Legal Trail Evidence (2nd ED) Book

Galileo's Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom by Peter W. Huber

Cancer Caused by Trauma.

During the early twentieth century, when almost nothing was known about the causes of cancer, an effort was made to connect physical bodily trauma with cancer. Traumatic injuries at work that were soon followed by the detection of cancer near the site of the injury were thought to have a cause and effect relationship. They were the basis of workers' compensation lawsuits, many of which were approved by judges.

Sudden Acceleration

In 1986, the television news program Sixty Minutes ran a report on the sudden acceleration of the Audi 5000 sedans that happened when the driver switched from park into reverse. They interviewed Alice Weinstein, founder of the Audi Victims Network. Audi lost a lot of sales. However, the problem also occurred in many other makes of cars: Honda, Buick, Pontiac, Mercedes. Several investigations showed that there was no fault in the automobile design or manufacturing. The problem was driver error: the driver thought he was stepping on the brake, but was actually stepping on the accelerator.

Cerebral Palsy and Obstetricians

Many patients and doctors use to think lack of oxygen during birth caused cerebral palsy (CP). So in the 1970s electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) of the baby's heartbeat during delivery became popular. Cesarean sections were often performed when the baby was in distress. This electronic monitoring did little to reduce the incidence of cerebral palsy, but the paper charts produced by EFM were often used as evidence in lawsuits against obstetricians for babies born with cerebral palsy. Scientific research has shown that asphyxia during labors, forceps deliveries, maternal drug use, and family history are only weak risk factors for CP. And mistakes made by obstetricians during delivery are rarely a cause of CP.

Post-Huber Note: since this book was written in the 1990s, it has been found that infections during pregnancy are sometimes a cause of cerebral palsy, because the cytokines produced by the body in reaction to the infections are toxic to fetal brain.

Bendectine and Morning Sickness

Bendectine was a prescription drug treatment for hyperemesis gravida, a severe form of morning sickness. Earlier, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, an anti-nausea drug called thalidomide had been used for morning sickness and had been found to often produce serious birth defects. In 1961, Aussie pediatrician William McBride and German doctor Widukind Lenz had warned about thalidomide causing birth defects. The science proved them right. Now, in the 1980s, McBride was claiming that Bendectin caused birth defects. In 1983 Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals pulled Bendectin from the American market, due to pressure from lawsuits. Later scientific research showed that Bendectine did not cause birth defects. Since then, pharmaceutical companies have stopped developing drugs for nausea during pregnancy, due to fear of law suits.