Interesting and Helpful Facts about Toxic Torts

While physical injury cases can be decided without digging deeper into scientific details, toxic tort cases require a somewhat more complex approach to come up with a fair judgment. Namely, it requires the statement of a reliable medical expert witness. Here are some basic facts about the technical realm of toxic tort claims and litigation that every lawyer should arm themselves with:

Forensic Toxicology: The Need for Expert Witnesses

Dealing with mysterious criminal cases requires forensic science to obtain fact-based evidence. All evidence has to be carefully examined by a forensic toxicologist, a professional who has vast knowledge of chemicals and their effects on physical matter. A forensic toxicologist in this scenario becomes an expert witness and his opinion can serve either the defense or the prosecution.

Figuring out Alcohol Poisoning

Once in a while, it’s good to have a drink with your friends; you bond and talk with them over a few shots, and simply enjoy each other’s company. However, time does fly when you’re having fun and it’s possible that you would have downed several shots more than you think you had. Such instances can result into alcohol poisoning, and if something bad does happen, a forensic toxicology specialist will help uncover the truth.

Prescription Drugs in Light of Forensic Toxicology

Medicine has always utilized pharmaceuticals in the treatment of their patients. Drug recommendation and administration are both part of the complex web of patient treatment. Generally, these substances in virtually all forms of matter are aimed to yield eradication of a disease. If this were not possible, the drugs would at least relieve the ailment's symptoms.

What is Hair Testing?

Hair is made up of keratin, a strong structural protein that comprises three parts, the medulla, the cortex, and the cuticle. Beyond its anthropological and biological meaning, this biomaterial has the ability to store what passes through the body. That’s why the courts use hair testing as a way to remove a person from suspicion or connect certain suspects with criminal activity. Forensic toxicologists are the people responsible for the analyzing of hair for the courts.

Facts About the Dangers of Lead Poisoning

Lead is one of the naturally-occurring metals that can prove very poisonous to humans, especially when ingested or inhaled over an extended period. Lead buildup in the body could cause various illnesses including cancer and even brain damage. What do you do when you suspect that someone you know has been poisoned by this substance?

Lead poisoning is very unlikely to be new; experts believe that mankind has been using lead for more than 6,000 years. Children are at the highest risk of contracting diseases from lead exposure because they are more sensitive than adults and they usually put things in their mouths, particularly objects that may be contaminated by lead dust.

If you suspect that you or a loved one is suffering from lead poisoning, see a doctor immediately. When lead poisoning tests prove positive and you decide to file a case for investigation and penalty, you might as well seek the help of a highly-qualified medical expert witness.

Consulting a reputable toxicology expert witness is necessary to obtaining a professional opinion on causation. Toxicologists have extensive knowledge and experience on the nature and effects of toxins and poisons including chemicals, pharmaceutical products, metals, and alcohol.

As professionals, toxicologists can conduct thorough analysis or scientific investigation and present an unbiased report after research for purposes of litigation. Through this method, the court will be able to determine whether or not there is negligence on the part of the defendant.

Forensic Toxicology Can Debunk the Poppy Defense

When it comes to detecting substance abuse, urinalysis remains to be the tool of choice by forensic toxicologists. Recent improvements in drug tests may soon accurately separate positive cases of heroin use from false-positive ones, wherein individuals have only ingested poppy seeds and not taken an illegal drug. These false-positive cases have presented problems to authorities because of the possibility that drug users may only be using the “poppy seed defense” to their advantage.

The term relates to how people can test positive for heroin abuse simply by consuming pastries made using poppy seeds. Depending on the quantity of seeds consumed, a person may test positive even up to 60 hours after ingesting the food containing poppy seeds.

While there are some claims that poppy seed ingestion do not make false-positive results in hair tests, forensic specialists have doubts as to its accuracy. This is why urinalysis remains the top choice when it comes to detecting substance use.

Should subsequent studies regarding the use of effective markers for street heroin prove successful, forensic toxicologists will be able to provide an expert opinion regarding a person’s alleged heroin use based on the chemicals found on the urine sample. Such professionals can help a defense or plaintiff attorney with accurate medical assessments regarding the sobriety or condition of the individual in question.

Why You Need a Toxicology Expert Witness

In a nutshell, death investigation uses forensic toxicology to identify the cause of death. In this discipline, toxicologists usually study the concentration of substances ingested by a person and their effect to the body. Blood and hair samples are frequently used to detect the chemicals present in the system. In fact, a 10 ml blood sample is enough to verify the presence of a toxic substance. When it comes to hair samples, toxicologists would refer to the hair follicle as it is useful in determining medium to long-term substance abuse.

A deceased person's gastric contents may also show undigested substances that have been ingested before death. It is also possible to come up with a rough estimation on the time of death depending on the state of digestion of stomach contents.

A toxicology expert witness strengthens evidences when criminal cases are brought to court. They provide a detailed analysis of the substances found during the autopsy and even on the samples collected by the investigators. The outcome of the case largely depends on how accurate the interpretations are. Plaintiffs or defendants will have to seek the services of a toxicology expert witness to have reliable documentation needed for proper litigation. They may even ask the toxicologist to provide testimony before the court.

