Citation

Chadwick DL, Krous HF. Child Maltreat. 1997; 2(4): 313-321.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559597002004004

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Irresponsible testimony by medical experts is a growing problem exemplified by three particularly egregious cases reported herein. The types of irresponsible testimony include the witness's absence of proper qualifications, use of unique theories of causation, use of unique or very unusual interpretations of medical findings, alleging nonexistent medical findings, flagrant misquoting of medical journals or widely used texts, making false statements, and deliberate omission of pertinent facts or knowledge. Criteria to qualify as an expert witness in child abuse and neglect are proposed. Finally, physicians, lawyers, and their respective professional licensing boards and societies are urged to develop a process by which such testimony is exposed, peer reviewed, and used in credentialing.

Language: en