One City Built to Last

Peter George, managing
partner of Healthcare Litigation
Support, LLC,
based in Massachusetts,
agrees that the recovering
economy has led to an increase
in the demand for expert witnesses.
He also said that expert referral
firms need to keep pace with new technologies
in many industries.
“The litigation environment has
changed considerably over the past
decade due to technological advancements,”
said George. “For example, we
rarely had a DNA-related issue 10 years
ago; now we have frequent requests for
experts in DNA identification and genetics.”
From solo law practices to the nation’s
largest legal firms, Healthcare Litigation
Support works with both plaintiff
and defense attorneys throughout
the United States and in six countries
with roots in the English legal system,
including Singapore, Caribbean island
nations, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The firm provides physicians,
dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other
healthcare-related experts to serve as
consultants and witnesses.
Experts are in demand for a wide
range of cases involving individuals
with special needs – from litigation concerning
workplace accommodation for
people with disabilities to abuse cases
at group homes or in institutional settings.
“We also have cases at alcohol
and drug rehabilitation facilities involving
issues of restraint, supervision,
or other alleged negligence on the part
of the facility’s staff resulting in injury
or even death,” George said.
Healthcare Litigation Support provides
psychiatric experts to address
child custody issues in divorce cases.
Autism experts are also increasingly in
demand.
The nature of medical malpractice
issues has not changed too drastically
through the years. “As always, the
plaintiff in a malpractice case alleges
that the doctor breached the standard of
care by doing something negligent, or
by failing to do something that should
have been done,” said George. One
thing that has changed, however, is the
enactment of state laws that make medical
malpractice cases more difficult for
plaintiffs to pursue and to win. These
include requirements that an expert’s
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affidavit of merit be submitted with the
complaint and caps on damages for pain
and suffering, George explained.
“Our role is not that of an advocate for
a particular party in a case, but that of
an agent who provides highly qualified
experts to assist attorneys in evaluating
cases and, when needed, to serve as expert
witnesses,” said George, adding
that each of the firm’s case managers has
a particular area of expertise. The firm
does not provide experts to pro se litigants
– including attorneys who want to
litigate their own cases.
In additional to healthcare experts,
Healthcare Litigation Support provides
non-medical experts such as biomechanical
engineers, vocational rehabilitation
consultants, construction safety experts,
forensic accountants, and other types of
experts needed for personal injury cases.
George announced that Healthcare
Litigation Support is in the midst of
a re-branding program in connection
with its plans for expansion. The firm’s
identity is transitioning from Healthcare
Litigation Support to HLS Experts – including
a new domain name and website
– which will address markets beyond
healthcare. The goal is to grow the firm
by 50 percent over the next two years,
without an acquisition, by expanding
into additional areas of the law including
information technology, property law,
water rights, and oil and gas.
George not only has a professional interest
in medical experts, but a personal
one as well. He serves on the board of
directors of the Greater Athol Area Association
of Families with Special Needs,
an organization providing services for
families in the region who have a family
member with a disability. George’s
26-year-old son is developmentally delayed,
both cognitively and physically,
and is dependent on George and his wife
for his daily care. “He is functional and
independent in a very limited context,”
explained George.
After George had spent 15 years as a
healthcare consultant, which required
extensive travel, one day in 2003 his wife
told him that things had to change, because
she needed help caring for their
son. It was then that George entered the
field of expert witness services, and in
fact, it was his son’s needs, along with
his own personal empathy, that gave
him the passion and the drive to start his
own firm.
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.65