Does a Gap Between Medical Examination and Trial Effects on Doctors Testimony ?

In Thurmond v. Monroe, 235 Ill. App. 3d 281, 291, 176 Ill. Dec. 350, 601 N.E.2d 1048 (1992), the court considered whether a gap of "several years" between the time of the examination and the time of trial was too great to permit testimony from a treating physician concerning the permanency of the plaintiff's injuries. The court noted that no Illinois court had barred testimony concerning permanency due to the length of time from the examination. In an attempt to distinguish the holding in Henricks, the Thurmond court reasoned that, in Henricks, the testimony had concerned the prognosis of the plaintiff rather than the permanency of the injuries. Because the testimony in Thurmond concerned permanency rather than prognosis, it was irrelevant to the Thurmond court that there had been a gap of several years between the time of the physician's examination and the time of trial. Thurmond, 235 Ill. App. 3d at 291. Therefore, the Thurmond court permitted the testimony concerning permanency.