TheDaubertDecision

Abstract

I am pleased to respond to the request of the editors of Pediatrics to comment on the special article entitled the “ Daubert Opinion Requires Judges to Screen Scientific Evidence.”1 My understanding of the purpose of publishing a discussion of the implications of the Daubert decision by knowledgeable attorneys is the hope that their article would be helpful to pediatricians and their attorneys if they were personally involved in a lawsuit. The most important aspect of the special article by Sartore and van Doren1 pertains to the implications of the Daubert decision. They stated the following: “Under Daubert , a court must first make a ‘preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue.’ The Daubert court identified the following factors that, although not mandated or exclusive, might be helpful to a court's inquiry: 1. whether the scientific knowledge either can be or has been tested; 2. whether the ‘theory or technique has been subjected to peer review and publication’; 3. whether the technique has a ‘known or potential rate of error’; and 4. whether there is ‘general acceptance’ of the scientific technique.” The court's focus of the inquiry must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions that they generate. My simplistic interpretation of the Daubert decision is as follows: the court (judge) can reject the testimony of an expert if the scientific methodology used by the expert witness as the basis of the expert opinion is not accepted by the scientific community. However, the court must accept the opinion of an expert if the methodology of the expert is acceptable even if the court may not consider the expert's opinion to be scientifically correct. If the litigants … Address correspondence to Robert Brent, MD, PhD, DSc, duPont Hospital for Children, Room 306, A/R Building, PO Box 269, Wilmington, DE 19899. E-mail: rbrent{at}nemours.org