In medical malpractice cases, it's often difficult to get doctors who can testify about a colleague's negligence. This conspiracy of silence is one of the difficulties that plague plaintiffs, and their lawyers, pursuing medical malpractice cases. This is unfortunate since the doctors are the experts whose testimonies you may need to win your case

Why It Happens

Here are some of the reasons a doctor may be reluctant to testify against a colleague:

• Fears of angering a colleague – Some doctors aren't enthusiastic about testifying because they don't want to get on the bad side of their colleagues. This is likely to be the case if both the defendant and the witness are from the same locality. A surgeon, for example, may not wish to anger another surgeon that he or she may meet at a medical seminar.
• Fear of generating a bad reputation – Just like in other professions, those who work in the health industry gossip about their interactions with other colleagues. Therefore, a doctor may be apprehensive of testifying against a colleague because he or she may have a bad reputation when word of his or her testimony spreads. An expert witness may not want to be labeled that doctor whose testimony sunk a colleague.

What You Can Do

Due to the conspiracy of silence, you need to work extra hard to get a doctor as an expert witness and win your medical malpractice case. Luckily, there are a few measures to counter this conspiracy; here are a few examples:

• Go beyond the local community – It may be helpful to get outside witnesses since they may be more willing to testify against a local doctor. That may be the case if he or she is convinced that he or she may not have interactions with the defendant after the case.
• Get an experienced lawyer – The medical community may be reluctant to expose one of their member's negligence, but this doesn't mean that they will lie about it. What the defendant's colleague may do is to stall or evade questions, but a good lawyer usually unearths the truth.
• Document everything and bare all to your lawyer – You also have a part to do to strengthen your case and help your personal injury attorney uncover the truth. For example, you need to document your injury, keep all the records, and explain everything to your attorney.

The conspiracy of silence may make it difficult to win your case, but it doesn't mean that you need to give up. In fact, knowing that you may be facing competition right from the start should help you to prepare a strong case from the beginning.  

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