About Thomas W. Peatman, MD
Board-Certified Orthopedic Surgeon | Sports Medicine Specialist | Certified Independent Medical Examiner | Expert Witness
Decades of Orthopedic and Clinical Experience
Thomas W. Peatman, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with more than two decades of clinical experience spanning orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, joint replacement, trauma care, and the non-operative management of musculoskeletal conditions. His career combines extensive surgical experience, professional sports medicine, military service, medical leadership, and more than 15 years of expert witness work.
Throughout his surgical career, Dr. Peatman performed more than 8,300 orthopedic procedures, including joint replacements; hip, knee, and shoulder arthroscopies; and open procedures involving the shoulder, upper extremity, spine, hip, knee, foot, and ankle. After developing a hand tremor, he transitioned away from performing surgery and now focuses his clinical practice on the non-operative evaluation and management of orthopedic disease and trauma, including conditions affecting the spine, hip, knee, and shoulder.
This combination of extensive operative experience and current non-operative practice provides Dr. Peatman with a broad perspective when evaluating orthopedic injuries, treatment decisions, causation, impairment, disability, and the appropriateness of surgical versus conservative care.
Sports Medicine and Professional Athletics
Dr. Peatman holds a Sports Medicine Subspecialty Certification and has extensive experience treating athletic and musculoskeletal injuries. As a sports medicine specialist, he also brings experience in professional athletics to his clinical work. From 2006 through 2010, he served as a Team Physician for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball.
His sports medicine background complements his experience in orthopedic trauma, joint reconstruction, and the treatment of injuries involving the hip, knee, and shoulder.
Military Medical Service
Dr. Peatman is a United States Navy veteran whose military medical career included service as an orthopedic surgeon and completion of the U.S. Navy Flight Surgery Medicine Program.
While stationed at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Naples, Italy, he was the sole practicing orthopedic surgeon for approximately 12,000 U.S. and NATO service members and their dependents. He later served as a Staff Orthopedic Surgeon at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, practicing general orthopedic surgery with an emphasis on sports medicine.
He received the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the U.S. Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation for his military service.
Leadership and Clinical Experience
Dr. Peatman spent many years at Webster Orthopedics in Oakland, California, where he focused on sports medicine for the shoulder, knee, and hip, as well as hip and knee joint replacement. As a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, he has clinical experience in both surgical and non-operative orthopedic care. He also served as President of Webster Orthopedics.
Today, Dr. Peatman practices in Bend, Oregon, where he provides non-operative orthopedic care through Volunteers in Medicine, including pro bono orthopedic services for uninsured working individuals.
Medicolegal and Expert Witness Experience
Dr. Peatman has served as an expert witness for more than 15 years. His experience includes complex case reviews, independent medical examinations, causation analysis, disability and impairment evaluations, workers’ compensation matters, motor vehicle accident cases, orthopedic trauma, and other musculoskeletal claims.
He has been deposed or testified approximately 35 times within the last four years and has made 16 trial appearances. He is also a Certified Independent Medical Examiner through the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners.
His approach to medicolegal work draws upon decades of direct clinical experience. Having treated orthopedic patients surgically and non-surgically, Dr. Peatman can evaluate medical records, diagnostic findings, mechanisms of injury, treatment histories, and claimed functional limitations in the context of real-world orthopedic practice.
Education and Professional Credentials
Dr. Peatman earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Doctor of Medicine from the University of California, Irvine. He subsequently completed a General Surgery internship and an Orthopedic Surgery residency at the University of Illinois Chicago.
He is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, holds subspecialty certification in sports medicine, and is a Fellow of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. As a sports medicine specialist, he also has extensive experience evaluating and treating musculoskeletal injuries. His professional affiliations include the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the California Medical Association, and the North American Spine Society.
From thousands of surgical procedures and professional sports medicine to military orthopedic service and years of medicolegal consultation, Dr. Peatman brings an unusually broad range of experience to the evaluation of orthopedic injuries and musculoskeletal conditions.
Peatman Medicolegal, led by Dr. Thomas W. Peatman, provides expert witness services nationwide, serving clients across the United States, including Oregon, Seattle, Florida, New York, Montana, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, and Michigan.