MD in a Box Offers Attorneys Expert Medical Advice
Service Even Provides Cross-Examination Questions |
By: SHARON H. FITZGERALD
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It just depends: MD in a Box could be the best friend of a physician entangled in a lawsuit, or the Florida-based company could be the doctor’s version of a nightmare.
Founded in 2005, MD in a Box is the brainchild of Dorothy Clay Sims, a trial attorney in Ocala, Fla., with 20 years of workers’ compensation experience under her belt. Her pet peeve; physicians, most of whom no longer practice, who are hired guns for insurance companies in workers’ compensation, personal injury and long-term disability cases.
“A number of years ago, I began to notice that a couple of doctors were routinely finding nothing wrong with my clients and reaching very similar diagnoses over and over again. I became suspect about the honesty of their opinions, because my treating doctors were telling me these patients needed treatment,” she recalled. “I really believe that there was a concerted effort on the part of certain doctors to never find anything wrong with anybody no matter what. It made me mad.” Many times, she added, her suspicions were confirmed by her physician husband.
MD in a Box was born after a trip to India doing medical volunteer work; while in New Delhi, Sims’ husband needed healthcare himself.
“I realized how little the doctors were paid there, and I was so impressed with our friends’ abilities,” Sims said.
That’s when she decided to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone — meet the needs of attorneys by providing expert medical advice and meet the needs of Indian doctors by augmenting their incomes.
“I needed somebody to explain the medicine to me, and I knew that other attorneys did as well,” she said.
MD in a Box is an internet-based service that puts plaintiff attorneys in contact with a doctor in India in real time. The physician listens in during depositions and even trials and sends questions via instant message to guide the attorney during questioning or cross-examination. The Indian physician may even cite peer-reviewed articles and other references to bolster the plaintiff’s position. Of course, if you’re the expert physician witness for an insurance company and you’re on the stand, this might be problematic — or at least disconcerting.
“If the doctor who is testifying is straightforward about what he’s saying, this won’t mean a damn thing. The doctor in India will not have anything to add, because the testifying doctor is correct,” Sims said. “But if a doctor is extremely upset that another medical professional is online helping the lawyer understand the testimony, that’s different. If the testifying doctor is planning on making something up and planning on manipulating medicine, then he’d better watch out.”
Sims said she sympathizes with physicians who treat a patient, usually someone who’s injured, in good faith and end up not being paid for services rendered because of reports and testimony by less-than-reputable medical experts who charge $500 to $1,000 an hour.
“What outrages me the most is this: The doctors who are out there practicing medicine are being vilified and victimized by certain experts who always work for the defense industry,” she said. “Some of these people don’t even treat patients — and haven’t in decades. And yet they’re writing reports saying that the treating doctor did all of these things wrong and denying medical care for the plaintiff.” She added that physicians in these situations usually don’t have the time to sift through the paperwork and offer a “cogent analysis” of the care they provided.
Sims said her company has been involved in “well over 100 cases so far,” and a majority have been of the workers’ comp, personal injury and long-term disability variety. However, attorneys have taken advantage of MD in a Box services in other ways as well.
“In a malpractice case against a physician, our doctors in New Delhi found weaknesses in the opinion of the plaintiff’s expert,” she said. Her doctors have also been on the side of the plaintiff against a physician during a med-mal trial.
Attorneys have also turned to MD in a Box for help deciding whether to take a malpractice case. She recalled one instance: “It looked very clearly to be malpractice, and yet one of our doctors who evaluated the case said that it’s really kind of irrelevant whether there was malpractice because the damages were going to occur regardless. So, don’t take the case. … I think one thing a lawyer doesn’t want is a witness to tell them what they want to hear, and they end up taking a bad case.”
Physicians have begun asking whether MD in a Box docs would be interested in providing background research on a case or coordinating medical records. That may be a next step for the company, Sims said.
MD in a Box has about 50 physicians on contract in India so far, and those physicians are heavily vetted, she said. At the suggestion of some physicians, Sims said the company may start looking toward Vietnam for physicians to add to the roster.
December 2007 |
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