How Can a Doctor Fail 3 Medical School Classes & Not Remember?

I was on trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court (Kings County) last week in an orthopedic malpractice case. The defendant doctor was a physiatrist (a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor) who evaluated and treated my client.

During the discovery phase of the lawsuit I learned during the doctor's question and answer session, also known as a deposition, that it took him 5 years to graduate medical school instead of the usual 4 years. He had a memory lapse when I asked type of research he did in a year following medical school.

Immediately prior to the start of trial, the defense attorney requested a motion in limine, which is an oral request made to the trial judge. Defense counsel asked the court to prevent me from inquiring into the doctor's medical school credentials, claiming that they're not relevant to the issues in the case. The fact is that a doctor's credentials are always at issue, as is their training and education. The judge permitted me to inquire.

At trial, I asked the doctor to explain to the jury why it took him five years to graduate instead of the normal four. His answer?
"I failed three medical school classes and had to re-take the entire year over again."

When I cross-examined the doctor later in the trial, he had been telling us about additional classes he had taken involving sports medicine, yet he had neglected to mention which three classes he had failed. I asked him. His answer?

"I don't remember."

Do you believe that? I didn't.
I asked the jury in closing argument how an educated man could possibly ever forget the three classes he failed that required him to repeat an entire year of medical school. While his classmates graduated on time, he was still in school. Yet the doctor claimed he couldn't remember which classes he failed. Bull.