Cardiology Expert Witnesses: 7

Dr. James Strader, Jr., MD, FACC is a full-time practicing General Invasive Cardiologist, experienced in all areas of cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Strader is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Nuclear Cardiology. He is currently the Chief of Cardiology at The Medical Center of Plano, TX. Dr. Strader possesses Expert knowledge of Cardio Vascular Imaging and Therpeutic Procedures, including cath lab, TEE, echocardiography, stress testing, and arrhythma testing. He also has special expertise in Aeromedical Cardiology and Return-To-Flight-Status Decisions.

A published author in his field of expertise, Dr. Strader has given Presentation and Lectures both nationally and internationally. His most recent awards include "Cardiologist of the Year” from The Medical Center of Plano in 2011 and the Max R. Ungar Award from the USAF Society of Flight Surgeons in 2008. Dr. Strader is an experienced Expert Witness with numerous case reviews, depositions, and ongoing cases. He is available to assist external peer review agencies and both Plaintiff and Defense in malpractice actions. Areas of Expertise Include:

Coronary Disease Heart Attack Diagnosis and Management Arrhythmia Management Hypertension Hyperlipidemia Vascular Disease

ICU Care Critical Care Cardiac Cath Lab Valvular Heart Disease Congestive Heart Failure Diagnosis and Management CV Imaging

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Dr. Andreas Plackis is an award-winning, triple board-certified Anesthesiologist and Cardiac Anesthesiologist. He is Vanderbilt residency and cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellowship trained, and in full-time clinical practice with hands-on patient care and supervision of CRNAs and SRNAs.

Dr. Plackis provides care for the highest acuity patients practicing at the only heart transplant center in Arkansas. One of a select few Arkansas anesthesiologists providing TEE imaging guidance for structural heart interventions.

Litigation Support - Dr. Plackis will assist either plaintiff or defense attorneys in establishing standard of care compliance and identifying breaches in anesthesiology medical malpractice cases. His services include written reports, deposition testimony, and trial testimony as needed. He is highly responsive to phone calls and emails. Two-week or less turnaround time for initial case opinion.

Areas of Expertise:

Airway Management Cardiac Anesthesia Thoracic Anesthesia Structural Heart Interventions TEE Invasive Monitoring Vascular Anesthesia

Ambulatory Surgery Orthopedics Ultrasound-guided Peripheral Nerve Blocks ENT Non-OR Anesthesia (Radiology/GI/Cath Lab) Epidural and Spinal Anesthesia Anesthesiology Standard of Care

Dr. Plackis is an experienced and articulate public speaker and presenter with multiple publications and local/national presentations. He has exemplary knowledge base as achieved a Top 1-3 percentile ranking nationally compared to peers in nearly all ABA licensing and training examinations. Diplomat of the ABA and NBE.

MRK Medical Consultants provides Medical-Legal Evaluations to help legal and insurance professionals reach appropriate conclusions about their client's situations. MRK provides a wide array of medical experts that offer objective review and analysis of personal injuries. Each stage of the process—research to review, analysis to opinion—is addressed in a comprehensive manner in order to help legal and insurance professionals reach appropriate conclusions about their client’s situations. MRK's prestigious list of more than forty consultants are active clinicians and surgeons, who are all board-certified or eligible in one or more specialties. MRK provides physician experts to the entire State of California, the Reno/Lake Tahoe area, and Las Vegas, and we travel to many areas of the United States. Physical therapy, registered nurses, physician assistant, and billing review consultants are available services MRK provides. Our office physicians are available for telephone review of the merits of your case before you decide to proceed.  

Edward W. Younger, III, M.D., Medical Director of MRK Medical Consultants, specializes in Orthopedic Surgery. He has extensive experience in total joint replacement, as well as reconstructive surgery of the knee, hip, and shoulder. He was instrumental in bringing computer navigation technology to his hospital. He served on the orthopedic trauma staff at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, California, for more than fifteen years and was instrumental in bringing computer navigation technology to that institution. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Society and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the California Orthopedic Association.

Dr. Michael R. Klein, Jr., M.D., specializes in Orthopedic Surgery and is a founding member and the first Medical Director of Northern California Orthopedic Centers. He was involved with the development of the orthopedic section of the Level II Trauma Center at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. He served as a clinical professor at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center for more than thirty years. He has been a member of the North American Spine Society since 2009 and was awarded the David O. Selby Award in 2020 for his contributions. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and a member of the American Medical Association and the California Medical Association. He retired from the USAF in 1998 after being on active duty during the Vietnam War, and he was activated for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. 

MRK's Areas of Expertise:

Orthopedics Neurosurgery / Neurology Anesthesiology / Pain Management Bariatric Surgery Cardiology Chiropractic Orthopedics Covid-19 Critical Care/ICU Chronic Pain  Dermatology Emergency Medicine Endocrinology Gastroenterology General Surgery / Trauma Geriatrics Family Practice IME Life Care Planning Medical Billing / Bill Auditing Medical Malpractice

Medical Record Review Metallurgical Engineering Neuropsychology Neuroradiology Obstetrics / Gynecology / OB/GYN Ophthalmology Optometry Orthopedic Implants Otolaryngology Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physical Therapy Plastic Surgery Podiatry Pulmonary Medicine Radiology Sports Medicine Thoracic Surgery  Traumatic Brain Injury Vascular Surgery Vocational Rehabilitation

Dr. Thomas J. Berger was board certified in 1981 as a cardiac surgeon by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and has been involved, as an expert, in over 300 medical malpractice cases. Most of this experience has been since 1998, when his firm, Heart of the Matter Expertise, began to gain recognition, within the legal community, as the premier expert witness service for cases involving cardiac surgery and cardio-thoracic disease.

