Engagement Terms, Fees Policy and Records Handling

Kinds of engagement

Consulting and testifying roles carry different obligations and different discovery consequences. The role is identified in the engagement letter and recorded from the start.

What is agreed in writing before work begins

1. The question. The specific clinical question or questions to be addressed, and those expressly outside the assignment.
2. The role. Consulting reviewer, potential testifying expert, or organizational reviewer.
3. The records. What will be provided, by whom, under what authority (authorization, subpoena, court order or protective order), and how they will be transferred.
4. The work product. Oral report, memorandum, chronology or written opinion, and its intended use.
5. The fee schedule and retainer. Hourly and daily rates for each kind of work, the retainer, and terms for cancellation, travel and additional records.
6. The contracting identity and responsibilities. Whether Dr. Gill contracts individually or through a professional entity, the parties to the engagement, and who is responsible for payment.
7. Communications and drafts. How counsel and the reviewer will communicate and how drafts will be handled, consistent with the rules of the forum.

Fees policy

• Fees are for professional time, under one written schedule that applies to every party.
• Fees are never contingent on the content of an opinion or the outcome of a matter, and payment is not deferred until the case resolves.
• A retainer may be requested before records are reviewed, and is applied against time.
• Deposition time is charged at the scheduled rate to the party taking the deposition, as California law provides for a reasonable and customary fee (Code of Civil Procedure §2034.430); a daily rate applies only to a full day of attendance or required all-day availability.
• The schedule states hourly and daily rates for deposition testimony and for consultation with retaining counsel, so it can be used for the fee statement in a California expert designation (§2034.260) and the compensation statement in a federal report.

Records handling

Medical records are among the most sensitive documents in any case. They are handled on these terms:

• Nothing before clearance. Records are accepted only after conflict screening and a signed engagement. The initial inquiry must not contain records or patient details.
• Lawful source. Records should come with the authority under which they were obtained — patient authorization, subpoena with the required assurances, court order or qualified protective order (45 CFR 164.512(e)). Protective-order terms are followed.
• Business associate terms where they apply. When counsel represents a covered entity, such as a health system or county health program, and the review is performed on that entity's behalf, appropriate business associate or subcontractor terms are agreed before records are sent.
• Agreed transfer method. Records move by an encrypted transfer method agreed with counsel, never as ordinary email attachments.
• No general-purpose AI. Protected records are not uploaded to general-purpose AI tools. If any software is used to organize a record, its use is agreed in advance, it operates under appropriate safeguards, and every citation and conclusion is verified by Dr. Gill against the source.
• Cataloguing. Each record received is logged by source, date received and identifier, so the materials considered can be listed exactly in any report.
• Return or destruction. At the end of the matter, records are returned or destroyed as the engagement and any protective order require, subject to any preservation obligation counsel identifies.

Timing

Turnaround depends on the volume of records, their organization, the question and existing commitments, and is estimated for each matter before work begins. Dr. Gill practices medicine; he does not accept deadlines he cannot meet, and he will say at the scope stage if a deadline is not realistic. Please state expert-designation, report and deposition deadlines in the first inquiry.

What is not offered

These services do not include medical care, physical or independent medical examinations, impairment ratings, workers' compensation evaluations, second opinions to patients, legal advice, or emergency-department, surgical, obstetric, psychiatric, nursing, toxicology or pathology standard-of-care opinions. No physician–patient relationship arises from a review, and no engagement exists until the terms are signed.