Prescription drug experts, more commonly called toxicologists in court, play a vital role in cases involving drug monitoring, drug abuse, and exposure to toxic chemicals or substances. Toxicologists are part of the medical expert witness services attorneys or the court can obtain to provide important testimony in cases where cause of injury or death needs to be established. Here are a few reasons prescription drug experts are so important to medical courtroom cases.
What Is a Prescription Drug Expert?
Prescriptions are often used to treat several conditions. Prescription drug experts are uniquely educated and experienced in the use of prescription drugs, as well as nonprescription drugs and toxic chemicals and substances. This makes them extremely valuable as medical expert witnesses in cases involving the use of drugs or chemicals for pain management, physical rehabilitation, pharmaceuticals, pediatric pharmacotherapy, pharmacology, retail pharmacy, toxicology, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), medical health care law, anesthesiology, medical insurance, and other disciplines that might be the focus of a litigation.
The Role of a Prescription Drug Expert in Court
As a prescription drug expert, aka toxicologist, you are called on to provide their expert opinion on a case. This opinion is based on instances of malpractice, including prescribing the wrong medication, improperly informing a patient about the nature of their treatment, unforeseen side effects of medications, neglecting patients, problems with medical insurance, and so on. Prescription drug experts also have experience with the operation of pharmacies, managed care, health care fraud, prescription costs, drug interactions, prescription abuse, side effects, and much more. This is why attorneys use toxicologists as expert medical witnesses so often in medical court cases. The most important role of a prescription drug specialist, though, in court cases, is to provide the cause of injury or death of the plaintiff.
Pill Mill Cases
There has been a recent increase in Pill Mill cases, where physicians and their staff are accused of overprescribing prescriptions to patients that they don’t need or are too expensive, just to make a large profit. Many of these cases utilize expert witness services to determine whether the physicians or their staff involved performed their duties properly and prescribed the correct prescriptions. Prescription drug experts are an important type of medical expert witness in these types of cases. Their most important contribution is their reviews of patient charts and files of everyone who was prescribed a medication the government claims was fraudulent.
Prescription drug experts are uniquely qualified to determine whether or not patient files are sufficient and if the prescriptions were administered correctly and were medically necessary. They can also decide if the proper referrals were made, if the doctor performed a satisfactory physical exam, and if patients were properly informed of the proper use and side effects of prescribed medications. Ultimately, prescription drug experts help find the truth in cases involving medications, drugs, and other chemicals.
If you are interested in learning more about prescription drug experts, visit Reliable Clinical Experts.
