Know the Narrow Dispositive Medical Issues Better than Their Expert.

You must know the handful of narrow, dispositive medical issues in your case better than their expert. Where do you start?

When you take a medical case in an area of medicine that is new to you, start by gaining a general overview of the handful of narrow dispositive medical issues in your case. Wikipedia articles on your issues are an excellent place to start.  Inaccurate information rarely remains long on Wikipedia. Wikipedia is also replete with sources that are in turn replete with still more sources. From there you’ll learn about texts, treatises, peer-reviewed articles, non-peer-reviewed articles, grand rounds, etc regarding your issues. Read those and save the sections that are to the point in your case.  Work from general to specific.

Where procedures are involved, and they usually are, after you have a thorough understanding of the medicine and the procedure, the how, why and when, search Google Images. Review diagrams and photographs of the procedure, how, why and when it is performed, the known complications and pitfalls, etc. Then on to YouTube and Medical School sites. Once you are thoroughly familiar with procedures, find YouTube and medical school videos that show and describe the procedures. Watch the procedures being performed. You’ll find both informative training videos and procedures being performed on live patients. Watch several of both.  When you learn about medical devices that are critical to your case, get those too.

If you take the case and employ an expert, ask your expert too about treatises, texts, peer-reviewed articles, etc that she feels would be helpful.  

Until next time,

James Hugh Potts II