Opinion ID: 484257
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Discogram

Text: 29 Gates' primary doctor, Robert Fleming, testified about his medical treatment of Gates. Early in his care of Gates, he conducted a myelogram, which indicated some assymetric changes at one disc in Gates' lower back. He then conducted a CAT scan and an EMG Nerve Conduction Study, both of which returned only normal results. When Gates continued to complain of pain, Fleming conducted a lumbar discogram, which may successfully test, among other things, whether the patient's complaints of pain are sincere or fabricated. Fleming described the discogram procedure. He also admitted that experts dispute the value of the discogram and that he uses it only in questionable cases when more conventional tests do not reveal the cause of the patient's pain. Partly as a result of the discogram, Dr. Fleming concluded that Gates had a disc abnormality that accounted for some of his pain. 30 Shell then called Dr. Monroe Laborde who testified that the discogram cannot diagnose or verify back pain. Shell also called Dr. Carl Culicchia, who stated that many competent doctors still use the discogram, although experts dispute its effectiveness. Gates then wanted to call another expert to bolster the discogram's reliability. The court excluded such additional testimony. The discogram results formed only a small part of Gates' case, and Dr. Fleming himself admitted that experts dispute the discogram's validity. Again, the district court clearly did not abuse its discretion in calling a halt to further testimony. B. The Jury Charge