Appellate court ruling allows discipline over expert testimony from a neurosurgeon

A court says it welcomes medical societies' help in weeding out improper expert witness testimony in malpractice cases.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. July 2, 2001.

Medical society members may want to take a closer look at their organizations' professional standards.

In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June said a professional society could discipline a member if his or her behavior in the courtroom wasn't up to snuff.

The court said the American Assn. of Neurological Surgeons was allowed to suspend a member after a hearing showed that he had given improper testimony as an expert witness at a medical malpractice trial.

"It's a way of affirming to the public that organized medicine is interested in policing its own ranks," said AANS attorney Russell M. Pelton.

"It sends a strong message not only to the public, but also to the physicians that there are standards you have to uphold," added Illinois State Medical Society President Ronald L. Ruecker, MD, a gastroenterologist from Decatur.

ISMS joined the AMA and American College of Surgeons in filing a brief in the case supporting a medical society's right to discipline members after a due process hearing. The groups said providing expert testimony constitutes the practice of medicine and that that practice needs to be subject to peer review.

The case, Donald C. Austin, MD, v. AANS, ended up before the court after the Detroit neurosurgeon sued his professional society, saying the group unfairly suspended him as punishment for testifying for a plaintiff and against a fellow association member.

Dr. Austin said he had lost income after the six-month suspension and asked that the AANS remove the disciplinary action from his record. [...]