Gastroenterology - Mount Sinai Trained and Faculty

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Dr. Finkel received his BA (summa cum laude) with distinction in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in 1973, 1st in his class, and president of his chapter of the national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha. He did his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, and his Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, also in New York City, and the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, Bronx NY, 1976-1978. Dr. Finkel is board certified in GI and IM, and was on the voluntary teaching faculty in Gastroenterology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from 1978 to 2024, serving as Assistant Clinical Professor of GI from 2004 to 2024. He was in private practice from 1978 through February 2024, has published in peer-reviewed journals, and taught GI endoscopy at Mount Sinai from 1978 to 2023. He now volunteers as a GI at the Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative, Hackensack NJ. He has testified in both plaintiffs' and defense cases for more than 35 years, including Federal Court. An experienced teacher, he is able to explain complex medical subjects to lay juries in easily understandable terms. Although now retired from the active practice of medicine, he continues to assist and testify in cases in states that so permit. Dr. Finkel testified in the landmark Massachusetts case Matsuyama v Birnbaum et al, permitting recovery for a loss of chance in a wrongful death action, where the jury found that the defendant MD's negligence deprived the plaintiff's decedent of a less than even chance of surviving stomach cancer. Dr. Finkel served as the GI consultant for the Ground Zero First Responders in the WTC litigation settled in 2010, stratifying the severity of GERD due to environmental exposure at GZ. He also provided objective assessments used in the determination of disability awards, and testified on behalf of the First Responders with GZ-related GERD who opted out of the Zadroga settlement. William Groner, one of the lead attorneys in the GZ litigation, and author of "9/12 - The Epic Battle of the GZ Responders," with whom Dr. Finkel worked closely, wrote privately: "You were integral to the development of medical causation for GZ dust, and for that, I and thousands of my clients ... are forever grateful." He testified for the plaintiff in the landmark NJ case Ehrlich v Sorokin, in which the Appellate Court held in 2017 that an informed consent defense may not be invoked if the plaintiff does not allege defective or lack of informed consent. In 2023, Dr. Finkel served as expert GI witness for the defense of Mikheil Saakashvili, the first democratically elected president of the Republic of Georgia, a former Soviet satellite state, and testified (by Zoom) in Tbilisi Court in the motion for his release from political imprisonment on the grounds of his ill health. SERVICES: Objective expert medical testimony offered for plaintiffs' or defense counsel, depending on merits of case. Medical case reviews and evaluations for merit or defensibility, computer literature searches, and independent medical evaluations; Verbal and written reports delineating pertinent standards of care, alleged and potential deviations, proximate causation, and damages - or rebuttal of allegations, depending on the respective merits of each case; Articulate and credible testimony presented by an experienced clinician, teacher, and expert witness; Objective critical analysis of documents, testimony and expert reports, for both sides, and assistance in preparation of effective cross-examination strategies; Expedited reviews, reports, and testimony available. Curriculum Vitae, Retainer Agreement/Fee Schedule, and references provided on request. If an IME is required, this will have to be arranged at a suitable location acceptable to all parties.