Brain Injury Defense Experts. Are They Impartial?
Neuropsychiatrists are sometimes used as experts in Traumatic Brain Injury cases because they have knowledge of medicine and psychology. Injured parties and those being sued will often hire neuropsychiatrists to give opinions at trial regarding medication, physiological aspects of injuries, etc.
When the defense hires an expert, that expert often testifies contrary to the plaintiff's expert, and it becomes a battle of the experts. However, all witnesses, both lay and expert, are supposed to be unbiased or impartial. In other words, they are not supposed to have any personal or financial interest in the outcome.
Recently, a New Hampshire court judge ruled that a plaintiff's lawyer could demand that a defense neuropsychiatric expert provide copies of tax returns. The plaintiff simply wanted to demonstrate, in essence, that a substantial portion of the expert's income came from testifying for defendants. For whatever reason, the expert, rather than disclose the tax returns, opted to not testify in the case.
