Correctional Medicine Expert: Jails & Prisons

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

David M. Mathis, MD, CCHP-P, FAAFP, has been Board Certified in Family Medicine for more than 30 years. He is designated as a Certified Correctional Health Care Professional-Physician by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and he has also achieved Advanced Certification in Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine. Dr. Mathis has more than 25 years of experience in prison medicine. He most recently served as a Physician and Surgeon at the California Medical Facility, a California state prison caring for medium- to high-acuity incarcerated patients. In that role, he coordinated transfers of inpatients to CMF, as well as hospice-ready patients from other California prisons. He previously served for more than four years as Medical Director of Eastern Correctional Institution, Maryland’s largest prison, with approximately 3,500 inmates. Before his correctional medicine career, Dr. Mathis spent more than 24 years in solo private practice in Virginia, treating patients across the lifespan in both office and hospital settings. He also taught medical students from George Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Virginia School of Medicine as an Associate Professor of Health Care Sciences. Dr. Mathis is an experienced expert witness in Correctional Healthcare and Family Medicine. Over more than 10 years and more than 200 expert engagements, his work has been approximately equally divided between plaintiff and defense firms. His cases include federal civil rights litigation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, deliberate indifference claims, Monell allegations involving correctional healthcare policies, practices, training, supervision, and systemic access-to-care issues, delayed diagnosis and treatment, inmate access to care, chronic disease management, prison hospice, formulary issues, and correctional standards of care. He has participated in multiple individual and class-action lawsuits involving correctional healthcare, including matters related to medication-assisted treatment for opioid withdrawal, as MAT has become increasingly accepted by the DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and correctional facilities. Dr. Mathis works as both a testifying and consulting expert for law firms. Working with a seasoned paralegal, he provides efficient review of large correctional medical records, organized case chronologies, and detailed expert reports. His reports are designed for use by counsel, opposing counsel, and federal courts, and include active, embedded, linked citations to medical records, policies, deposition testimony, correctional standards, and relevant medical literature. This approach helps reduce client costs, improve clarity, and increase the practical value of the final report while preserving Dr. Mathis’s independent medical analysis and opinions.