Cross examination of medical experts – exceptional or exceptionally important? – Transparency Project
‘When medical expert witnesses are instructed in family cases, usually to help work out how an injury to a child was caused, their evidence can sometimes be accepted by all the parties, in which case the expert doesn’t need to attend court to answer questions. But sometimes not everyone agrees with their conclusions, and there are questions one or more party will wish to ask the witness at trial, through a process called cross examination. In these cases the expert witness will either need to attend court in person, or more often to attend by video link. Lawyers are expected to only ask for the attendance of a witness if they have a proper challenge to make to their evidence on behalf of their client, and judges can refuse to allow it if they don’t think it is necessary. This post is written by Lucy Reed, a barrister working in this field, who observed this hearing. It concerns one case where there was an issue about whether or not cross examination of the medical experts should be permitted.’
Transparency Project, 18th May 2025
Source: transparencyproject.org.uk
