Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death
Dr. Bonnell has been consulted to review more than 200 wrongful death/malpractice law suits and has testified in court 60 times for the plaintiff and 54 times for the defendant. He regularly reviewed medical records as part of his job as Chief Deputy Medical Examiner for San Diego County. He compares physician notes to nursing notes to lab results to find inconsistencies or to substantiate the truth of the matter. He is able to determine what should be there but has been omitted. In some cases, he has pointed out to defense that there are issues even more serious than those claimed in the initial complaint.
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Motor Vehicle Accidents
Dr. Bonnell has autopsied hundreds of motor vehicle crash victims and has testified on behalf of plaintiffs as well as defendants such as the California Department of Transportation. Based on injuries, injury patterns, and patterned injuries, he can frequently place the victim at the time of impact as well as providing objective, reliable testimony on pain and suffering as well as survivability.
Toxicology interpretation of values obtained at autopsy must be interpreted with care depending upon the site from which the specimen is obtained as well as influences such as fire, etc.
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Aircraft Mishaps
Dr. Bonnell spent three years investigating military and U.S. government aircraft mishaps; this included performing autopsies, evaluating the crash scene and interacting with the investigation board. Primary emphasis is in placing the victims at the time of impact, survivability, pain and suffering, and causation. He has personally responded to the scene of more than 35 plane crashes, as well as investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger mishap, the mass-casualty Arrow Air DC-8 crash in Gander, Newfoundland, and providing testimony in the US Air crash at LaGuardia airport in New York.
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Deaths In Custody
These deaths are always high-profile and emotionally charged. Dr. Bonnell has worked with Dr.'s. Reay and Eisele who "wrote the research articles" on the police carotid restraint hold. He has personally performed many autopsies on individuals dying while being restrained as well as other officer-involved deaths such as shootings and blunt trauma. He "calls it like it is" whether or not law enforcement may be at fault or not.
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