Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg on the Perry Mason Moment That Sank the Plaintiff's Expert,

What happens when a Queens DA prosecutor who spent six years putting felony offenders away in domestic violence and special victims cases discovers that everything she learned about expert witnesses, burden of proof, and preparing witnesses for hostile questioning translates perfectly into defending physicians — and then teams up with a partner who grew up inside a medical family, watched her physician father do expert work on malpractice cases, came out of Hofstra already thinking in anatomy and science, and built her specialty around seeing every case as a chess match where you are always thinking about the appellate record before the trial even begins? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg, partners co-leading the Medical Malpractice Defense Division at Abrams Fensterman, about what is actually going through a physician's mind the morning they open a summons, why talking to a colleague who has also been sued is one of the most legally dangerous things a doctor can do, and why the belief that the truth will simply come out at trial is one of the costliest assumptions in the field. Jennifer walks through the Perry Mason moment she actually experienced — forcing the plaintiff's expert to admit that the book he edited was authoritative, then hammering him on the specific chapter her client had followed to the letter, until he announced he didn't care about the book and sent his water cup flying — and explains how she used pasta to help a jury understand the difference between an arteriovenous malformation in the lung versus elsewhere in the body. They also discuss the causation defense that Melissa used to win a rheumatic fever case at the appellate division after losing summary judgment — where even a correct diagnosis on the day of the visit could not have changed the patient's outcome — why the hospital or employer is not always on the physician's side, how the appellate record has to be built during trial before anyone knows whether an appeal will be needed, and why Abrams Fensterman's one-stop-shop model gives physicians something most malpractice defense firms simply cannot offer. Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg are partners co-leading the Medical Malpractice Defense Division at Abrams Fensterman in Lake Success, New York. Connect with Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg: abramslaw.com Phone: 516-328-2300 Lake Success, New York Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Jennifer Higgins and Melissa Goldberg 00:54 Jennifer's path — six years as a Queens DA in domestic violence and special victims, then pivoting to physician defense 02:11 What pulled her out of the DA's office — student loans, a love of complexity, and the courtroom 03:23 Working with DNA and medical experts as a prosecutor — and how that prepared her for retaining defense experts 03:53 Melissa's path — growing up in a medical family and going straight into healthcare defense 05:09 A doctor opens a summons on a Tuesday morning — what is happening inside that person's mind 05:41 The first call to the insurance carrier — notify immediately and request preferred counsel 06:43 Doctors who don't even know who the plaintiff is — how that happens and how the team handles it 07:50 Over 95% of physicians experience significant emotional distress when sued — what Jennifer sees across the table 08:13 Hand-holding through every step — phone calls on weekends and bringing the blood pressure down 09:30 When malpractice leads to OPMC licensing issues — working hand in hand with the full-service team 10:01 Jennifer as the litigator, Melissa as the strategist and appellate thinker — how the two roles work together 11:09 Seeing every case as a chess match — anticipating every move before making any decision 11:25 How often cases actually reach trial — and why preparing every case for trial is the standard anyway 11:48 The discovery process — medical records, depositions, and the path to resolution 12:43 Path A versus path B — thinking through long-term ramifications of every litigation decision 13:08 Building the appellate record during trial — why having appellate counsel in the room matters 14:06 Notifying the insurance carrier and what to say and what never to say on that first call 15:19 The cardinal rule — talk only to your carrier and your lawyer, nobody else 16:55 The physician deposition — talking too much is the single biggest mistake 17:43 How deposition differs from trial — open questions versus controlled cross-examination 18:39 Preparing physicians for deposition — you do not throw them to the wolves 19:32 Taking apart the plaintiff's medical expert — cross-examination and prior contradictory testimony #JenniferHiggins #MelissaGoldberg #AbramsFensterman #MedicalMalpracticeDefense #TrustcastShow #PhysicianDefense #NewYorkMalpractice #StandardOfCare #HealthcareLaw #MalpracticeAttorney