Florida doctor indicted over expert qualifications

The case highlights the debate over whether medical expert testimony needs to be regulated outside of the courts.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Feb. 19, 2007.

In a rare case, a Florida physician is facing criminal charges for allegedly lying about his qualifications when he testified as a medical expert witness in a medical liability case in Michigan.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan filed perjury and fraud charges against Miami cardiovascular surgeon Alex Zakharia, MD, accusing the doctor of knowingly inflating his surgical experience during a deposition for a plaintiff.

The federal government was defending the medical liability lawsuit, in which the Dept. of Veteran Affairs was sued for alleged inadequate medical care during a coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

The criminal indictment that stemmed from the underlying lawsuit accuses the plaintiff's expert Dr. Zakharia of falsely testifying that he was the lead surgeon in an average of 10 to 12 coronary bypass graft procedures per year in the 6 years leading up to the case. Hospital records the government obtained showed that he hadn't done any, according to court records.

U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy, in a statement, called the physician's conduct "an abuse" of the legal system. "Those who hold themselves out as 'experts' offering testimony in legal proceedings must respect the system as well as their profession by telling the truth," he said.

Murphy's office declined to comment further. Dr. Zakharia and his attorney did not return calls for comment. Dr. Zakharia denied the allegations in a Miami Herald report.

Legal and medical experts say criminal charges against an expert witness are extremely rare in medical liability cases. Because perjury is difficult to prove -- especially when it comes to a medical opinion -- criminal prosecution is not always a viable recourse, according to legal experts.