115 – Malorie Peacock – How to Get Compelling Testimony From Treating Doctors

What this episode covers

Getting credible testimony from treating doctors can make or break your case. In this episode, https://www.cowenlaw.com/team/michael-cowen (Michael) and https://www.cowenlaw.com/team/malorie-peacock (Malorie) are sharing their strategies to get powerful testimony from treating doctors, work through common challenges, and help build your case. While the personal knowledge of the treating physician establishes significantly more credibility than a hired expert, it’s imperative the doctor communicates well and speaks in a way the jury can understand — without all of the medical jargon. Remember: treating doctors aren’t professional testifiers. The lawyer needs to ensure that the treating doctor is prepared to give efficient, compelling testimony. You’re the guide who’s questions will lead the doctor along the trail of your strategy, and avoid getting stuck in the weeds of mundane details. Malorie’s strategies to guide the story include magic words and visuals. Magic words or questions ensure you get what you need from the witness and end up with valuable testimony. Visuals (like diagrams, animations, or demonstrations) can help the jury visualize the story — as long as your visuals are relevant to your trial strategy. To wrap everything up, Malorie suggests you leave the jury with the major takeaway from your witness…just make sure it connects to the next part of your case. Tune in to episode 115 as Michael and Malorie discuss strategies and best practices for working with treating doctors, the do’s and don’ts of getting valuable testimony, preparing the witness, and utilizing their testimony to build a compelling story for the jury. Featured Guest Name: https://www.cowenlaw.com/team/malorie-peacock (Malorie J. Peacock) About: Malorie J. Peacock is a Partner at https://www.cowenlaw.com/ (Cowen Rodriguez Peacock). She was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and received her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center. During her time with Cowen Rodriguez Peacock, Malorie has worked on numerous commercial vehicle, trucking, and wrongful death cases. Malorie brings close attention to detail, commitment to finding safety issues and areas of neglect, continued utilization of technology and cutting-edge visuals in cases, along with a sincere passion to help those who have been hurt, to each and every case. Company: https://www.cowenlaw.com/ (Cowen Rodriguez Peacock) Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malorie/ (LinkedIn) Key Points Top takeaways from this episode * Testimony from treating doctors can be crucial for a win. A treating doctor can testify from a place of personal knowledge, showing the jury what happened from a medical perspective. They have more credibility than someone you might hire, and because of their longer history with the client, they’re harder to cross-examine. Bringing in treating doctors has its share of challenges. Although treating doctors can be critical for a case, there are often challenges when bringing them in to testify. Doctors speak their own language; they often use medical jargon that the average person won’t understand. So, if you want to work through these challenges, you need to make sure your treating doctor is using colloquial language and is a great communicator. You should think about your case from a storytelling perspective. It can be easy for a treating doctor to get into every detail of the medical procedure, condition, or patient visit. As a lawyer, you want to guide the treating doctor and make sure they stay on track, only sharing details that are relevant to your case strategy. Be careful not to be leading or argumentative, but build your story with key components and questions that make the testimony understandable. Episode Highlights