Diagnostically Difficult Forensic Cases: Logistics, Ethics, and Case Examples

Dr. Davis has compiled several cases, some of which arose in Tennessee, in which he consulted with legal teams where the forensic pathologist made a diagnosis without scientific foundation, thereby posing risks of erroneous outcomes for criminal and civil defendants. Dr. Davis will address various principles in the science of pathology, the importance of avoiding bias in forming expert opinions, and ways that attorneys can address the potential for such errors.

For Criminal Defense Teams Only.

2 hours of CLE credit approved.

Gregory J. Davis, MD, FCAP

After receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky, Greg Davis obtained the MD degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Dr. Davis then returned to Kentucky for a rotating/psychiatry internship and Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at the University of Louisville. Dr. Davis then remained in Louisville for his forensic fellowship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He is American Board of Pathology certified in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Forensic Pathology.

Later, Dr. Davis served as a faculty member at Wake Forest University School of Medicine from 1991-1996. In 1996, he returned to Kentucky, where he is now Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Davis is also a professor in the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology of the College of Medicine, an Interdisciplinary Fellow of the UK College of Law, and has served as Chair and Advisor to the Forensic Pathology Committee and Chair of the Technology Assessment Committee of the College of American Pathologists.

Dr. Davis served as both the Medical Examiner of Forsyth County and Regional Forensic Pathologist for the State of North Carolina from 1991- 1996. He served as the Associate Chief Medical Examiner in Kentucky from 1998-2005, where he now serves as the pro bono consultant to the Office of the Kentucky State Medical Examiner.

He hosts a weekly radio spot, “Dr. Greg Davis on Medicine,” on WUKY 91.3 FM University of Kentucky Public Radio/NPR