- "...we are very pleased with the outcome of all four cases and I believe the clients are as well. Your work definitely contributed to the successful resolution of these cases and is greatly appreciated."
- Mass Tort Plaintiff Attorney
- "Thank you so very much for your help (and quick work at the end!) on this case - your insight was quite helpful to bring this case to a close."
- Assistant United States Attorney
- "I am pleased to report to you that, based in large part to your comprehensive report, the attorney for the Patient Compensation Fund has indicated to me that he has no issue with paying the maximum in this case."
- Plaintiff Attorney
- "It was great pleasure working with you on this matter. It
was a quantum leap beyond my prior litigation expert experience.
- Defense Attorney
- "I want to thank you for your work in the field of patient
safety. I have drawn on it for a book I am writing about my wife's
experiences at Johns Hopkins, Collateral
Damage.
- Dan Walter
- "We enjoyed your lecture and found it to be very interesting
and informative. We hope you will be available for other lectures
in the future."
- Grand Rounds Coordinator
- Comments from a joint presentation to members of the Department
of Justice and FBI:
"The evaluations listed Dr. Bursztajn's presentation as the
highlight of the day":
- Dr. Bursztajn has incredible skill, but his compassion and
obvious respect for people make him so likeable that you
want to open up to him.
- Dr. Bursztajn was excellent!
- Dr. Bursztajn was outstanding!
- Comments from a presentation at a Workers Compensation Seminar:
"Excellent; Superb; discussion, not just power points; should
be expanded to 2 or 3 days; wonderful, warm and interpersonal
teaching style; friendly, sincere teacher who gives straight,
useful answers"
- "Dr. Bursztajn:
This matter was satisfactorily settled based, in large part,
on your proposed testimony."
- Estate Attorney
- "Dear Dr. Bursztajn:
The evaluations which were submitted by the attendees contained
many positive comments about the content and format of the course
and your presentation. We are pleased that so many of the participants
found the program to be valuable and are tremendously grateful
for your contribution.
Without your participation and commitment we would not be able
to offer important seminars such as this one."
- Seminar Assistant Director
- "Dear Dr. Bursztajn:
Your participation helped make the seminar a success. We greatly
appreciate the time and energy you devoted to preparing your
remarks.
The evaluations which were submitted by the attendees contained
many positive comments about the content and format of the course
and your presentation. We are pleased that so many of the participants
found the program to be valuable and are tremendously grateful
for your contribution."
- Seminar Assistant Director
-
"In his decision, the judge specifically mentioned your
testimony, and your findings specifically contributed to the
judge's finding that [asylum seeker] was prevented from affirmatively
filing for asylum due to PTSD."
- Immigration Attorney
-
"Bursztajn is terrific."
- MCLE program participant
-
"By all accounts, this course was highly praised by the
students and proved to be an effective learning event. ... We
truly appreciate the time and energy you devoted to helping prepare
our attorneys to defend medical malpractice cases."
- Director of Legal Education
-
"...you were one of our top reviewers because of the quality
and timeliness of your reviews. Your thorough, detailed expert
evaluation of scientific papers submitted to [us] made an important
contribution to the journal's success and influence."
- Medical Journal Editor-in-Chief
-
"Dr. Bursztajn's testimony was, in my mind and those of other
courtroom observers, instrumental in the jury's decision to sentence
the defendant to life imprisonment rather than death. Had I known
of Dr. Bursztajn in my previous cases I would have certainly
asked him to be a member of the defense team."
- Defense Lawyer
-
"The colleague I rely on for my risk management consultation."
- Harvard Medical School Professor of Cardiology.
-
"Very precise and helpful."
- National Physician's Group Director
-
"Leading expert in employment litigation risk prevention."
- Corporate Counsel.
-
"Dr. Bursztajn's opinion was a model of carefully nuanced
diagnosis."
- Federal District Judge, favorable opinion.
-
"Dr. Bursztajn's pro bono work on my client's behalf
for Physicians for Human Rights is most appreciated."
- Immigration Attorney
-
"Has tremendously improved the quality of patient care and
employment practices in a hospital."
- Hospital Medical Director.
- In response to Dr. Bursztajn's presentation at Harvard School of
Public Health:
"The responses from the participants were exceedingly
positive; their praise is directly due to the time, effort, and
concern that you put into your presentation and the quality of
your delivery."
- In response to a presentation at Harvard Medical School:
"Dr. Bursztajn at Harvard Medical School Risk Management
has continued to be very helpful."
