Wisc. physicians can't be forced to testify as expert witnesses

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ruled that an obstetrician-gynecologist cannot be compelled to testify against a patient's former physician when a lawyer misses a deadline to name an expert witness. The decision, which reversed a lower court's decision, fell in line with friend-of-the-court briefs filed by the American Medical Association and the Wisconsin Medical Society.

Had the Supreme Court allowed the lower court's decision to stand, ob/gyn Charles Koh, MD, would have been forced to testify as an expert witness in a medical malpractice case against a patient's former ob/gyn. Koh had been reluctant to testify.