Boarded in Toxicology & Emergency Medicine

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

My educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from The John’s Hopkins University, Doctor of Medicine from the State University of New York, Syracuse, emergency medicine training in Morristown, NJ, and medical toxicology training at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA. I am board certified in both emergency medicine and medical toxicology. Publications include multiple peer reviewed articles on numerous toxicology subjects, including in journals such as Annals of Emergency Medicine, Clinical Toxicology, Journal of Medical Toxicology, and Journal of Emergency Medicine. My practice includes over 20 years of experience in emergency medicine, and toxicology is an integral piece of this practice. I have also done bedside private toxicology consulting and have served as an emergency department medical director over a period of more than 6 years in two departments. I have extensive experience in emergency department administration and operations, case review, participation in hospital administrative functions, and interdepartmental relations regarding emergency medicine. Throughout my career I have been engaging in teaching both at bedside and in formal lectures. This routinely involves clearly explaining complex toxicologic and medical concepts in a simplified and easy to understand format. I am currently emergency medicine faculty at the Creighton University School of Medicine Phoenix, Arizona campus, and my teaching focuses on emergency medicine and medical toxicology. I have been an expert witness for several years, with deposition and trial testimony experience, serving both as an emergency medicine and medical toxicology expert. In medical malpractice cases, this combination of dual specialty knowledge and training serves to enhance both my and my clients understanding of complex issues that may involve medical care where pharmaceuticals, recreational drugs, alcohol, or other toxic agents are involved. This is particularly helpful when cases include recreational drug or medication overdoses, pharmacologic effects, withdrawal syndromes, medication errors, pharmaceutical interactions, causation issues involving pharmacodynamics (drug effects on the individual) and pharmacokinetics (the body’s metabolism and clearance of drugs), adverse medication reactions, and combinations thereof. My years of experience as an emergency department medical director offer further insight and knowledge of emergency department operational and administrative issues as well. Cases are often multifactorial, and deeper understanding and breadth of expertise can be of great advantage in understanding and clarifying the numerous facets that tend to develop. Aside from medical malpractice cases, my subject expertise has also been helpful in other areas of law. Examples include product liability cases (medication delivery systems, etc.), dram shop cases, personal injury cases (traffic incidents with drug/ alcohol impairment questions), criminal law (review of substance use/ toxicology testing), family law (custody cases whereby parties require toxicology expert review of urine drug tests, etc.), civil tort (questions of drug/ alcohol use being integral to the case), and wrongful death (individual who died in legal custody and drug use/ exposure is in question) to name a few. Please feel free to reach out to me so we can discuss how I may be of service to you.