TREATING
PHYSICIANS MUST BE DISCLOSED AS EXPERTS
KALABA V. GRAY
In Kalaba v. Gray (2002) 02 CDOS 1309, a plaintiff
in a medical malpractice case stated in her statutorily-required
disclosure of expert witnesses that she reserved her right to call her
treating physicians as expert witnesses. Shortly before trial, plaintiff
informed the physician’s attorney that she intended to call three of her
treating physicians as witnesses and ask them for their expert opinions,
despite the fact that her treating physicians had not agreed to testify
and had not been retained by her to be experts.
The court held that a party subject to a statutory demand for expert
witnesses, must disclose the names of any treating physicians it wishes to
call to elicit expert opinions, but is not required to submit a statutory
expert witness declaration about the treating physicians. Failure to
disclose the names and addresses of the treating physicians acts as a bar
to any questions designed to elicit expert opinions.
