Using the mass tort litigation involving the drug Bendectin, which was used to treat morning sickness but became suspected of causing birth defects, the authors make a key point: the scientific method is not entirely compatible with the legal method.
The scientific process consists of formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis to see if it can be disproven, and repeating the testing process until one becomes convinced that the hypothesis must be true. (Or realizing that it is false, if a test disproves it.)
This means, however, that a scientific witness can be neutralized somewhat through clever (but artful) questioning of the sort, "Isn't it possible that . . . ."
There are no equations in this book, but there is some discussion of statistics, particularly as used in epidemiology. The mathematical concepts are not at all difficult, and well worth thinking about.
Foster and Huber use the litigation over the pregnancy drug Bendectin to explain the ways in which science is used and misused to "prove" cases. In the case of Bendectin, there was no conclusive medical evidence proving that the drug caused birth defects. Rather, there was a statistical association between the use of the drug and birth defects. Does this prove that Bendectin causes birth defects?
It might or it might not. The field of epidemiology attempts to answer the question by eliminating other possible explanations for the association. Various techniques of epidemiology include blind (or double-blind) testing, data analysis, and so on.
Foster and Huber demonstrate that the scientific techniques are not entirely conducive with the standards of modern litigation. For example, scientists generally do not speak of "proving" an assertion; rather, they "falsify" it. That is, they attempt to disprove it -- it is usually easier to show that something is not true, since you only need to find one example. When an assertion has withstood repeated attempts to falsify it, it becomes generally accepted.
This has important ramifications for litigation, however. Litigation -- particularly mass torts -- requires a "yes" or "no" answer: in the scientific opinion of the expert witness, does Bendectin cause birth defects? The expert will of course have explained his or her analysis, but in the end, that analysis must be boiled down into a yes or no answer, regardless of the suitability of such an intellectual liposuction.
In summary, this is a fascinating book if you are interested in these sorts of issues. Although the book covers science and scientific inquiry, it does not require a significant amount of scientific knowledge.
