PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Knoll, James
AU  - Gerbasi, Joan
TI  - Psychiatric Malpractice Case Analysis: Striving For Objectivity
DP  - 2006 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
PG  - 215--223
VI  - 34
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jaapl.org/content/34/2/215.short
4100  - http://jaapl.org/content/34/2/215.full
SO  - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2006 Jun 01; 34
AB  - Forensic psychiatrists, acting as expert witnesses, must be able to perform objective analyses of psychiatric malpractice cases. Accurate malpractice case analysis requires careful attention to relevant legal concepts and consideration of potential biasing influences. If forensic psychiatrists are to avoid a reliance on “experts policing experts,” individual forensic psychiatrists must be fully prepared to police themselves by recognizing and avoiding certain errors in malpractice case analysis. Any effort to improve objectivity must include a clear understanding of the confounding variables. In this article, the authors discuss some potential impediments to objective analysis of malpractice cases such as the use of the wrong standard, causation, hindsight bias, and contributory negligence.