An "expert" witness fakes his experience

Another example of the unregulated “hired gun” business in medical malpractice cases:

A Florida surgeon lied about regularly performing coronary bypass surgery while presenting himself as an expert witness in medical malpractice cases, a federal prosecutor said Friday. The doctor denied the accusation.
A federal grand jury indicted Dr. Alex Zakharia on perjury, mail fraud and wire fraud charges, Detroit U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a news release.
Zakharia, 68, is a cardiovascular surgeon licensed in Florida. Murphy said the doctor lied about his experience to advertise his services as a medical expert in malpractice cases in 2001 to 2003.

Comments

DBR
“He said he never claimed to have been the primary surgeon in multiple bypass operations but only to have assisted with the procedures.”
Sounds like the “expert” witness might argue about what the meaning of “is” is, too….
If this happened several more times, in various states and specialties, I suspect that there would be fewer hired guns for hire….and that would be a good thing for medical justice.
No one begrudges the plaintiff’s attorney a REAL expert, who is as qualified to testify on behalf of the plaintiff as the defendent is qualified to testify on his or her own behalf. It’s cases where the “expert” is a long-retired pathologist who hasn’t lifted a scalpel or worn latex gloves in years who’s telling a jury that the neurosurgeon didn’t act within the standard of care that serious injustice is done…..
Anonymous
Unfortunately I must confess that I know Dr. Zakharia well and he is both incompetent and immoral. His hospital priviledges have been revoked from at least two Miami hospitals for multiple unexplained intraoperative patient deaths. He is well know as a “hired gun” willing to say anything for a price. My sincerest apologies to the fine physicians of Michigan for this atrocity of a surgeon. Hopefully now he will be shut down, but I know first hand how slippery he can be and how difficult it has been to remove him from a medical staff. He is known for his intimidation of nurses, staff and administrators. We can only hope that the federal prosecutors will not be intimidated, and will prosecute him to the fullest extent. Has anyone thought of contacting the defendant physicians that he has testified against? What about the AMA,STS,or ABTS? These organizations claim to oppose false and misleading testimony but will they sanction one of their own??
Anonymous
I’m one of those defendant physicians. That SOB cost me $70K in defending a bogus law suit. I refused to settle. The suit was dismissed when he was disqualified as an expert witness. The US Attorney’s press release can be found here.
I’ve notified every medical organization, board and society that I could. Bet you dollars to donuts that they won’t do a thing.
Anonymous
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Standards and Ethics Committee has begun holding Expert Witness Grievance hearings for the first time in an attempt to respond to this type activity. You can contact the STS Governance Manager Grahame Rush at (312) 202-5848 or grush@sts.org. This type of activity is what drives good surgeons into early retirement and makes malpractice insurance unaffordable.
Anonymous
I was also a defendant in a bogus lawsuit with this doctor as the “expert”. My insurance settled against my wishes and then they jacked-up my rates. Something needs to be done about this guy.
Anonymous
check out MIAMIHERALD.COM 1-9-07.
sound like this guys in big trouble
Anonymous
ctrjmbzI hope this bad doctor gets prison time and huge fines. Its people like him who do great harm to our society through deceit for dollars. He harms countless citizens due to physicians witholding their services due to the real fear of grossly unfair litigation. I would sentence him to 50 years in prison. He better hope that I’m not on the jury.
j.c.
Please read the recent Miami Herald article about Dr. Zakharia. To summarize, he has had his priveledges revoked for incompetence, he is being investigated for numerous patient deaths, he has been indicted for perjury, and now his lawyers claim that he is senile ( although they maintain that this only effects his ability to testify truthfully and does not effect his patient care.) I trully feel terrible for any doctor (or patient) that has been victimized by this animal.
Anonymous
Has anyone ever seen Zakharia’s rap sheet. He’s always in court. Either suing someone or someone suing him. No wonder his such a crap doctor. His latest case against Cedars is here.
Anonymous
Why don’t you doctors do anything about him. If you weren’t so busy protecting each other and instead were looking out for the public’s well being, we wouldn’t need so many malpractice lawyers.

An "expert" witness fakes his experience

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