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Who We Are 
We are a medical-legal search 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. For fees and referral policies, please click on the memorandum for attorneys in the left sided panel.
  
    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.

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*
  
                    
Eighteen California Hospitals Fined by the State
The Los Angeles Times 08/19/08
Eighteen hospitals, mostly in Southern California, have been fined by the state
public health department for placing patients in danger or outright malpractice. The
      usual fine is $25,000 per incident. Some of the fines were for particularly egregious mishaps:  
      patients falling off the operating table or out of a wheelchair, overdoses causing death, sponges
      or other surgical instruments left in place requiring a second surgery for removal, mislabeling of a
      tissue sample leading to unnecessary surgery and many other "never" events. The list of hospitals
      fined includes such prestigious institutions as UCLA-Harbor, Los Angeles County-USC and Loma Linda
      University medical centers as well as several Kaiser hospitals. Prospective patients: beware!

        Partisan Expert Witnesses Unique in the American Justice System
      The New York Times 08/11/08
      The American practice of experts hired by the prosecution and by the defense in
      civil and criminal cases is rare beyond the U.S. borders. In most countries the
      court appoints independent experts to provide technical opinions while in some, like Australia,
      the witnesses for each side appear together and cross-examine each other. All too often in the
      U.S. system the expert opinions conform to those favorable to the side signing the paycheck.
      Sometimes, when expert opinions are in significant conflict, the judge must step in and hire his
      own expert or throw out the opinions of the experts from both sides.   

       More Snooping of Patient Records at UCLA Medical Center
       The Los Angeles Times 08/05/08
      The urge by unauthorized personnel to look at patient records, especially those of
      the rich and famous seems irresistible, at least at UCLA Medical Center. The number
      of UCLA staff members implicated in spying on patients records is now up to 127 with no end in sight.
      Several of these medical paparazzi have been dismissed or disciplined and one enterprising employee
      who used her supervisor's password to gain access to the records of celebrity patients has now
      been indicted. The latter included social security numbers as well as much medical and personal
      information, some of which was allegedly sold to the tabloids. The hospital claims they have
      upgraded their computer security system that allowed such easy access to patient records.
 

Supreme Court Tightens Scope of False Claims Act
American Medical News 07/28/08
The U.S. Supreme Court recently narrowed the application of the False Claims Act
      that the government has often used to pursue health care providers or purveyors of
      medical equipment. The main sticking point involves contractors that do not bill the government
      directly but go through a third party. Can the former be held liable for a fraudulent claim by the latter?
      Congress has been seeking to tighten the rules regarding such claims and this ruling in Allison Engine
      Co. Inc. v. United States may give them added impetus.
    
     New Jersey Judge Throws Out HRT Product Liability Cases
        New Jersey Law Journal 07-15-08
        A New Jersey Superior Court judge has dismissed two product liability lawsuits against the makers
      of Prempro, Premarin and Provera, well established hormone replacement drugs intended to
      minimize menopausal symptoms. The plaintiffs contended that the drugs increased the risk of breast
      cancer and that the manufacturers, Wyeth, Phamacia and Upjohn Co., did not include adequate
      label warnings. However the drug labels were approved by the FDA and the court rejected the
      argument that the makers should have conducted additional studies prior to marketing. The
      decision, now on appeal, casts doubt on the validity of some 168 pending New Jersey HRT cases.

     FDA Mandates a Black Box Warning for Tendon Rupture Related to Fluoroquinolone Drugs
        Medscape Medical News 07-09-08
      The FDA has required the makers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics to publish a so-called "black box"
      warning about the increased risk of tendon rupture related to use of the drug. The warning is
      usually placed in prescribing information for physicians that accompany the drug and also in
      prescribing guides such as the Physician's Desk Reference. This category includes Cipro, Levaquin,
      Floxin, Noroxin and several other drugs of this widely prescribed chemical class. Though Achilles
      tendon ruptures have been most frequently reported, shoulder and hand tendons have also been
      affected. Doubtless this serious complication will be the basis for product liability lawsuits.
    
     Serious Patient Errors at California Hospitals Disclosed in State Filings
        The Los Angeles Times 07-01-08
      Some 1,002 cases of serious medical harm were disclosed by California hospitals between July 2007
      and May of this year. The disclosures are the first under a state law that requires hospitals to inform
      health regulators of all substantial injuries to their patients. Revelations of such errors have led
      lawmakers and hospital associations in at least seven states to protect patients from having to pay
      for the cost of care that went awry. In Sacramento, an assemblyman proposed a ban on reimbursing
      hospitals for the types of injuries tracked by the state. But when lobbyists for doctors and hospitals
      objected, he scaled it back to cover far fewer errors. Many of these errors occurred despite safeguards
      specifically designed to prevent harm.

       *Important medical-legal news. See Medicolegal News for additional links.