An Overview of the Forensic Neuropsychologist

Although more courts are turning to an expert witness in psychology and forensics to evaluate defendants and plaintiffs in court cases, many people do not understand the role of the forensic neuropsychologist in legal matters. In cases where a traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs as the result of a fall, traffic accident or being struck, […]

Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders

Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders Too often, people do not even realize what their civil rights are, much less when they have been violated. Although your civil rights include those against being discriminated against for your race, color, national origin, sex, religion or a disability, they also include your right to vote, to […]

Warning: Antidepressants May Cause Bank Robbery

This article, written by forensic psychiatrist James L. Knoll, IV MD, and published in Psychiatric Times volume 30 November 2013, makes a significant contribution, through tongue in check, to laying to rest the false conclusion that antidepressant medication in general and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in particular cause aggressive behavior or even suicide. He […]

Is This “Parity” for Mental Health Coverage? Shortage of Psychiatric Beds Preceded State Senator’s Stabbing

Is discharging an acutely disturbed young man to the street, because there were insufficient beds in Western Virginia, “parity” for psychiatric illness treatment under the law? Would a hospital emergency room release to the street someone who came in with a life-threatening medical condition, say a heart attack? Yet this is done routinely with emergency […]

Key Cases Occupy Intersection Between Psychiatry & Law

This article form July 2010 discusses two US Supreme Court Cases that once again looked ambivalently at the issue capital punishment, narrowing the circumstances under which it can be invoked, upholding the role on forensic psychiatric expert opinion in such deliberations while failing to do away entirely with this ultimate and controversial form of punishment. […]

Why Psychiatric Experts Matter in Cases of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) is diagnosed in nearly two million people each year as a result of falls, traffic accidents, being struck by various objects, and assaults. This type of injury is categorized as neurologic and is treated by medical specialists called neurologists. While these specially trained physicians are experts at treating the physical component […]

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers?

Mark I. Levy, M.D. The reasons that companies request fitness for duty exams for employees are to ensure that they have adequately recovered from a disability or to evaluate the reasons that the employee isn’t meeting the level of performance required in their position. Determining when to evaluate an employee’s job fitness can be a […]

The New Science of the Mind – Nobel Laureate Professor Eric R. Kandel Responds to Recent Article

Neuroscientist and Nobel Laureate Eric R. Kandel has written a compelling op-ed article in the New York Times responding to a recent article that suggested “psychiatry is a ‘semi-science’ whose practitioners cannot base their treatment of mental disorders on the same empirical evidence as physicians who treat disorders of the body can.” Dr. Kandel’s thoughts […]

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers?

When Can Fitness for Duty Exams be Used by Employers? The reasons that companies request fitness for duty exams for employees are to ensure that they have adequately recovered from a disability or to evaluate the reasons that the employee isn’t meeting the level of performance required in their position. Determining when to evaluate an […]

Forensic Psychiatric Assessments for Multi-Plaintiff Mass Tort Claims

A tort is a civil wrong that a person commits, resulting in injury to another person. Mass torts are lawsuits where the defendant, plaintiff, or both are a group of people, instead of a single individual. The role of forensic psychiatrists in these cases is to evaluate the members of groups who are involved in […]