Florida follows the 1923 Frye v. United States standard for admitting expert medical/scientific opinions. The Florida Supreme Court last spoke on the matter in the 2007 case, Marsh v. Valyou.
The Third District recently tackled the issue of admissibility of medical expert testimony where the plaintiff’s expert could prove an anecdotal association between a staph infection and more serious kidney disease. Causation was not proven, simply an association between the two. Is that enough for admissibility?
It was in Aulette Andries v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (Cortinas, Salter, and Schwartz).
The Plaintiff developed a boil on her skin when she was on a cruise; it was later diagnosed to be a staphylococcus “staph” infection. Sometime later, she developed immunoglobin A nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy, an incurable kidney disease. When suit was filed, she found two physicians, with over 20 years’ experience, who testified that improperly treated staph infections can result in IgA nephropathy. Defense experts pointed out there was no scientifically proven causal link between the two.
The Third DCA noted there were two types of medical opinion/scientific opinion. Opinions based upon widely accepted, established scientific principles or methodology can be admissible even if pure opinion. Opinions based upon new or novel principles or methods must meet the Frye “sufficient indicia of reliability” test which requires preponderance of the evidence that it meets the “general acceptance” standard at the time of the appeal.
Here, the Panel went to great lengths to confirm the professional standing and accomplishments of both sides’ experts. There was a medical “Bradford Hill” criteria for establishing causation. There were non-English research studies.
The Marsh opinion, from 2007, does not require scientific literature or other proof regarding the precise etiology or causation. ”Association studies,” with scientific proof, were enough under these conditions. Here, there were recognized diagnoses (staph infection and IgA nephropathy) and “anecdotal association between the two has been recognized [to the point it is] worthy of formal and published research.”