Dear All,
Working as a statistical consultant, something that I have been considering
for a while is the issue of negligence when providing statistical advice or
analysis. Examples of such situations in the area of medicine might include
errors when performing sample size calculations which might lead to a
clinical trial being declared invalid, or indeed errors in the analysis of
data which could lead to the wrong conclusions being drawn and result in
risk to patients.
Is anyone aware of such a case of negligence, and hence some sort of
financial action, being brought against a statistician as a result of
either incorrect advice or analysis. It seems to me that this is probably
an unlikely scenario, especially in proving guilt, but at the same time a
real issue in the world of statistical consultancy. If this is a real
possibility, is anybody aware of any insurance companies/policies that deal
in this sort of area.
Any useful advice gratefully received.
Best wishes,
Paul
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