Expert Witness Blog

In What’s Your H2O (Safety) IQ?, water safety expert witness Dr. David Smith, Commander, USCG (RET) writes:

The following 20 questions were the basis of a key address to the First International Boating and Water Safety Summit, April 18-25, 1997 in San Diego, California. The Summit was sponsored by the National Water Safety Council and The National Safe Boating Council. This article is taken from the proceedings of the Summit. The article has been repeatedly updated to reflect current aquatic accident statistics. Human physiology, by contrast, has not been known to change in the last 10,000 decades.

How well can you answer these twenty boating and water safety questions:

Sports medicine expert witnesses may provide reports regarding exercise physiology, traumatology, doping control, and more. This week Ryan Braun admitted he took performance enhancing drugs during his National League most valuable player season of 2011. Braun said a nagging injury led him to take banned substances from Biogenesis. He is serving a 65 game suspension.

Medical expert witness Dr. Burton Bentley II, M.D., FAAEM, is President of Elite Medical Experts, LLC., and specializes in securing leading experts from the nation’s top universities. In Who really has the top medical experts? Dr. Bentley writes:

The success or failure of any medical negligence case rests squarely upon the medical facts, yet it is the competence of the testifying expert that ultimately allows those facts to be discovered and voiced. Consequently, the starting point of any successful outcome must be the selection of the best expert witness. Whether opining for the plaintiff or the defense, the litigator with the top medical expert secures a strong competitive advantage.

The first step in selecting an expert is to assure the strength of his or her credentials. In general, however, most credible experts have graduated from a US medical school and have attended a US residency program for specialty training. Those that attend top-tier schools such as Ivy League universities may have an intangible perception of elevated credibility based solely upon their credentials. Experts should be in full-time practice both presently and at the time of the alleged negligence, though exceptional experts may have additional fellowship training or publications within the specific area of medicine which they are addressing. Experts should have extensive clinical experience which manifests itself in professionalism, confidence, and fluency.

Voting expert witness Pete Perry testified regarding voting irregularities in the Hattiesburg, MS, June mayoral election. Among the problems, Perry found that absentee ballots did not match the number of absentee envelopes. Mr. Perry is owner of Paradigm Government Relations, LLC, Jackson, MS.

Child safety expert witnesses may testify on poisoning prevention, playground injuries, electrical safety in the home, and childhood injuries, as well as related issues. In the news, a 7-month-old boy died after eating a laundry detergent “pod” which was accidentally left where he was sleeping. The American Association of Poison Control Centers writes:

Poison centers receive many calls each year about children getting into laundry detergent. Swallowing it often causes mild stomach upset, if there are any symptoms at all, but poison center experts say the new highly concentrated single-load liquid laundry detergent packets seem to be different.

Some children who have gotten the product in their mouths have had excessive vomiting, wheezing and gasping. Some get very sleepy. Some have had breathing problems serious enough to need a ventilator to help them breathe. There have also been reports of corneal abrasions (scratches to the eyes) when the detergent gets into a child’s eyes.

Fire expert witnesses may provide reports concerning arson detection, arson investigators standards of care, fire equipment, and fire origin and cause. Rhode Island fire officials are investigating a suspicious electrical fire extinguished Saturday on the Sakonnet River Bridge. The fire damaged nearby equipment and not the bridge structure. Arson is suspected.

Aviation expert witnesses may testify on air traffic control, aircraft accident investigation, aircraft contract manufacturing, aircraft design, and aircraft operations. In the news, The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a full Go-Team to investigate the crash of a United Parcel Service Airbus A300. The crash occurred while on approach to Runway 18 at Birmingham International Airport in Birmingham, Ala.

Senior Aviation Investigator Dan Bower will serve as investigator-in-charge. NTSB Board Member Robert Sumwalt is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation. Federal officials have found no evidence of a pre-crash fire or engine failure aboard a UPS plane that went down in Alabama, killing two pilots.

Read more: http://www.ntsb.gov/news/2013/130814.html