardless
				of a physician's state(s) of medical licensure, a physician who performs
				medical expert activities in a legal matter has an ethical duty to practice
				according to the standards of medical professionalism, to perform all medical
				expert activities in an honest and competent manner, and to strive to report to
				appropriate entities any physician who is deficient in character or competence
				or who engages in fraud or deception.
7. In keeping with the public policy and
				provisions of law in Mississippi and principles of medical ethics, it is
				unprofessional, dishonorable, and unethical for a physician to willfully state
				an opinion or a material fact as a medical expert in the context of a legal
				matter that the physician knows or should know is false, or that a reasonable
				person could objectively conclude was a misrepresentation or other distortion
				of the truth, or was intended by the physician to mislead or deceive a judge,
				juror, lawyer, litigant, other expert, hearing officer, administrative body,
				investigator, legal authority, or any finder of fact.
8. In adopting these rules, the Mississippi
				State Board of Medical Licensure has attempted to tailor these rules as closely
				as possible to the current provisions of Mississippi law, in order to regulate
				medical expert activities for the legitimate government purpose of protecting
				the public and to further other legitimate government purposes in the public
				interest.
9. In adopting these
				rules, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure states that its intent
				is only to regulate the conduct and practice of physicians who perform medical
				expert activities in Mississippi. The Board does not intend for these rules to
				be subverted or misused by participants in legal proceedings as a procedural
				weapon to intimidate or harass a physician expert or to delay or otherwise
				complicate the administration of justice.
The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure shall
				  provide a copy of these rules, with these Comments appended, to the Mississippi
				  Supreme Court, the Mississippi Court of Appeals, the respective conferences of
				  the Mississippi Circuit, Chancery, and County Judges, the Administrative Office
				  of the Courts, the Mississippi Attorney General, the United States District
				  Courts and United States attorneys located in Mississippi, the Mississippi
				  Workers' Compensation Commission, the Mississippi Bar Association, the
				  Mississippi State Medical Association, the Federation of State Medical Boards,
				  and any other appropriate person or organization at the discretion of the
				  Board's Executive Director, with the request that those organizations give
				  notice to their members or other interested parties of the existence of these
				  rules.
Miss. Code Ann. §
										73-43-11
				  (1972, as amended).