Logan Discusses Demonstrative Evidence Techniques
The Center for Excellence in Advocacy hosted Scott Logan on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 as part of its Spring 2005 Luncheon and Lecture Series. Logan, a medical malpractice defense lawyer from Prairie Village, Kansas, discussed ways to use demonstrative evidence to present complex expert medical testimony and evidence so that a jury will remain focused and be better able to understand the evidence offered. Logan showed how difficult medical concepts can be more effectively presented by using poster-sized blow-ups of key pieces of evidence or by using every day objects to demonstrate specific concepts.
For example, Logan demonstrated how he used a toilet paper roll to explain how an inner wall of a vein dissected from the vein’s outer wall, thus causing blood to create a channel between the vein’s dissected layer and outer wall that eventually led to a plaintiff’s paralysis. In another example, Logan used a blown-up depiction of a heart to explain the complexity of a heart bypass operation. Logan, using the artist’s depiction of a heart and the artery's blockage, explained why a stint was not placed in an artery because the operating doctor believed the artery could not be successfully reached without causing greater risk to the patient.
