OBJECTIVE To examine whether company compliance with RS-17 influences the characterization of the casual nexus in physical therapists' expert reports of cumulative trauma disorders in the labor court of Pernambuco, Brazil. METHOD The sample was composed of seven physical therapists who provided expert testimony regarding cumulative trauma disorder cases in the labor court of Pernambuco, Brazi...

background: bearing in mind the philosophical pedagogical significance of short phrases for the training of researchers in the health care ambit, we hence have studied the aphorisms and striking phrases expressed during the epidemiology course at the andalusian school of public health. methods: belonging to the qualitative type and applied through the establishment of a multidisciplinary focus ...

When and why was the expert witness program developed? The process began approximately 15 months ago when the Board of Councilors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) brought the issue of expert witness testimony to our attention. They identified problems that our fellowship has been facing with essentially fraudulent or unethical testimony by expert witnesses on both the defe...

Montgomery et al. have documented the extent to which jurors apparently do and do not rely on expert testimony regarding dangerousness and mental illness. This article reviews some of the methodological issues raised by their findings and argues that their results have potential value for appellate defense counsel in appealing death sentences in which trial counsel failed to introduce expert te...

Psychological research on eyewitness testimony has flourished over the last decade and there are now a number of findings that appear relevant to police and courts. We review some of the major eyewitness research findings regarding such things as the relationship between accuracy and confidence, the identification of perpetrators from lineups, and the influence of misleading information on eyew...

The standard of proof in criminal trials should require that the evidence presented by the prosecution is robust. This requirement of robustness says that it must be unlikely that additional information would change the probability that the defendant is guilty. Robustness is difficult for a judge to estimate, as it requires the judge to assess the possible effect of information that the he or s...

Several recent decisions by the US Supreme Court have strengthened the ability of federal courts to consider medical testimony regarding injuries associated with exposure to toxic substances. Judges are expected to examine the basis of all expert testimony before it is introduced at trial to ensure that it meets the same standards of intellectual rigor that professionals use outside the courtro...

L-[methyl-"1C]methionine ("IC-methionine) uptake of seven primary breast cancers, four soft tissue metastases of breast cancer, and three other breast lesions was studied by positron emission tomography (PET). "C-methionine accumulation was assessed by calculating the standardised uptake value (SUV). The mean SUV for breast cancer was 8.5± 3.3 (s.d.), while the maximal uptake in the liver was 1...

In honor of Isaac Ray's 200th birthday, the author examines his early career for an example of critical thinking about expert testimony. Ray, a scientist from the outset, expressed interest in phrenology, a contemporary science of the mind. This paper explores a criminal case from Maine in which phrenological testimony was proffered and which Ray critiqued. The author then examines Ray's standa...

The interests of the public and both the medical and legal professions are best served when scientifically sound and unbiased expert witness testimony is readily available in civil and criminal proceedings. As members of the medical community, patient advocates, and private citizens, pediatricians have ethical and professional obligations to assist in the civil and criminal judicial processes. ...