Opinion ID: 1489278
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dr. Abel

Text: Coulter offered Dr. Abel, a physician who is Board-certified in internal medicine and oncology, as an expert in the medical evaluation and care of breast abnormalities. Coulter's counsel proffered that Dr. Abel would testify that had proper measures been pursued when Coulter was seen by Dr. Taylor at Gerald Family Care, Coulter's breast cancer would have been identified. Defense counsel objected to Dr. Abel's qualification to offer standard-of-care testimony on the grounds, inter alia, that his practice does not entail evaluating patients who present for the first time with breast complaints. The trial court ruled that Dr. Abel could present expert testimony about oncology generally, but deferred ruling on whether he could address standard-of-care issues. Whether Dr. Abel was qualified to testify on standard-of-care issues presents a somewhat closer question than did the same issue with respect to Dr. Woodyear. As our case law establishes, Dr. Abel was not incompetent to testify as an expert on standard-of-care issues affecting defendants merely because he is not a specialist in the particular field of which he speaks. Haidak v. Corso, 841 A.2d 316, 323 (D.C.2004) (quotation marks and citations omitted). And, Dr. Abel did testify that he attends interdisciplinary breast conferences where practitioners in various medical specialities present all of the new or current cases of breast cancer and the cases are discussed among the different specialities to promote effective management and discuss the techniques and technologies used in the evaluation of breast abnormalities. At least arguably, this testimony provided a minimally sufficient foundation for him to give standard-of-care testimony. Cf. Nwaneri, supra, 931 A.2d at 473 (listing discussion with other knowledgeable professionals in a list of credentials  any of which would have been legally sufficient to establish a basis for [expert's] discussion of the national standard of care) (emphasis added). However, we need not pause over whether it was error to preclude Dr. Abel from presenting standard-of-care testimony as to Dr. Taylor and Gerald Family Care, because it appears from the record that neither Dr. Abel nor any of Coulter's other witnesses would present causation testimony as to these defendants (or as to Dr. Asomani). Defense counsel advised the court  in stark contrast to the proffer that Coulter's counsel made as to the doctor's expected opinion testimony at trial  that in his deposition Dr. Abel testified that he would not opine as to whether Coulter had a palpable lump at the time she saw Dr. Taylor in 2001, or whether a lump would have been detected by mammogram at that time, or whether Coulter had a breast tumor at that time. [26] Even if we assume that the trial court erred in precluding testimony by Dr. Abel that Dr. Taylor and Gerald Family Care breached the standard of care, the portions of the record available to us suggest that the error was harmless with respect to Coulter's ability to prove the elements of her case against these defendants and afford us no basis for disturbing the court's ruling.