The aim of Truthful Testimony is clear: to ensure application, scrupulous and consistent, of the mandatory oath sworn prior to testimony being provided in deposition and at trial “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Unfortunately, that pledge is breached as often as it is practiced. Although the major focus of Truthful Testimony is on testimony dishonest egregiously by medical expert witnesses, its mission transcends matters medical-legal, being relevant equally to testimony of all kinds by every citizen and to behavior ethical in regard to every aspect of the endeavor.


Motivation for the Purpose

It now has been demonstrated beyond doubt and on occasions countless that those instruments of society which should enforce comportment proper in regard to testimony by physicians serving as an expert witness have failed abysmally. False testimony undeniable, and even perjury, often is given a “free pass” by the court in general. Moreover, State Boards of Medical Examiners and organized medicine itself, despite its having forged a code of conduct for members who testify as an expert witness, practically never discipline those who violate the proscriptions shamelessly. In fact, two thirds of all State Boards of Medical Examiners in the United States deny that medical expert testimony is the practice of medicine and, thereby, excuse themselves from bearing any responsibility whatsoever for miscreant members; the examiners on those Boards are unwilling even to comment on examples of false testimony incontestable. The American Medical Association and various societies of specialists, with the exceptions notable of the American Association of Neurologic Surgeons, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the North American Spine Society, are hesitant to become involved when medical experts perjure themselves, they being fearful of a lawsuit from within their ranks. Furthermore, some of those societies abdicate their role as a forum for education and dissemination of information pertinent to issues relevant to ethical testimony for fear of rendering themselves liable to such a suit. The courts themselves do not deem lying deliberately, outrageously, and brazenly by a medical expert witness to be grounds for conviction for perjury; they excuse such prevarication as mere opinion justifiable. Criminal charges of perjury against expert witnesses are rare in the extreme and when filed nearly always fail. No vehicle reasonable is available currently for the examination unbiased, unflinching, and dispassionate of expert testimony believed by a defendant or a plaintiff to have been dishonest blatantly at best and perjurious at worst.

These offenses flagrant by those who should be guardians of a system of justice on which rests a society equitable, open, and free necessitates a response forceful, one that can come only from concerned citizens such as those who founded Truthful Testimony, namely, A. Bernard Ackerman, M.D., Mark A. Hurt, M.D., and John C. Maize, M.D.


Method for Achieving the Purpose

On the website TruthfulTestimony.org will be published mostly excerpts verbatim of testimony shockingly dishonest incontrovertibly that appears in transcripts of depositions and of trials, especially ones concerned with issues germane to medicine. In every instance, the physician whose testimony is called into question is given an opportunity, carte blanche, to defend that testimony in a statement published just as it was written on the website. In this way, Truthful Testimony seeks to alert compellingly the community of physicians to the reality that anyone among it who serves as an expert witness and who lies indubitably under oath will be held accountable by being quoted directly in a forum public. In no way, however, is this exercise intended to intimidate a physician, or anyone else, from testifying truthfully, and for either side, plaintiff or defense. We welcome cases, well documented, of testimony false unquestionably for publication on the website.


Adjuncts to the Main Purpose

Because the raison d’être of Truthful Testimony is to rectify a circumstance now not only untenable and intolerable, but unconscionable, in regard to a system of jurisprudence, to wit, shockingly dishonest testimony given purposefully, anything deemed by us to be salutary in correcting that situation will be employed, such as examples of (1) culpability of State Boards of Medical Examiners, organized medicine, and the courts in the charade in vogue currently, (2) vulnerability to a charge of violation of HIPAA by virtue of publishing the name of the patient who initiated suit, even though that person’s name appears in court records and in transcripts, that form of censorship being detrimental to publicizing the facts of cases, and (3) inadmissibility of a physician testifying repeatedly and solely as a “hired gun” for one side, plaintiff or defense, in matters medical-legal. These interferences prejudicial to the legal process must be stopped and we are committed to doing everything possible to bringing them to a halt.

We also intend to scrutinize a variety of issues ethical germane to the adjudication fair of matters medical-legal, among those being (1) the propriety of an attorney having an expert witness testify only about deviation from the standard of care and at the same time preventing that same witness knowledgeable fully about lack of causation from testifying about it (2) the morality of a physician conveying to a patient the opinion of malpractice having been committed by another physician on the basis solely of what the patient claims to be the case and without having reviewed the chart of the physician alleged to have been negligent or any of the facts relevant and (3) the ethicality of a physician testifying against another physician in order to “settle scores” personal or professional.

An effort conscious and conscientious will be made by us to educate medical students and residents about the vagaries of the American system for deciding matters medical-legal and of their own obligation to testify truthfully, unwaveringly, and consistently. Moreover, we will attempt also to advise practicing physicians of their responsibilities as an expert witness and to sensitize judges to the need for a much higher standard in respect to who qualifies truly as a medical expert witness. About all of these issues, we encourage contributions from physicians, attorneys, judges, and lay persons. Last, we, ourselves, are available to fellow physicians and to lay persons who seek guidance about any issue pertinent to our mission and who request assistance or relief concerning a situation in which they think themselves to be a victim of injustice consequent to unquestionably false testimony having been given or as a result of behavior indisputably unethical.

With the help of others dedicated to our purposes, we are confident of having an impact beneficial on the professions of medicine and the law, and on society, which is constituted, entirely, each and every one of us, of citizen-patients.

Case Studies in Depth