3 ms·
Are you seriously stating that all law which has paid expert witnesses is now suspect solely because the expert is paid? Remember, Wakefield spoke garbage, paid
by ggm 1y ago
Are you seriously stating that all law which has paid expert witnesses is now suspect solely because the expert is paid? Remember, Wakefield spoke garbage, paid or not. He had undisclosed conflicts of interest, his co authors retracted and the BMA withdrew his licence in the UK, his paper was retracted by the journal he published in.
The Dean was paid openly, directly, by one side of a case. As far as I know the meta analysis, which btw I do not think justifies the public health statements being made, has NOT been retracted, there are questions about methodology.
As you note, the case was lost. The judge used his discretionary powers to discount his evidence, and rightly so but the same judge will sit trial on case where he accepts the paid evidence of experts, routinely.
- malfist 1y agoPaid expert witness are of course suspect. Judges and juries still have to use their critical thinking skills to evaluate the statements from the expert witness. They are not accepted at face value.
- HeavyStorm 1y ago> Are you seriously stating that all law which has paid expert witnesses is now suspect solely because the expert is paid? Yes, I would make that affirmation, specially if the expert is being paid 150k for about a month's worth of work. But suspect doesn't mean guilty, only that there's a conflict and it should be acknowledged.
- mathattack 1y agoFollow the money. Let's say you're listening to a podcast extoll the virtues of a high protein low carb diet. You'll assign a mental probability that they're correct. Does that prior probability change if you learn they've signed a protein shake company as a sponsor the same day the podcast was released?