'Expert' Veternarian??

Judge Joe often uses a black female veternarian as an expert witness in some of his animal cases. This woman always has a little smirk on her face and I have often heard her say things that don't make much sense. I sometimes wonder what her qualifications really are.

Today, the case involved a dog breeder and a pregnant dog that lost her puppies. This "expert" witness used the term "feti" to describe the unborn puppies. She meant the plural of "fetus." I looked up "fetus" in both the Webster and the Franklin dictionaries and found the word "fetuses" as the only plural form of "fetus." I could not find her word "feti" anywhere.

Also, the defendant dog breeder interrupted her at one point when she was trying to make claims about the AKC. The breeder stated that she was completely wrong and he sure seemed to know what he was talking about. Judge Joe just said that she was a licensed teaching vet and that she was an expert in her field and so he was accepting her testimony about the AKC. However, she should not be considered an expert on AKC rules and regulations just because she may or may not be a vet.

Finally, as Judge Joe was ruling for the plaintiff for $500, the "expert" witness interrupted him to say that the subject puppy would have actually been worth over $2,000 if the defendant had acted properly. Judge Joe seemed perturbed at her interruption and stated that $500 was a reasonable amount. My question was, how could any veternarian make such a claim as to the value of a dog? Only a breeder or an owner or maybe an AKC official would be able to make such a valuation. I have never heard of anyone calling their vet to ask how much the value of any animal is. As an "expert" witness called by the court, her role was only to provide necessary information to the judge, not to take one side or the other. Her attempt to get the amount of the judgement increased seemed to be a retaliation for the breeder pointing out that she didn't know what she was talking about when it came to the AKC.

I sometimes think that this woman is just an actress hired to play a veternarian on TV. If she is really an animal doctor, she does not seem to be a very good one. Whatever her qualifications may or may not be, she detracts from every case that she is involved in. The producers should not use her as an "expert" witness again.