What is Forensic Toxicology?

The early 1800s and early 1900s are usually referred to by era historians as the “golden age of poisoning”. The incidence of poisoning was so high during the said period that scientists became driven to find antidotes or solutions, eventually giving birth the science of forensic toxicology. The tasks of forensic toxicologists include the examination of blood, tissue samples, and body fluids of a victim to determine if the cause of death was due to drugs or other poisonous substances.

Generally, forensic toxicology is a discipline in forensic science that focuses on the study of toxic substances. To be more specific, it involves the study of drugs, alcohol, and poisons, and their absorption, distribution, and effect to the human body. There are four disciplines under forensic toxicology, namely death investigation toxicology, human performance toxicology, doping control, and forensic workplace drug testing.

Death investigation toxicology focuses on identifying the role of alcohol, drugs, and poison as the cause of death of some people, and is typically practiced by pathologists and medical examiners. On the other hand, human performance toxicology tackles the effects of alcohol and drugs on the performance and behavior of humans.

Finally, doping control is frequently applied in the world of competitive sports as it assists in detecting the use of banned performance enhancing drugs by athletes. Forensic workplace drug testing is used to ensure that employees or workers are compliant with safety standards that strictly prohibit the use and abuse of illegal drugs or substances.

Toxicology Expert Witness Can Affect Case Outcome

In a companion case of Exxon Mobil v. Ford et al, both sides must have been nervous when a toxicology expert witness testified. After all, $1.65 billion in compensation was at stake. Although the toxicology expert was just one of the many experts called at that time, his testimony surely have contributed to the outcome of the case.

As a background: dozens of Jacksonville, MD households had sued Exxon Mobil for an undetected gas leak from one of its service stations that contaminated water wells in the area. The households filed two lawsuits against Exxon Mobil, including the $1.65 billion companion case. After the oil company lost both cases, they elevated them to the Maryland Court of Appeals.

In a legal case involving chemicals, a toxicology expert is generally called in to support or refute any evidence presented. He or she examines affected individuals, reviews medical reports, and works with legal authorities, among others. In this case, the toxicology expert recommended annual tests for certain ailments that costs up to $2,000 per year for each respondent.

However, the Maryland Court of Appeals also found that the “expert testimony generalized that all Respondents faced a significantly increased risk of developing a future disease, without providing individual assessments of any Respondent.” That finding partly contributed to the Court’s reversing the decision of the $1.65 billion companion case and sending it back to the lower court for a new trial. 

Toxic Tort Cases: Importance of Toxicology Experts

Toxicology expert witnesses are board-certified professionals who are called to testify in court for a wide range of cases involving medical toxicology, environmental toxicology, poisoning, substance abuse, and nutritional diseases to name a few. They are knowledgeable in many disciplines and have a proven track record in dealing with the aforementioned cases.

One of the most common cases handled by these experts is toxic tort, which is an illness or an injury that occurs when an individual comes in contact with a toxic substance such as asbestos, toxic mold, solvents, pesticides, and even pharmaceutical drugs. A lawyer specializing in toxic court cases conducts research and gathers the necessary data to present in court, and will most likely seek and consult a toxicology expert witness whose knowledge would enable him to provide a clear and reliable testimony.

A reliable toxicology expert witness should practice environmental, occupational, forensic, or medical toxicology. He or she should be able to evaluate and testify for cases that involve carbon monoxide poisoning, adverse drug reactions, substance abuse, and outbreaks. Knowledge in fields such as public health, emergency medicine, industrial hygiene, and health sciences is also necessary. Apart from gaining experience after handling several toxicology cases, a toxicology expert witness should also be able to testify and give his expert opinion without bias.

A Quick Guide to Proving Death By Poison

Death by poisoning can be the result of a crime, whether the poisoning was done intentionally or accidentally. In intentional cases, investigators must prove that another person or entity deliberately caused the administration of poison to the victim's body. If the poisoning was accidental, the person or entity behind the victim's unintended exposure to the poison will need to account for their negligence.

Those prosecuting a death by poisoning case need to establish, beyond reasonable doubt, that the death was caused by a poison. Investigators then need to collect evidence to show that another party was responsible for the poisoning. From the evidence they gather, the investigators then need to determine whether the poisoning was done intentionally or accidentally; and in the case of the latter, they have to further evaluate if negligence was involved.

In establishing that the cause of the death was poison, the expertise of forensic toxicologists is often required. They examine the victim's body to find traces of the poison, identify the kind of poison involved, and determine that the amount of poison ingested by the victim was sufficient to cause death. The poison has to be present in the victim's circulation system and/or body organs. Its presence in the victim's gastrointestinal tract alone does not prove that the death was caused by the poison. It has to be shown that the poisonous element has penetrated through the person's intestinal walls and into the circulation system, which carried the poison to other parts of the body.