Expert Witness in Hospital Design and Construction
Bernstein & Associates, Architects, through its principal William N. Bernstein, AIA, has provided expert witness services in matters involving the design and construction of hospitals and related properties. Attorneys litigating cases that involve construction defects, infection-control and ICRA failures, operating-room and procedure-suite design and air-handling issues, medical gas and emergency power problems, isolation and pressurization failures, imaging-suite shielding and structural problems, accessibility violations, fire safety and egress issues under institutional occupancy requirements, water infiltration and building envelope failures, phased-construction and occupied-renovation disputes, and other claims related to the design and construction of hospitals require an expert witness architect who understands both the applicable building codes and standards and the practical realities of how those requirements are applied in the design, construction, and renovation of real hospitals.
About Hospital Design and Construction
Hospital design and construction encompasses inpatient and acute-care building types, including general acute-care hospitals, specialty hospitals, academic medical centers, emergency departments, operating-room suites, intensive care units, patient-care floors, imaging and procedure suites, laboratories, central sterile and pharmacy facilities, and the support infrastructure that serves them.
The design and construction of hospitals is governed by a complex framework of technical standards, including the applicable building code (for example, in New York City, the New York City Building Code), the International Building Code, ICC A117.1, NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code, ASHRAE 170 ventilation standards, ADA requirements, the FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals, CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission standards, and state department of health requirements such as those administered, in New York, by NYSDOH.
Disputes commonly arise over construction defects affecting building envelopes, interior finishes, and specialty clinical spaces; infection-control failures and ICRA non-compliance during phased construction in occupied hospitals; air-handling, pressurization, and ventilation problems in operating rooms, isolation rooms, and other critical spaces; failures of medical gas, vacuum, emergency power, and specialty MEP systems; shielding and structural deficiencies at imaging and procedure rooms; non-compliant accessibility features; inadequate fire-rated assemblies and egress under institutional occupancy classifications; and disputes arising from phased-construction and occupied-renovation projects. Responsibility for compliance with the applicable standards is shared, in different ways, among the hospital owner/operator, the design professional, the contractor, subcontractors, specialty vendors, infection-prevention staff, and the party responsible for ongoing maintenance, and litigation in this area frequently turns on the allocation of responsibility for design decisions, construction means and methods, and post-occupancy maintenance.
Expert Witness Services Related to Hospital Design and Construction
Expert witness services in hospital design and construction matters typically include a careful review of the project documents (drawings, specifications, submittals, RFIs, change orders, permits, certificates of occupancy, ICRA plans, ILSM plans, department of health filings and approvals, commissioning reports, and as-built conditions), a site survey to measure and document the conditions at issue, comparison of those conditions against the applicable building codes, life safety codes, healthcare facility guidelines, accessibility standards, and industry standards of care, review of construction administration records and maintenance histories, and the preparation of clear, well-supported opinions regarding the cause of the defect or failure, the responsibility of the various parties, and the standard of care applicable to the design, construction, and maintenance of hospitals.
An effective hospital design and construction expert witness must be able to explain technical requirements — fire-rated assembly construction, egress geometry under institutional occupancy classifications, infection-control and ICRA requirements, operating-room air-handling and pressurization, medical gas and emergency power design, imaging-room shielding, accessibility clearances, and building envelope detailing — in plain language to judges, juries, arbitrators, and mediators, and must have the credentials, written record, and courtroom-ready communication skills to render credible opinions.
Mr. Bernstein is a Yale-trained, NCARB-certified, LEED-accredited, registered architect. He has expertise in architectural design, engineering design, and construction as the founder/owner of an architectural firm, Bernstein & Associates, Architects, (1990-present) and as the founder/owner of a construction project management firm, Empire Projects, Inc. (2003-Present). He has been the expert witness (as of May 2026) on (40) cases involving design and construction (2006-present) across the United States and Internationally.
Contact
Please contact Bernstein & Associates, for expert witness services related to the design and construction of hospitals.