Vident Partners provides vetted carbon monoxide expert witnesses for cases involving hotel and rental poisonings, furnace and water heater failures, venting defects, generator exposure, missing CO alarms, delayed diagnosis, and brain injury from carbon monoxide nationwide. Request a referral today.
Find a Carbon Monoxide Expert →Overview
A carbon monoxide expert answers where the gas came from, how much reached the person, for how long, and what it did to them. These are unusually technical injury cases. The gas leaves no sign on its own, and by the time anyone measures it, the source may have been shut off and the rooms aired out. So the expert reconstructs the event from the appliance, the building, the blood results and the symptoms. This page covers the gas and its sources. General toxic exposure, indoor air and fire cases have their own experts.
The CDC describes carbon monoxide as an odorless, colorless gas that kills without warning 1. It reports that each year more than 400 Americans die from unintentional poisoning not linked to fires, more than 100,000 visit an emergency department, and more than 14,000 are hospitalized 1. Infants, the elderly, and people with chronic heart disease, anemia or breathing problems are more likely to get sick 1. CPSC reports that more than 200 people die every year from accidental non-fire CO poisoning associated with consumer products, and that more than 100 of those deaths are linked to portable generators 2.
The CDC says carbon monoxide is found in fumes produced any time fuel is burned, including in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges and furnaces 1. So the investigation starts with every combustion source near the victim. A mechanical engineer or HVAC specialist then examines:
Hotels, apartments and vacation rentals are frequent settings, because a source in one unit can reach another. Post-event measurements are useful but limited. An expert may need a controlled test of the appliance to reproduce the level, and should explain how close the test comes to the actual conditions.
Many claims ask whether an alarm should have been there. CPSC advises battery-operated CO alarms or alarms with battery backup on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas, and advises using generators outside only, at least 20 feet away from homes, with exhaust facing away 2. The CDC likewise recommends detectors near every sleeping area 1. Legal duties vary by state and city, and by building type. Federal manufactured housing rules set out conformance requirements for combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, referring to UL 217 and UL 2034 3. The expert should identify the code adopted where the building sits and the date, along with any hotel brand standard or lease term.
The medical side has its own traps. The CDC's clinical guidance says symptoms and signs are variable and nonspecific, and the most common are headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain and altered mental status 4. Those can look like flu or food poisoning, so a delayed diagnosis may be its own claim. A conventional two-wavelength pulse oximeter is not accurate when carboxyhemoglobin is present 4.
The guidance says an elevated carboxyhemoglobin level strongly supports diagnosis, and that levels do not correlate well with severity of illness, outcomes or response to therapy, so clinical symptoms and exposure history must be assessed 4. It adds that clinicians should consider hyperbaric oxygen when the level is more than 25 to 30%, or in the presence of cardiac involvement, severe acidosis, unconsciousness or neurological impairment 4. A blood level drawn hours later, after oxygen, will understate the peak, so a toxicologist often back-calculates. That is an area for careful cross-examination.
Lasting injury is usually neurological or cognitive, and a person may seem to improve and then decline. A neurologist or neuropsychologist addresses those deficits, and imaging may help. Defense experts may offer other causes, so baseline records matter.
OSHA's permissible exposure limit for carbon monoxide is 50 parts per million in Table Z-1 of 29 CFR 1910.1000 5. Warehouses using fuel-powered equipment, indoor events and enclosed garages can all raise the issue.
Match the witness to the question. An HVAC or mechanical engineer addresses the source and venting. An industrial hygienist addresses concentration and exposure. A medical toxicologist addresses dose and causation. A neurologist or neuropsychologist addresses injury. A code official may address alarm duties, and an emergency physician addresses a missed diagnosis.
The CDC reports that each year more than 400 Americans die from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires, more than 100,000 visit an emergency department, and more than 14,000 are hospitalized.
Case Types
Hotel, motel, and vacation rental poisonings
Apartment and landlord claims over faulty heating systems
Furnace, boiler, and water heater venting failures
Portable generator deaths and product claims
Missing or failed CO alarms
Vehicle and marine exhaust exposure
Missed diagnosis in the emergency department
Workplace exposure from fuel-powered equipment
Qualifications
Related Specialties
FAQ
Match the witness to the question. Use an HVAC or mechanical engineer for the source and venting, an industrial hygienist for exposure levels, and a medical toxicologist for dose and causation. A neurologist or neuropsychologist addresses lasting injury.
The CDC's clinical guidance says an elevated carboxyhemoglobin level strongly supports the diagnosis, but symptoms and signs are variable and nonspecific. It says levels do not correlate well with severity, so symptoms and exposure history must be assessed. A conventional two-wavelength pulse oximeter is not accurate when carboxyhemoglobin is present.
Only in part. A level drawn hours later, after oxygen, will understate the peak, and a toxicologist may estimate back to the exposure. The CDC says levels do not correlate well with severity of illness or outcomes, so an expert should not rest on the number alone.
That depends on state and local law and on the type of building. CPSC advises alarms on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas, and the CDC advises detectors near every sleeping area. An expert should identify the code in force at the property on the date in question.
Depending on the facts and state law, claims may reach a landlord, hotel operator, heating contractor, appliance or generator manufacturer, or a gas utility. The first step is finding the source and how the gas reached the victim.
In general, carbon monoxide expert fees are determined by the expert themselves, based on a variety of criteria. Among those criteria are technical experience, forensic experience, medical training, testing needs, and publications. Vident does have some influence over expert fees by comparing experts within a specialty, but ultimately it is a personal decision by the expert.
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