stating that if the witness recants the opinion first expressed, such opinion is equivocal
How later courts described this case
- stating that if the witness recants the opinion first expressed, such opinion is equivocal
- “[A]s to the facts which a claimant must prove by medical evidence, it is sufficient that [the claimant’s] medical expert, after providing a foundation, testify that in [the expert’s] professional opinion or that [the expert] believes or that [the expert] thinks the facts exist.”
- medical witness may admit to uncertainty, reservation, doubt, or lack of information concerning medical details, but may not recant opinion or belief first expressed
- “Certainly it is not the law . . . that every utterance which escapes the lips of a medical witness on a medical subject, must be certain, positive, and without reservation, exception, 24 or peradventure of a doubt.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
Judge MacPhail :
I respectfully dissent.
While I agree with the majority’s treatment of what is meant by “unequivocal medical testimony”, my own review of the record leads me to the conclusion that such testimony is lacking in the instant case. For that reason, I would reverse.