Inpatient Care Expert Witnesses

Psychiatry - Standard of Care, Traumatic Injury, PTSD, Sexual Offender Risk Assessment, Testamentary Capacity, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Mental Impairment, Disability, Adjustment Disorder, Depression, Psychosis, Personality Disorders, Anxiety, Inpatient Care, Institutional Care, Suicide Risk

Dr. Christopher Heckman is currently a member of the Clinical Operations Advisory Council (COAC) for the California Department of State Hospitals. The Clinical Operations Division facilitates the development, evaluation, and maintenance of clinical standards for California’s Department of State Hospitals (DSH). At the heart of the DSH Clinical Operations Division is the Clinical Operations Advisory Council (COAC), an interdisciplinary team of clinicians from the state hospitals who are devoted to the quality of clinical care and therapeutic services that the DSH provides. Dr. Heckman represents the Department of Psychiatry on the COAC. COAC works closely with clinical leaders to identify best practices within DSH facilities, as well as facilities outside of California and in the current academic literature. While conducting onsite reviews of clinical services, COAC gathers data to design data collection methodologies. These methodologies are used to better understand our patients, i...

Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine - diagnosis, disease management, disease treatment, specialty referrals, patient care plans, medication management, wellness, prevention, electronic medical records, outpatient clinic, inpatient care, concierge medicine

I am board-certified in Internal Medicine with over 27 years of continuous clinical patient experience, including extensive previous inpatient hospital care management. I have spent over 16 continuous years on the hospital's multidisciplinary quality peer review committee, reviewing adverse and unexpected medical outcomes along with regular evaluation of medical staff performance and outcomes. I have been in concierge outpatient internal medicine practice with MDVIP since 2008. I spent several years as an XM Radio medical newscaster and interviewer, and I am able to use this experience in both public speaking and educating my patients.

Psychiatry - Traumatic Injury, PTSD, Institutional Care, Standard of Care, IIED, ECT, Inpatient Care, Mental Impairment, Disability, Suicide Risk, Fitness for Duty, Adjustment Disorders, Anxiety, Depression, Athletic Performance Enhancement, NP Supervision, Telehealth, Somatic Disorders

MaryEllen Eller, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is also certified as a master psychopharmacologist by the Neuroscience Education Institute. Dr. Eller completed her undergraduate studies at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biology. She earned her medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training at the Loma Linda University Department of Psychiatry, where she focused on general adult psychiatry, with a special emphasis in leadership and performance optimization. Dr. Eller served in a variety of capacities at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California. She was a resident physician in the university’s department of psychiatry for three years, followed by a year as the department’s chief resident. She also served as a per diem psychiatrist in the inpatient chemical dependency unit at the university’s Behavio...

Family Medicine, Nursing Homes - Family Medicine, Surgical Obstetrics, Extended Care Center, Skilled Nursing Care, Hospice Care, Outpatient Care, Inpatient Care, Medical Malpractice, Standards of Care, Colonoscopy, Endoscopy, Emergency Department Care, Pediatrics, Tonsillectomy, Hernia Repair, Medical Licensing Board,

I am a Board-Certified Family Physician with extensive medical legal experience. I have served as a Family Medicine expert for over 20 years. I have reviewed hundreds of cases during that time, provided over 25 deposition testimonies and testified in over 10 jury trials in medical liability cases. The majority (75%) of my work has been as a defense expert, but in the last 5 years I have been involved with more plaintiff expert work (25%). I have practiced full-time, comprehensive Family Medicine in rural Utah for over 30 years. As a rural physician I care for patients from birth through death, pediatric, adolescent, and adult care. I am primarily office based, but provide obstetric care, including cesarean deliveries, hospital medicine in our 20-bed Critical Access Hospital for lower acuity acute admissions, endoscopic procedures including screening and diagnostic colonoscopy and EGD, and surgical procedures including hernia repair, breast biopsy, tonsillectomy, myringotomy with tu...