Traumatic Brain Injury Expert Witness Job Description

By Deborah Long


Throughout life, there are many aspects which can effect thought and behavior. If an individual has an injury due to an accident, fall or an attack, it can often lead to brain damage. In most of these cases, the individual will either pursue a civil or criminal trial in which a Traumatic Brain Injury Expert Witness can often be helpful.

By definition, an expert witness is anyone whom by virtue and opinion has the skills, knowledge, training, certification, experience and education to be considered an expert in a specific area by the judge on a case. In most cases, the judge will consider the technical and scientific data provided by an expert as evidence.

The testimony provided by these individuals are considered expert opinions rather than facts. As this is the case, the information is often rebutted and challenged on a regular basis. For this reason, it is important that those working in this role provide as much documentation, proof and research as possible to the court before taking the stand.

Experts are generally asked to provide opinions on severity and type of injury, sanity, failure of a device or machine to have worked properly, care costs, associated benefits and loss of income due to the accident or incident. While this is the case related to medical issues, experts can also provide testimony with regards to intellectual and property right laws.

At trial, tribunals and judges have often been known to ask for technical evaluations of facts or actions in order to provide the court with as much information as possible. As the individuals are often considered equal to actual data, testimonies are often entered into evidence. After which, the information is compared to the results provided by other parties.

Individuals providing services as expert witnesses have a lot of responsibility and power when it comes to providing information to the court. While this is the case, it is important to avoid perjuring oneself as doing so is a felony in the United States. In fact, there has been a great deal of opposition to admitting the testimonies of these individuals in civil trials due to the ongoing differences of opinions between parties in these type cases.

Criminal trials with high stakes can often have multiple expert witnesses working on a case under different topics on both sides. While rare, in some cases a court may request an independent witness. It should be noted that these individuals can not provide information as a result of monetary support. For, if so, it could appear as if an attorney or defendant were paying to win a case.

Whether part of a civil or criminal trial, these witnesses and expert opinions are of some of the most important elements in a case. For, forensic firearm, DNA fingerprinting, blood analysis, medical and psychiatric testing are common practices shared in civil and criminal cases. In addition, electronic data such as cell phone call and text records, e-mails and posts on social networks are regularly examined by these individuals.




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