Expert witnesses and areas of expertise

In 1998, the Medical Council of Hong Kong established a Specialist Register to provide for specialist registration of medical practitioners who have been awarded Fellowships of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine or who have achieved a comparable professional standard and have applied to the Medical Council of Hong Kong for specialist registration.1 By contrast, there is no official list of medical experts in Hong Kong and the term “expert” is not defined in Cap. 1 Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance or Cap. 4A The Rules of the High Court. [...]an expert witness should make it clear when a particular question or issue falls outside his expertise. Medical and dental practitioners appointed to give evidence in courts, tribunals, or inquests are advised to: consider seeking legal advice; provide answers truthfully based on their personal knowledge and beliefs; avoid making up answers; avoid answering questions that are beyond their scope of practice; and exercise the right to refuse to answer questions that could result in self-incrimination.6 Potential consequences of giving mistaken evidence Misleading or “manifestly wrong” expert evidence can have untoward and far-reaching consequences.