“Within the courtroom, I used to be requested to talk about wounds. However the deepest wounds I noticed weren’t simply in sufferers — they have been in belief, in reality, and within the silence that follows when nobody needs to say what actually occurred.”
I by no means aspired to testify in courtroom. Like most physicians, I skilled to deal with sufferers — to not consider the choices of others. However then a case got here. A affected person was harmed. A clinician was accused. And somebody requested, “Are you able to assist us perceive what occurred?”
So I stated sure. Then I stated sure once more.
And for over ten years, I served as a medical knowledgeable witness — strolling a slender bridge between drugs and the regulation. I stood in courtrooms and convention rooms. I defined physiology to juries, dissected timelines with attorneys, and carried the burden of fact when it was inconvenient for everybody concerned.
It was not straightforward. It was not mild. Nevertheless it was essential.
Wanting again, I nonetheless ask myself: Did I do the appropriate factor?
I consider I did. Not as a result of it was good, however as a result of I attempted — each single time — to carry quick to 3 core values:
- Integrity over comfort
- Readability over complexity
- Honesty over consolation
And now, I provide these reflections to the subsequent era — the physicians, ethicists, and authorized collaborators who will take up the position of knowledgeable witness, when fact is named to talk.
Seven rules for the doctor witness
1. Be loyal to the reality — to not the facet that employed you.
You aren’t a weapon. You aren’t an advocate. You’re a witness.
Your allegiance have to be to the details, the usual of care, and what really occurred — to not those that employed you. Inform the reality even when it prices you the case. That’s what integrity calls for.
2. See the affected person within the chart — and the individual within the white coat.
Each file you learn was as soon as a life. Deal with it with dignity.
And keep in mind: Most clinicians concerned in these instances didn’t got down to trigger hurt. They have been overwhelmed, under-supported, or just human.
Search justice — not vengeance. Search understanding — not judgment.
3. Don’t be the loudest. Be the clearest.
Your job is to not dominate. It’s to make clear.
Use plain language. Train the jury as when you have been educating the affected person’s household. Precision and compassion construct credibility. Probably the most highly effective testimony just isn’t dramatic — it’s lucid.
4. “I don’t know” is a whole sentence.
You aren’t there to guess. You aren’t required to be omniscient.
If you happen to don’t know — say so. If it’s past your scope — admit it.
Your energy lies not in realizing every part, however in being sincere about what you already know, and what you don’t.
5. Maintain the road when the strain mounts.
There might be strain — delicate or overt — to form your testimony to serve a story.
Resist it.
Let your phrases be unchanged by cash, popularity, or persuasion.
Fact is your solely consumer.
6. Use your voice to heal, not simply to guage.
Even in courtroom, you possibly can heal.
- You possibly can heal the file, by restoring readability.
- You possibly can heal the system, by revealing what wants to vary.
- You possibly can heal belief, by displaying that integrity nonetheless lives in drugs.
Let your testimony serve one thing bigger than the case.
7. The actual verdict comes later — within the mirror.
After each case, I requested myself:
Did I communicate the reality?
Did I clarify with equity and care?
Did I assist somebody perceive struggling?
If the reply was sure, then I used to be the witness I wanted to be.
Not good. However sincere. And sufficient.
A closing phrase
I not testify. However I carry each case with me.
I keep in mind the mom who misplaced a baby to a missed prognosis.
I keep in mind the resident who made a tragic however forgivable error.
I keep in mind the silence within the courtroom after I defined what had occurred — plainly, compassionately, with out agenda.
These moments taught me that:
- Fact issues greater than victory.
- Empathy belongs even within the courtroom.
- Knowledgeable witnessing just isn’t about taking sides — it’s about standing up for the reality when it prices one thing.
So to you — the subsequent doctor requested to talk below oath — I say:
Step ahead with humility.
Converse clearly.
And always remember that your phrases don’t simply fill transcripts.
They ripple outward — into folks’s lives, into techniques, into legacies.
Be the type of witness you’d need on the stand if the affected person have been your mom — or the doctor have been you.
Let your testimony be greater than a file.
Let it’s a reckoning.
Let it’s a reminder: Fact nonetheless issues. And somebody nonetheless speaks it.
Saad S. Alshohaib is a nephrologist in Saudi Arabia.
