Tennessee Court Discusses Whether Expert is Qualified to Speak to Defendant’s Standard of Care Under Locality Rule





The Court of Appeals then reviewed the testimony of Plaintiff ’s expert relied upon to establish that Los Angeles, where Plaintiff ’s expert practices, is similar to Memphis, where Defendant Doctor practices.  Here is the testimony from the expert:
Since I was not asked to do so during my deposition, I am providing such a comparison now. The Los Angeles and Memphis medical communities, though somewhat different in scale because of the difference in population, are nevertheless similar communities. They are both homes to university-based medical centers and university-based medical training programs. They both have community and specialty hospitals. They both offer a large number of medical specialties, including otology. Adjusting for the difference in population, Memphis and Los Angeles also have a comparable number of health care facilities and beds. In summary,  there is really no appreciable difference in the medical communities of Memphis and Los Angeles. At a minimum, they are similar communities. The medical and physiological considerations involved in the determination of whether to use transtympanic perfusion therapy on a patient, and whether to use Gentamycin or Streptomycin as the medication of choice in such a procedure, are not influenced any geographic differences between the Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee community or the Los Angeles, California community. Physicians practicing otology in both of these communities have access to the same medical information concerning transtympanic perfusion therapy and whether to use Gentamycin or Streptomycin as the medication of choice in such a procedure. Further, the diagnosis of Ménière’s does not change from community to community. The diagnostic criteria are well understood within the specialties and do not change based on geographic location. All of this is true no matter the specialty nor [sic] location, but it is particularly true in sophisticated medical communities such as Los Angeles and Memphis. For consideration of all the issues that pertain to this case, it is my personal and medical belief that Los Angeles and Memphis are similar medical communities. This is not a situation where a community is impaired in its ability to deliver services because of lack of financial commitment, resources, information, or ability to provide services. In every way a patient presenting such as Marsha McDonald did to the Shea Clinic in July of 2004, should be subject to the same standards of care whether in Los Angeles, Memphis, or many other similar communities. Having pointed out the many similarities between the Los Angeles and Memphis medical communities, I can think of absolutely no differences between them for the purposes of this case other than the proportionally commensurate larger number of doctors and nurses in Los Angeles.
The Court of Appeals rejected Defendants’ argument that Los Angeles and Memphis are dissimilar per se because of the difference in population size, regardless of the testimony by Plaintiff ’s expert. The Court of Appeals acknowledged the trial court’s role as a gatekeeper, assuring the expert meets the minimum competency criteria and then letting the opposing party challenge the expert’s qualifications and testimony on cross-examination.
The Shipley  opinion did a fine job of elevating substance over form in the preparation and trial of health care liability actions in Tennessee.
Note:  some of you might ask why a doctor from California was permitted to testify in Tennessee, given the fact that ordinarily such experts must come from Tennessee or a contiguous state.  This portion of the opinion will be addressed in the next post.