Sinaiko

In its next life, this case may raise fascinating issues involving the standard of care when a physician employs alternative therapies for children suffering from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or adults suffering from a wide assortment of hard-to-diagnose symptoms. But in the writ proceedings now before us, we are presented with a more basic deprivation of due process—the wholesale disqualification of petitioner’s experts.

The trial court acknowledged the “glaring error” but refused to remand the case to real party in interest Medical Board of California (Board) to either consider the testimony offered by the expert witnesses of petitioner Robert Sinaiko, M.D., or to “bridge the analytic gap” between its finding that the witnesses were credible and its conclusion that they were not qualified. (Topanga Assn. for a Scenic Community v. County of Los Angeles (1974) 11 Cal.3d 506, 515 [ 113 Cal.Rptr. 836 , 522 P.2d 12 ] (Topanga).) Moreover, the erroneous notion that the Kelly-Frye standards of admissibility of scientific evidence established the standard of care infiltrated the administrative proceedings. (People v. Kelly (1976) 17 Cal.3d 24 [ 130…