First, why might a lawyer request an opinion on the life expectancy of an individual? A lawyer may request the calculation of a life expectancy of an individual for several possible reasons. The need for such an opinion arises mostly in medical liability lawsuits. Defence lawyers may seek an opinion suggesting a reduced survival period, reducing the amount of damages awarded, while plaintiff lawyers may look for an expert known to give opinions slanting towards long life expectancies, allowing the requested damages to be maximised. This opens the field to the quest of a biased opinion. The life expectancy expert themselves should have enough ethics to deliver an unbiased opinion. Is there any methodology that can deliver an unbiased and sciencesupported opinion 56 LAWYERMONTHLY JANUARY 2023 Life Expectancy Calculation: An EducatedGuess or a Scientific Opinion? ExpertWitness An unfortunate reality of the expert witness’s practice is the potential for experts to give opinions that have been coloured by bias – which can be particularly harmful when the matter at stake is an individual’s life expectancy. To gain greater insight, Lawyer Monthly has spoken with medicolegal expert Dr François Sestier, an expert on life expectancy calculation. In this feature, he discusses whether there is any precise methodology when it comes to calculating the life expectancy of an individual.
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