Opinion ID: 2399207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sufficient Qualifications to Testify Regarding the Standard of Care

Text: This Court frequently has held that an expert who has substantial credentials in the same or a closely related field as that of the defendant may testify to the standard of care required of a particular professional defendant. See Flanagan v. Wesselhoeft, 712 A.2d 365, 367-68 (RI. 1998); Gallucci, 709 A.2d at 1065; Sheeley v. Memorial Hospital, 710 A.2d 161, 166 (R.I.1998). Thus, in Flanagan, 712 A.2d at 369, this Court reversed a Superior Court justice's decision to exclude expert medical testimony. The defendants challenged the admission of testimony of the plaintiffs' expert on the grounds that the expert, an out-of-state physician, could not testify to the standard of care for a surgeon in Rhode Island. Id. at 367-68. The Court stated that the expert's board certifications and    extensive knowledge, skill, and experience in pediatric surgery should have presumptively permitted his deposition testimony in the form of both fact and opinion to be admitted at trial. Id. at 369. Again, in Sheeley, 710 A.2d at 166, this Court held that [a]ny doctor with knowledge of or familiarity with the procedure, acquired through experience, observation, association, or education, is competent to testify concerning the requisite standard of care and whether the care in any given case deviated from that standard. Here, Dr. Johnson possessed the requisite credentials, experience, and skills to allow him to testify about the standard of care owed to plaintiff, whether defendants breached that standard of care, and whether any breach caused plaintiffs injuries. Doctor Johnson was a board-certified anesthesiologist. He had degrees in medicine, biomedical science, and medical technology. He completed both a surgical internship and an anesthesia residency, including a fellowship in cardiac anesthesia, high-risk obstetrical anesthesia, and critical care. He had held the position of Director of Anesthesia at several hospitals and Associate Professor of Anesthesia at both the University of Texas Southwest and the Harvard Service of Brigham & Women's Hospital. Indeed, Dr. Johnson was so well qualified that the parties stipulated to his qualifications to testify as an expert on anesthesiology as it related to padding and positioning in an operating room. But instead of having presumptively permitted his opinion testimony to be admitted at trial, as Flanagan, 712 A.2d at 369 required, and instead of adjudging him competent to testify concerning the requisite standard of care and whether the care in any given case deviated from that standard, as Sheeley, 710 A.2d at 166 required, the trial justice ultimately barred him from testifying. In doing so, we hold, the trial justice abused his discretion.