"Could I be sued?" The exploding number of malpractice lawsuits in recent years has brought this question to the mind of every clinician---the conscientious as well as the negligent.

A unique and practical guide to clinical risk management, this book combines the expertise of mental health professionals, judges, attorneys, and insurance industry experts, to help the clinician provide effective treatment while reducing the risk of legal liability. Wide-ranging, clinically based, and up to date, it will be a welcome guide for medical and surgical practitioners as well.

The first...

What are the facts about psychiatric malpractice? Is it increasing? If so, how rapidly? What areas of psychiatric practice pose higher risks of legal liability?

The anxieties and uncertainties created by the increased threat of being sued for malpractice can interfere with the psychiatrist's provision of good clinical care. Through a general overview--as well as a discussion of specific legal cases--this volume presents the major malpractice traps encountered in everyday psychiatric practice.

"Why did the defendant do it?"

Mental health professionals are asked to help courts answer this question. To serve justice, the law calls for evidence of the mental state at the time a crime is committed, of suicide intent in civil litigation, and of mental capacity in contract litigation. The law asks psychiatrists and psychologists to retrospectively determine mental states -- a daunting task made even more difficult by the passage of time, the uncertain credibility of witnesses, the paucity of collateral sources of information, and often the death of the person in...

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001 turned PTSD into a household word. But posttraumatic stress disorder has been documented throughout history: For example, as long ago as 1666, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary that he still had night terrors 6 months after the great fire of London. PTSD, officially recognized as a diagnosis by DSM-III in 1980, is only the most recent term used to describe the suffering of trauma victims.

Few could have foreseen its profound impact on litigation. Often dubbed the "black hole" of litigation -- where allegations are...

Patient suicide is an unavoidable occupational hazard of psychiatric practice. Indeed, it is the rare clinician who does not struggle, even agonize, over the complex task of assessing and managing the risk of suicide in patients. Patient suicides account for the greatest number of malpractice suits filed against psychiatrists and for the greatest number of settlements and verdicts covered by professional liability insurers.

In this book, written by a clinician for clinicians, Dr. Simon, an established expert in psychiatry and law, offers - A solid, easy-to-understand review of how...

Evaluating and treating patients with violent ideations and behaviors can be frustrating, anxiety-provoking, and even dangerous, as errors in judgment can lead to disastrous consequences. Fortunately, there is the Textbook of Violence Assessment and Management, the first and only comprehensive textbook on assessing the potentially violent patient for mental health clinicians on the front lines of patient care.

Uniquely qualified to produce this comprehensive volume, the editors have assembled a distinguished roster of contributors who, in 28 practical chapters, combine...

Perhaps never before has an objective, evidence-based review of the intersection between gun violence and mental illness been more sorely needed or more timely. Gun Violence and Mental Illness, written by a multidisciplinary roster of authors who are leaders in the fields of mental health, public health, and public policy, is a practical guide to the issues surrounding the relation between firearms deaths and mental illness. Tragic mass shootings that capture headlines reinforce the mistaken beliefs that people with mental illness are violent and responsible for much of the gun violence in...