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 Alpha Omega Alpha. He did his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in NYC, and his Fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, also in NYC, 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, and Assistant Clinical Professor of GI from 2004 to 2024. He has published in peer-reviewed journals, taught endoscopy to GI Fellows, and was in private practice from 1978 to February 2024. He remains actively licensed in NY State and NJ, and volunteers 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 consult 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 gastric CA. Dr. Finkel served as the GI consultant for the Ground Zero First Responders who developed GERD as a consequence of toxic dust exposure in the WTC litigation, settled in 2010. He also testified on behalf of the First Responders with GZ-related GERD who opted out of the Zadroga settlement. 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, and testified in Tbilisi Court in the motion for his release from political imprisonment on the grounds of his ill health. SERVICES: Medical case reviews for deviations, causation, damages, or defensibility, including reviews of pertinent medical literature. Verbal or written reports delineating pertinent SOC's, deviations, causation, damages, or defensibility. Articulate and credible testimony presented by an experienced clinician, teacher, and expert witness. Objective critical analysis of documents, expert reports and testimony. Assistance in preparation for cross-examination of defendants and opposing expert witnesses. Expedited reviews, reports, and testimony available (if possible). CV, Retainer Agreement/Fee Schedule, and reference provided upon request. NEW: MEDICAL RECORD REVIEWS (non-testifying consulting expert): Initial reviews of medical records for medicolegal, quality assurance, utilization review, peer review, and other purposes. Fees for such services will be reduced with respect to Dr. Finkel's testifying expert fee. These services will not include chronologization, digitalization, bookmarking or hyperlinking of records. Written reports will be provided upon request, but may not serve as formal expert written reports for litigation purposes, nor permit disclosure of Dr. Finkel as a testifying expert. If his review is intended for purposes of litigation, Dr. Finkel will need to be retained as a testifying expert witness, pursuant to his Retainer Agreement/Fee Schedule.