The following is a collection of ideas on the general subject of challenging a defense expert’s conclusions regarding life expectancy. By pointing out the number of variables involved in arriving at a medical conclusion, one can undermine the defense expert’s claim that the client’s life expectancy is limited.

FACTORS REGARDING LIFE EXPECTANCY

• General living situation
• Good diet and good nutrition
• Constant good nursing care
• Good medical care
• Adequate monitoring of health
• Procedures for immediate action in an emergency
• Probable future medical advances to enhance life
• Constant appropriate physical and medical attention

OUTLINE

1. In reviewing the medical records and client situation, is there any reason before he was brain damaged, he would not have had a normal life expectancy?

(1) Had he not been injured, we would expect him to have lived a normal period of time?

(2) Do you see any reason why he would be restricted in any way in his enjoyment of life but for this injury?

2. Approximately what age would we have expected him to live to if he had not been injured?
3. You claim he will now only live (____) years. If, in fact, his life expectancy has been shortened or reduced by years, was the reason the injury he received in this case?
   (1) So, if in fact his life has been shortened, the cause of it was the injury he received?

Medicine Doesn’t Have Laws Like Physics

1. Laws of physics such as ohm’s law, newton’s laws of motion,n and einstein’s famous e mc2 allow one to alculate exact values of one variable to a stated value of another.
2. In medicine, such relationships are rare. Instead, “statistical relationships” may hold on average but not case by case. examples:

(1) tall people tend to be heavier than short people
(2) Older children tend to be taller than younger ones. There are limits to associations between
variables in medicine

3. Proof of associations between variables in medicine have limits as to accuracy. For example, the experiments in which subjects were given large drinks of whisky & water, rum and water,
brandy & water, and all showed signs of intoxication: The conclusion was that intoxication was due to the common factor – the association of water.

Importance of Sample Size

1. sample size affects accuracy

2 . Sample size depends upon:
(1) how variable the data are
(2) how precise an answer is needed
(3) how much confidence in the answer is needed

Studies Can Draw Inaccurate Conclusions

1. New England Medical Journal published two papers on the same subject: incidence of cardiovascular
disease in women taking post menopausal hormones. Each by different authors & based on different
studies
(1) one study found incidence twice as high as those who did not take the hormones
(2) the other was in direct conflict and found only 1/2 as high
Therefore, uncertainty can come from generalizing results of studies

1. Inaccurate conclusions can result from generalizing the conclusions from those in the study to
   patients outside the study
   conclusion
2. Do you know of any method of measurement known to medical science which will with perfect
   accuracy predict how long this man will in fact live?

(1) Over the years physicians have been giving opinions to all kinds of patients about how long
they might live, e.g. people with cancer or other life-threatening diseases or problems, haven’t
they?
(2) But their predictions have often been proven wrong – people lived much longer than predicted?

(a) These physicians genuinely believed they were right about predicting how long their patients
might be expected to survive with the life-threatening disease?
(b) Do you think any of these well-trained, sincere doctors have been badly mistaken in their
predictions?

(c) Are we talking about making “guesstimates ” about things which are really only known to GOD?