More attorneys and paralegals than I can track have called looking for “an orthopaedic surgeon” for a lumbar or cervical spine surgery malpractice case. Although orthopaedic surgeons treat spines medically, unless they are fellowship-trained in spine surgery, they do not operate on the spine. Orthopaedic surgeons trained in spine surgery are called orthopaedic spine surgeons. The other specialty that operates on the spine is neurosurgery. Typically, the paralegal or attorney calling has minimally researched the defendant and found them to be “board certified in orthopaedic surgery” hence the request for an orthopaedic surgeon. Retaining a (mere) orthopaedic surgeon arguably crosses the border into legal malpractice and risks expert preclusion. That is because in most states there is a requirement in malpractice cases to have an expert who performs the procedure in question. Similarly, retaining an orthopaedic spine surgeon in a case involving a neurosurgeon—or vice versa—can result in expert preclusion in states that require a malpractice expert be board certified in the same field as the defendant.
Medical-Legal Triage: Expert Preclusion Avoided