CRC FORSC EVAL TRAUMA BRAIN INJ PDF

Preface

Over the past decade, I have seen a drastic increase in the number of traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases that have ended up in the courtroom. As a clinical neuropsychologist who conducts evaluations of persons with suspected brain injury, I have all too often found myself sitting in a courtroom trying to defend my professional opinion and decisions. I have discovered, along with my colleagues, that to be comfortable or at least confident in such an adversarial system, it is important to be knowledgeable in the entire assessment of TBI and the forensic process involved.

Although there have been a myriad of publications on TBI and forensic neuropsychology, I could not find a text available to provide a medical and legal professional with a concise overview of the forensic assessment process and the issues in TBI. Finding such a need, I felt compelled to draw together a group of experts in the medical, neuropsychological, and legal professions to develop such a text. However, the text was not designed as a comprehensive work on forensic neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, or even TBI as there are many excellent authoritative texts available on these subjects. Instead, I and my colleagues have designed this text to provide both the clinician involved in forensic examinations and the legal professional involved in personal injury litigation or legal proceedings with a general overview of the issues and assessment process in TBI cases. Accordingly, the text begins with an overview of "key" issues involved in the forensic assessment of TBI including definitions and select medical diagnostic terminology that should be of particular interest to the forensic examiner and legal professional. Subsequent chapters provide an overview of the neurologic, neuropsychological, and psychological forensic assessment process specific to brain injury cases. The final portion of the text provides the reader with an overview of general forensic issues with a particular focus on the forensic examiner as expert witness. In this section, such issues as qualification and credibility of the forensic expert and admissibility of expert testimony in TBI cases are reviewed. This section will, of course, be of particular interest and concern to the forensic examiner in light of new court rulings and possible modifications to the admissibility of a given forensic examiner's testimony.

The contributors to this book have also attempted to provide clinically useful and practical tables and reference pages that can be used by forensic examiners and legal professionals involved in TBI cases. It is my hope as editor that this text will be a useful resource and overview for clinicians and legal professionals alike.

Murrey, Ph.D., Gregory