Opinion ID: 1231511
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Limitation on Testimony of Embalmer

Text: We next examine Appellant's contention that the lower court erred by refusing to allow her to provide testimony from the embalmer of the decedent on the issue of whether there was any leakage of embalming fluid due to major artery laceration. Appellant maintains that this was relevant evidence in the case inasmuch as the defense experts testified that the decedent had sustained major artery lacerations and had completely bled out before the ambulance had arrived at the scene of the accident. The lower court did not refuse to allow the embalmer's testimony, but only permitted him to be called to testify as a fact witness about his observation as to the condition of the decedent's body. At the post-trial hearing the circuit judge defended his ruling regarding the embalmer as follows: THE COURT: He was basically going to give a medical opinion, a forensic, medical, postmortem opinion. And that's what I had problems with. . . . [I]f you get to the point where actually an embalmer gets to the point and says there wasn't a particular organ in there, that might be something they can testify to. But to some specific medical postmortem observation I think requires an expert that's trained and qualified in that particular field. And I didn't think the embalmer fit that. We do not find error on this ground because Appellant had not disclosed the embalmer as an expert witness, did not proffer the credentials, training, or experience of the embalmer on the record, and did not call the embalmer as a witness. [12]