Trials of an Expert Witness: Tales of Clinical Neurology and the Law

A collection of true-life case histories make up this book by neurologist Harold Klawan. He considers such questions as whether a train accident could precipitate multiple sclerosis, whether a man could be convicted of killing someone in his sleep, and whether epilepsy was behind Jack Ruby's murder of Lee Harvey Oswald? In the courtroom, it is the job of the medical expert witness to illuminate questions of life and death, right and wrong. The author himself has been an expert witness in numerous precedent-setting malpractice cases. Here he describes how doctors arrive at diagnosis and dangerous misdiagnosis, how medical malpractice suits are prosecuted, the obscure clues that neurologists must work from, and how doctors can facilitate the patient's search for truth - both in the examining room and the courtroom.