Expertise in law, medicine, and health care

As the practice of science-based medical evidence has challenged the medica l profession to consider the scientific bases for its methods and procedure s, on a seemingly parallel path, the United States Supreme Court's 1993 dec ision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals has challenged the legal sy stem to consider the science underlying claims of medical expertise. This a rticle examines how the legal system has responded to that challenge and wh y the response has been more limited than many had expected; the implicatio ns of the legal system's approach to scrutiny of claims of medical expertis e for the practice of science-based medical evidence: and, the central elem ents of any meaningful change in legal assessments of expertise in medicine and health care.