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Who We Are 
We are a medical-legal review and referral firm based in Los Angeles with experts and clients nationwide. We offer medical and biomedical experts in virtually all specialties and sub-specialties. We also can provide paramedical experts such as dentists, EMTs, podiatrists or registered nurses.

Our experts will serve as consultants and expert witnesses
for nearly every legal proceeding requiring medical or similar expertise. Our clients include attorneys, both plaintiff and defense, insurance companies and HMOs, government agencies and private individuals in every state and several foreign countries.

We specialize in referrals of experts in hard to find specialties or with highly specialized clinical or research experience. We represent panel experts that are contracted with us and independents who deal directly with our clients.

       
        We also offer a preliminary review at a reduced price for those lawyers and individuals that are
        uncertain about the merits of their case. Medical reviewers are all board-certified and many experts do
        both expert consultation and medical review. For fees and additional information, please click on the
        memorandum for attorneys in the left-sided column.

Contact Us
Contact us by telephone (local or toll-free), fax, e-mail or regular mail. We will respond quickly. We offer a free of charge discussion of your case and expert requirements with our executive director. He has been an expert witness for more than 25 years and is uniquely qualified to assist you in evaluating your case.

                                            MedicoLegal Consultants          Toll-Free: 1-888-661-3593
                                            11041 Santa Monica Blvd. #719          Tel: (310) 444-7960
                                            Los Angeles, CA 90025                         Fax: (310) 444-7912
                                                                     E-mail: experts@mlegal.com

      Medical-Legal News & Comment*
          Important articles and reports affecting the medical-legal community and the public at large.

        Special Links
Is Your Malpractice Defense Lawyer Working Against You?
This interesting article suggests that your defense lawyer in a malpractice case may have divided loyalties and be subject to pressure from your malpractice carrier.
Must You Still Practice Defensive Medicine to Avert a Malpractice Lawsuit?
All the pros and cons of defensive medicine: is it to avoid malpractice, protect the patient or pad the bill?
Professional Liability Risk
This compendium of the elements of medical malpractice and risk management
        is required reading for physicians, attorneys and patients contemplating legal action.
        Ten Ways Lawyers Kill Their Own Experts
        Here are ten ways in which lawyers work against their own experts and how to avoid them.
          The Perils of Being an Expert Witness
          Pitfalls and liability exposure for being an expert witness in medical malpractice cases, licensing
        board proceedings and professional organization membership.
          Those Medical Tests Are Yours
        This is a brief summary about getting medical records and test results from your doctor, and how
        much you can be charged.
       
        Legal Sites
Attorney
Attorney.org offers the latest news and information in the legal world.
Laws
Laws.com covers state and federal laws, while also featuring recent legal news.
Legal Directory        
NewLawyer.com provides users with free legal advice by connecting them with
attorneys through phone to phone consultations.
         
          Noteworthy Articles 2009-2010
 
Illinois Court Overturns Malpractice Statute
The New York Times 02-04-10
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned a five year old medical malpractice suit
that limited non-compensatory damages to $500,000 for doctors and $1 million
         for hospitals. Needless to say, the Chicago based American Medical Association was not pleased.
        
         January
           Top Hospitals Have 29% Lower Mortality
         Fierce Healthcare 01-26-10
           Delaware ranks first and Massachusetts doesn't make the cut? What's happening in the world of
         hospitals. More than 150,000 Medicare patient deaths and 13,000 in hospital complications could be
         avoided each year if all hospitals performed as well as those ranked in the top 5 percent nationally,
         according to a new HealthGrades study. A 29% lower mortality rate and 9% lower complication rate
         in the top hospitals!
                                                       
          Malpractice System Survives Healthcare Overhaul Intact
        Los Angeles Times 01-19-10
        The trial lawyers triumph by excluding any meaningful change in the tort system in the new healthcare
        legislation pending in Congress.

          It is Patients Who Most Need Tort Reform
          New England Journal of Medicine 01-07-10 
        A modest proposal for tort reform from Kenneth Coleman, MD unless you are a plaintiff's attorney.

        December          
          Denying Malpractice Can Threaten Patient Safety
          Fierce Healthcare 12-14-09
        Here is an article with a new way of looking at the relationship of patient safety and medical malpractice.
        According to some authorities denying medical errors (and there are many) allows them to continue to the
        detriment of many other patients. As author Emily Paulsen points out, it is difficult to deny an error and
        then examine how things could have been done better.
              
        November
        Outcome Reporting in Industry-Sponsored Trials of Gabapentin for Off-Label Use
          The New England Journal of Medicine 11-12-09
       If you're going to fudge the data of your research results you'd better be sure that it stays within
        the company under lock and key. In this case some benevolent soul or whistleblower sent
        internal company records to outside scientists who found stark differences between Pfizer's actual
        results for an off-label trial of gabapentin and that which was published.

          Judge Allows Constitutional Challenge to Human Gene Patents
          The American Lawyer 11-04-09
        A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the patenting of human genome
        sequences. The case involves patents held by the University of Utah and their licensee Myriad
        Genetics for the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 that are linked to human breast and ovarian cancer. The
        plaintiffs claim that these genes are products of nature and cannot be patented. They claim that
        Myriad's attempts to enforce the patents limits genetic research and violates the First Amendment.

        *See Medicolegal News for additional links.