Areas of Expertise:

• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Cardiology
• Surgery - General
• Thoracic Surgery

Mission Statement

To see that the truth about every case, in which an associate of Heart of the Matter Expertise becomes involved, is uncovered and understood, whether this means assuring justice for a poorly treated patient or protecting the precious reputation of an unfairly accused physician.

Robert A. Ertner, MD, is a Board Certified, fellowship-trained Cardiac Anesthesiologist in full-time clinical practice at a Northern California county hospital that serves as a level 2 trauma center. Dr. Ertner has been a certified Echocardiographer for 15 years. He specializes in Cardiac and Thoracic surgical procedures for which he is fellowship-trained.

Background: Dr. Ertner has previously served as an academic physician teaching residents in both MD and CRNA programs.  He has served as a locum tenens anesthesiologist performing direct care and both supervising and directing CRNAs, and presently provides care to over 700 patients each year. He provides Spinal, Epidural, Regional, and General Anesthesia for patients undergoing cardiovascular and thoracic procedures as well as general, orthopedic, bariatric, urologic, vascular, otorhinolaryngological (ENT), ophthalmologic, gynecologic, and neurologic surgery in both the hospital inpatient and outpatient surgery center settings.   He provides care for obstetric patients in the labor and delivery suites and operating rooms.  Additionally, he provides care for a variety of procedures performed “out-of-department,” such as in the cardiac catheterization suites, the interventional radiology suites, and CT and MRI cases.  

Dr. Ertner maintains licenses in California where his practice is located, as well as in Texas and Georgia, where he trained, and in Missouri and Oregon. He was awarded Diplomat status by the National Board of Echocardiography in 2007.

Litigation Support: Dr. Ertner has been involved in medical-legal work since 2014. He has reviewed cases for attorneys representing both plaintiff and defense. Dr. Ertner has consulted on over 85 cases, including preparation of affidavits, forensic report writing, and providing testimony at deposition and trial. He works with clients to offer both an understanding of the relevant medicine (anatomy, pathophysiology, pharmacology, etc.) and how to think about what information they need to seek going forward as they pursue their cases.

Areas of Expertise:

Anesthesiology Cardiac Anesthesiology Thoracic Anesthesiology Peripheral Nerve Block Epidural Anesthesia Spinal Anesthesia Airway Management

Airway Trauma Intubation Transesophageal Echocardiography Nerve Injury Bronchospasm Laryngospasm Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation

Elite Medical Experts is a physician-led team that hand selects nationally recognized Professors of Medicine and Surgery as expert witnesses. Each expert is a board-certified specialist with a busy clinical practice and impeccable credentials.  From Stanford to Yale, and from every healthcare specialty and field, Elite aligns leading specialists from top-tier medical universities.

Actionable benefits to our clients:

     ♦  Zero-Risk Guarantee:  Approve the expert or we'll refund the fee.

     ♦  Avoid costly mistakes with real-time access to our physician-led Strategy Team.

     ♦  No subscriptions - we earn trust one case at a time.

     ♦  Work directly with hand-selected university experts screened for your specific case.

     ♦  No database or advertised experts - we plan for discovery and transparency at every stage.

Please call [877] 670-8625 to speak directly with our in-house Case Strategy Team. There's no charge for phone or video consultation consultation and we'll outline a a strategic plan for moving forward.

Dr. Burton Bentley II, M.D., FAAEM
CEO, Elite Medical Experts

Areas of Expertise:

Anesthesiology Bariatric Surgery Cardiology Cardiothoracic Surgery Critical Care COVID-19 (SARS Cov-2; Coronavirus) Dermatology and Aesthetic Dermatology Ears, Nose & Throat (Otolaryngology) Emergency Medicine Endocrinology Epidemiology Family Medicine Gastroenterology General Surgery Gerontology Gynecologic Oncology Gynecology Hand Surgery Hospital Medicine (Hospitalist) Infectious Disease Intensive Care (ICU) Medicine Internal Medicine Interventional Radiology Laparoscopic Surgery Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Neonatology Nephrology Neurology Neurosurgery Obstetrics Oncology Ophthalmology Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Orthodontics Orthopedic (Orthopaedic) Surgery Pathology Pediatric Surgery Pediatrics Perinatology Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PMR) Podiatry Psychiatry Pulmonology (Pulmonary Medicine) Radiology Rheumatology Sports Medicine Toxicology Transplant Surgery Trauma Surgery Urology Vascular Surgery

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Yolanda Anderson, RN, BSN, CEN, CLNC is a Registered Nurse and has been working in the Emergency Department for more than 25 years. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant with a detail-oriented approach, Ms. Anderson is knowledgeable about all aspects of Hospital Care and Standards of Care for Physicians, Nurses and Ancillary Personnel.

Ms. Anderson's background experience includes work in the Emergency Department of Los Angeles County, USC Medical Center, a level I Trauma Center and in the Emergency Department at Saint Anthony Hospital Central in Denver, Colorado, a level I Trauma Center where she helped initiate the Hyperbaric Medicine program. For 15 years, she worked as a staff RN, Charge RN and Assistant Nurse Manager in the Emergency Department at Littleton Adventist Hospital - Littleton, Colorado, a level II Trauma Center. There, she helped with the expansion and reconstruction of the current Emergency Department facility.

Ms. Anderson has been retained as an Expert 27 times. Her litigation support services include chart review for merit, chronologies, medical care research, Independent Medical Assessments, and more. Ms. Anderson's services are available to attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defense.

Areas of Expertise:

Emergency Department Care Inpatient Hospital Care Trauma, Cardiac, Neurological Emergency Adult, Pediatric, and Infant Care

Triage & Documentation Nursing Home Care Electronic Medical Records Worker's Compensation

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