Neuroimaging Technologies
In Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) cases, a victim's brain cannot be shown to the jury. Lawyers must therefore find ways to illustrate their clients' injuries to the jury. But the rules of evidence limit what lawyers may use. In essence, the lawyer must use technology that is reliable and accepted by the scientific community. The lawyers representing the person responsible for the injury will object to the technology the victim's lawyer tries to use.
Some of the technologies used in brain injury litigation include:
Positive Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon
Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) - these
depict the body's metabolism and bloodflow
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) - these show electrical activity
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) - these
reflect flow, volume and oxygenation of blood within
bodily tissue
Because TBI victims' lawyers must prove the existence of a brain injury and the cause of the injury, some technology to depict brain function is useful, if not necessary. Much of this technology is new, however, and it is likely to be challenged. Whether the technology will be admitted as evidence will be determined by the judge, on a case by case basis.
