Dr. Purcell is an actively-practicing General Orthopedic Surgeon and Plastic Surgery Fellowship Trained Hand Surgeon. He has been a practicing physician for over 25 years and has extensive experience in General Orthopedics and Hand Surgery in the field of Medical – Legal Practice. He carries medical licenses in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.

He is a former Director of Hand Surgery and Attending Orthopedic Surgeon in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Columbia University and he is a former Attending Surgeon at Beth Israel Hospital at Harvard University. Dr. Purcell is currently an Attending Orthopedic Surgeon at the HonorHealth hospital system in Scottsdale, Arizona and at local ambulatory surgery centers. 

He pursued Internal Medicine training at Baylor Affiliated Hospitals in Houston, Texas and General Surgery training at Harvard University, where he was a Chief Resident in Plastic Surgery. Dr. Purcell pursued Orthopedic Surgery training at Columbia University and was a Chief Resident at Helen Hayes Hospital, a Columbia affiliated hospital. This training was then followed by a Plastic Surgery Fellowship in Hand Surgery at New York University.

He has been an Expert Witness in Orthopedic Surgery and Hand Surgery for many years for both the defense and plaintiff, with a very successful track record with trials and arbitrations. He provides clarity to the complexities of the General Orthopedic and Hand issues, including the topics of injury causation and impairment. He has been declared an expert at trials for all orthopedic matters and the entire musculoskeletal system, from the spine, to the upper and lower extremities as well as for conditions involving nerves such as thoracic outlet syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome, nerve lacerations and nerve entrapment pathology. He has extensively opined on traumatic conditions of bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints. By pursuing a career as both a general orthopedist and a hand surgeon, Dr. Purcell is able to provide the necessary overview required for a multi-trauma case, without the need to enlist multiple specialists with their limited focus.

Dr. Purcell has over 25 years of experience performing Independent Medical Exams (IMEs), Case Reviews and Impairment Ratings for both the defense and plaintiff for ALL Orthopedic conditions in addition to Hand Surgery conditions. In doing so, he has provided clarity of the most complex injuries, allowing these conditions to be understandable to the attorneys, adjustors, jury, judges and examinees. Causation determination is stressed in all of his medical- legal endeavors and there is a clear recognition that “teaching moments” are ever present.

Dr. Purcell has lectured across the United States and has been the keynote speaker on varied topics in orthopedics and hand surgery as well as the medical legal realm. He has also written multiple articles to promote further understanding of the intricacies of these medical fields.