Questions & Answers
- Q: You are a Psychiatrist. How can you have the expertise in all these areas which you list?
- Because of my work and later on, my training in Geriatric Psychiatry & Psychiatry in General Hospital settings, and further my medical school teaching and my Fellowship in Medical Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, I have been exposed to numerous populations. It has been necessary for me to explain concepts in straightforward language and to directly answer questions.
After graduating Medical School, I attended the Menninger School of Psychiatry. This institution is one of the original training sites for Psychiatrists. Both brothers, Karl and Will Menninger, had repeated advisory roles with State and Federal agencies. This ranged from the Military and the Veterans Administration to Consulting in the Federal Prison system. Key organizers of Medical/Legal Professional organizations and Credentialing examinations were staff and consultants to the Menninger Foundation. This was from the 1950's till the present day. Dr. Karl Menninger popularized the use of Psychiatry in legal matters and helped establish basic concepts in issues of Competency, Criminal Responsibility, psychological standards for new recruits to Police Departments, and much more.
As part of my training, beyond exposure to the faculty who had done all this, I was invited to work at the Federal Prison in Springfield, Mo and at the Kansas Reception & Diagnostic Center [part of the Kansas prison system]. Evaluating Dangerousness was almost a daily part of my training at Topeka State Hospital. It is this experience and the abilities I have honed for more than two decades of Practice that leads me to offer my services as "expert" in my listed areas of expertise.
- Q: How much do you charge?
- My fees are based on my time attending to a specific task. This would not be unlike the usual practice of attorneys.
- My hourly rate to review records is currently $175/hour
- An examination of an individual would be $250 for the first hour and $175 for each fraction of an additional hour, thereafter
- Travel time would be charged at $175/hr
- Depositions or Courtroom examinations would be at the rate of $350/hour, or fraction thereof.
[this would include waiting to be called for my testimony, but would exclude travel time]
- Q: What geographic areas or regions are you limited to?
- I am not limited to any single area or region. I would be willing to travel to review a case, interview an individual or testify. I would charge for the cost of travel and accommodations, as well as my "Travel time" [please see above]
- Q: Are you Board qualified in any area?
- Yes, in General Psychiatry and also Geriatric Psychiatry
- Q: Would you be considered to have expertise in other areas?
- Yes, and these would include:
- Evaluation and Diagnosis
- Knowledge and use of DSM-IV
- Determination of Psychiatric illness apart from character defects
- Competency exams
- Clinical evaluation of Dangerousness
- Evaluation of an individual's ability to judge right from wrong
- Diagnosis of malingers or individuals with psycho-somatic disorders
- Clinical Psychopharmacology
- Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- Group Psychotherapy
- Medical Psychiatry in general medical settings [Hospitals, Nursing homes, etc]
- Consultation to non-psychiatric medical staff
- Consultation to Psychologists & Social Workers
- Prison Psychiatry [Experience in the Kansas, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Correctional Systems]
- Giving courtroom testimony and/or Depositions
- Giving presentations to audiences of laypersons, on topics contained in Psychiatric Medicine
- Q: How many times have you served as an expert witness in the courtroom?
- I have been deposed many times and in court for criminal cases, as well as civil cases, approximately eight times; leaving aside commitment to involuntary hospitalization proceedings.
My practice has not been primarily of a forensic nature. I have had Private practice, Teaching at Universities [Univ. of Edinburgh, UCSF-Fresno, East Carolina Univ., and the Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey] and General Hospital work.
- Q: Can you give a few details on particular cases that you were involved in?
- The range of cases have reached from determining the mental capacity of a deceased individual to engage a new will, to that of a man convicted of murder and about to undergo the penalty phase of his defense. This last individual had an amytal interview as part of his evaluation.
- Q: What were you hired to do?
- I am usually engaged for the purpose of evaluating a persons mental status and then to provide an opinion on issues, such as:
- Competency
- Dangerousness
- Knowing Right from Wrong
- Capacity to assist in their own defense
- Need for Guardianship / Conservatorship
- Psychiatric Diagnosis
- Evaluation of prescribed treatment
- Disability
- Determine Malingering or Factitious illnesses
- and the Standard of Care, in a given locale, etc.
