An Indiana man brought an Indiana medical malpractice claim against a doctor whom he alleged failed to properly treat his toe infection, ultimately leading to a below the knee amputation. As required in Indiana medical malpractice cases, he filed a proposed complaint for medical malpractice with the Indiana Department of Insurance. He alleged that the doctor failed to properly treat him for osteomyelitis in his toe, resulting in the need for a transmetatarsal amputation. The Medical Review Panel (“MRP”) issued an opinion finding the defendant failed to comply with the applicable standard of care as charged in the complaint and that the conduct complained of was a factor of the resultant damages.
Subsequently, the defendant provided the MRP members with the defense expert affidavits. Each panelist responded by providing an affidavit stating, “the Medical Review Panel opinion I signed does not correctly reflect my opinions on this case.”
The Indiana medical malpractice trial resulted in a verdict in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff appealed, arguing that the MRP panelists should not be allowed to change their minds after the MRP issued its opinion, noting that before the panelists consider evidence or render an opinion, they must affirm under oath to “well and truly consider the evidence submitted by the parties” and to render their opinions “without bias, based upon the evidence submitted by the parties,” and without communicating with any party before rendering their opinions. The plaintiff further argued on appeal that allowing panelists to change their opinions “eliminates all credibility of the Panel process and the Panel Members Opinion,” and that because Indiana Code Section 34-18-10-25(d) assigns fees of the panel to the side in whose favor the majority MRP opinion is written, allowing the MRP panelists to change their minds “creates barriers of time and expense for most plaintiffs, and increases the costs of cases, costs that will be borne by both parties.”
The Court of Appeals of Indiana stated in its Memorandum Decision dated December 11, 2023, “Typically, all witnesses, including experts, may change their opinions. See 32 C.J.S. Evidence § 980. At trial, a party’s counsel may challenge an expert witness during cross-examination about whether the expert changed her opinion to help the other party’s case. We find nothing conflicting with the notion that a member of the MRP can both “well and truly consider the evidence” before rendering an opinion and later come to a different conclusion based on new or additional evidence.”
If you or a loved one were harmed as a result of medical malpractice in Indiana or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Indiana medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice malpractice case, if appropriate.
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