Geriatrics Expert’s Cause-of-Death Opinion was Deemed Reliable
Posted on August 27, 2025 by Expert Witness Profiler
James Dean Bloomer, as the surviving child of decedent James Wright Bloomer; and the Estate of James Wright Bloomer, through James Dean Bloomer Jr. as Administrator of the Estate, brought this action against Defendants HMG Park Manor of Westwood, LLC and HMG Services, LLC.
Plaintiffs alleged wrongful death and survival claims under Kansas law arising out of decedent James Wright Bloomer’s treatment at a skilled nursing facility, HMG Park Manor of Westwood, LLC d/b/a Tanglewood Nursing and Rehabilitation (“Tanglewood”), located in Topeka, Kansas.
Plaintiffs filed a Daubert motion to exclude certain opinions of Defendants’ retained expert Jeffrey A. Kerr DO.
Geriatrics Expert Witness
Jeffrey A. Kerr has been a physician since 1985 in many hospital settings. He is board certified in family practice, with an added qualification in geriatrics. He is also a certified medical director for long term care. Kerr has been affiliated with several different nursing facilities during most of his tenure as a physician, and he has served as an expert witness in many cases since 2020.
Discussion by the Court
Plaintiffs asserted that certain opinions of Kerr are made without analysis and are therefore conclusory. Defendants responded that these are two of several opinions that are based on Kerr’s preceding analysis in the report of Bloomer’s medical records for the four years leading up to his death.
Kerr began his report by listing a multitude of deposition transcripts, exhibits, pleadings, medical records, and other documents he reviewed before rendering his opinions. Also, Kerr considered Bloomer’s extensive medical history and medications, and constructed an exhaustive timeline of his treatment going back to June 16, 2018.
The Court found that Kerr’s review of Bloomer’s medical records, in light of his training and experience that focuses on geriatric care, was sufficient for him to offer a reliable opinion on Bloomer’s cause of death. Plaintiffs failed to identify a specific reliability issue in the records Kerr relied on in formulating his opinions.
To the extent Plaintiffs maintained that there are other facts that Kerr failed to consider, or that the timeline is flawed or missing information, those are matters for cross-examination because they go to the weight of the testimony, not its admissibility. The Court has reviewed the report and found no “great analytical gap between the data and opinion proffered” that would render it unreliable.
Held
The Court denied the Daubert motion to exclude certain opinions of the Defendants’ retained expert Jeffrey A. Kerr DO.
Key Takeaway:
Kerr was not required to categorically exclude each and every possible alternative cause—to require otherwise would mean that few experts would ever be able to testify. Instead, he was required to provide objective reasons for eliminating alternative causes. Therefore, the Court found that Kerr has provided an objectively reliable basis for his opinion.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Bloomer V. HMG Park Manor Of Westwood LLC |
| Docket Number: | 2:24cv2059 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, Kansas |
| Order Date: | August 22, 2025 |
