It's the Court's, not the Witness's, Job to Determine if Witness is an Expert

Watson v. U.S. 2007 W 1300693 (5/4/07)(published) - In a civil suit on behalf of a prisoner rendered a vegetable due to a less than rapid response to the prisoner's intracerebral hematoma, (including 15 minutes or more for the ambulance crew to get security clearance in and out of the prison), the government's witness was qualified to testify as an expert, even though he himself didn't consider himself an expert. It was the judge's job, not the witness's, to determine if the witness was an expert. The 10th thought it problematic if a witness who was truly an expert could not testify because the witness was too "self-deprecating" and "demure to trumpet his or her qualities."