- In Response to a presentation at Boston University:
- "Dr. Bursztajn really managed to encapsulate nicely
those features of practice we are most ignorant about, i.e.
legal concerns, but did so in such a way that anxiety about
same was minimized rather than heightened. Most attorneys
I have dealt with do not have either knack!"
- "Have not had to go to court - yet! - but felt that,
if I am subpoenaed will be more prepared and less anxious."
- "Dr. Bursztajn presented remarkably useful material
and suggestions."
- Dr. Bursztajn as a recognized expert on Post-Daubert Criteria
for Reliability and Relevance of Experts:
"Reliability and Relevance of Experts"
from The Internet Fact Finder for Lawyers
by Joshua E. Blackman with David Jank
ABA Publications, 750 North Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60611
Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D. is an associate clinical professor
of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He also has broad courtroom
experience as an expert witness in civil and criminal litigation.
In his forensic practice, he has consulted to plaintiff and defense
counsel and to state and federal agencies as an expert in medical-legal
decision making and forensic psychiatry.
Dr. Bursztajn's Web site (http://www.forensic-psych.com)
focuses on the nexus of forensic psychiatry, medicine, and the
law. He offers the following insights regarding using the Net
to find medical experts:
With its emphasis on judicial discretion and the judge as "gatekeeper" for
admitting expert testimony, Daubert
v. Merrel Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 113 S. Ct.
2786 (1993), has been slowly but steadily transforming how
attorneys seek experts. With the increasing likelihood that
an expert's testimony will face judicial scrutiny, the reliability
and relevance of an expert's analysis and evaluation needs
to be established long before trial; ideally prior to retaining
an expert. While the specific guidelines enumerated by the
Supreme Court for scientific testimony are most often used
to evaluate the quantitative sciences, the more general criteria
of reliability and relevance are increasingly used by judges
to evaluate the admissibility of applied science-based expert
medical opinion.
One of my most common forensic consultations is to evaluate
another "expert's" opinion. When I analyze it is
as unreliable or irrelevant on medical decision analytic
grounds, the attorney or court that has retained me can rapidly
move to dismiss either the questionable testimony or the
claim or defense as a whole that is founded on such testimony
(Mayotte M. Jones v. Metrowest Medical Inc. (CA-96-10860-WD).
By researching via the Internet, an attorney seeking an expert
can avoid both false starts and subsequent disappointments.
The Internet offers the following advantages for evaluating
the potential usefulness of a medical expert in light of
the general principles of Daubert:
- Reliability: The medical expert needs to be
both a practicing physician who consults to other physicians
and patients, and well published in refereed medical
journals. This information can be gleaned from the expert's
Web page more easily than from the c.v. alone. The Web
page will often include not only a complete c.v., but
also selected case citations and authored publications.
Moreover, the expert with a resource page on the Web
is more likely to be able to do computer-aided literature
searches. Such research can provide the foundation for
the reviews and analysis needed to corroborate the reliability
of another expert's opinion. In addition, such research
can identify alternative opinions in the medical community.
- Relevance: The medical expert needs to show
ability to teach not only other medical professionals
but also an ability to teach other professionals and
educated laypersons, for example, judges, attorneys,
and jurors. The attorney can have some sense of how the
expert teaches in a public context by reviewing the expert's
Web page. The fact that an expert has a content-filled,
yet user-friendly Web page can itself be an indication
that an expert has the competence, confidence, and sensitivity
to present work in a public context with authority rather
than arrogance, and in a relevant and meaningful manner.
-
Psychiatric Times reader review: commenting on Dr.
Bursztajn's article "Ethics
and the Triage Model in Managed Care Psychiatry", which
can be found in the September 1998 issue.
Dr. Wear-Finkle, a Risk Manager for the psychiatry department
of the United States Navy wrote to Psychiatric Times expressing
her comments on the article.
I would like to commend Drs. Bursztajn, Gutheil and Brodsky
for their insightful article, "Ethics and the Triage
Model in Managed Health Care Hospital Psychiatry," Published
in the Sept. 1998 issue of Psychiatric Times.
I agree with their premise that extreme care must be exercised
when applying the triage model to a peacetime, non-emergency
setting. The article eloquently presents the many countertransference
issues involved, with the potential results of limiting or
denying care based on the likability of the patient.
- Deborah J. Wear-Finkle, M.D., MPA Pensacola, Fla.
Dr. Bursztajn has an active patient care practice and consults to physicians,
institutions, judges, and plaintiff and defense counsel nationally.