ABSTRACT
In Chapter 8, the reader was given a schema for clinical analysis of patient data following a neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological evaluation of a person who may have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this chapter, the focus is on forensic evaluations. The reader has been instructed in Chapters 9 and 10 regarding the basic principles of forensic evaluations, particularly those for TBI, within the various issues that may arise legally or administratively. As discussed in Chapter 9, there are myriad legal presentations that can occur following a TBI, and these will lie within the three major areas of forensic evaluation: criminal, civil, or administrative. The goal of a neurobehavioral analysis for forensic purposes following TBI is for the forensic clinician to develop a database on which an examining expert may rely to provide sound opinions to a trier of fact, or to be used for settlement purposes if requested. This chapter presents real forensic cases and presents a schema for the collection, review, and analysis of forensic data. Table 11.1 provides a schema for forensic neuropsychiatric data collection and review. This is by no means exhaustive. There are certainly other acceptable formats and schemas that may be used, but this particular schema has been tested clinically in the examination and analysis of more than 18,000 forensic evaluations, including 5,000 TBI cases, and it has also enabled testimony for neuroimaging in more than 1,000 cases.
