Pennsylvania Court Allows Nurses to Testify as Medical Experts
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that registered nurses can testify as expert medical witnesses in most legal proceedings, reversing its earlier position. In Freed v. Geisinger Medical Center and Healthsouth Corp., the court overturned a trial judge’s decision to disallow expert medical testimony from a nurse concerning the cause of bedsores.
Previously the court’s 1997 ruling in Flanagan v. Labe prevented nurses from serving as medical experts because of restrictions established by Pennsylvania’s Professional Nursing Law. In Freed, the court overruled Flanagan on the grounds that it created an inconsistency between registered and non-registered nurses. According to the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence, even before Freed, non-registered nurses could testify if they qualified as experts based on “knowledge, skill, experience, training or education.” Registered nurses with the same qualifications, however, were prevented from testifying by the Flanagan decision. Now all nurses must simply meet the common law standards for expert witnesses.
After Freed, not all nurses can serve as witnesses in all cases. Pennsylvania’s MCARE Act prevents nurses from serving as medical experts in medical malpractice cases, providing that only registered or recently retired physicians can serve as medical expert witnesses in professional liability cases against doctors. Read more about medical malpractice lawsuits and hospital negligence.