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n-week: Eliot Marshall SCIENCE AND LAW: Flawed Statistics in Murder Trial May Cost Expert His Medical License Science 2005; 309: 543a [Summary] [Full text] [PDF]

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Scapegoating Roy Meadow

Gerard J te Meerman   (29 July 2005)

Scapegoating Roy Meadow 29 July 2005
Gerard J te Meerman, statistician university medical center groningen Respond to this E-Letter: Re: Scapegoating Roy Meadow	Although it is quite clear that Roy Meadow overstepped the boundaries of his discipline by suggesting faulty statistics on the probability of recurrence of infant death, the error is so evident that all involved should be held equally responsible for acting on his flimsy argument. There is only one good reason to strip an M.D. of a licence: when there is gross incompetence in exercising medical duties. It is all too evident that M.D.'s have little training that would qualify them as statistical experts. Instead, those responsible for the wrong verdict have shown gross incompetence in the execution of their profession, and it is perhaps deplorable that they are not judged by similar authorities as M.D.'s. Instead, most judicial systems protect judges from such disciplinary actions--for good reasons. It seems that the desire to blame for an unjust verdict leads to a second injustice: using a disciplinary board beyond its proper reach.