Criminal Cases
Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is often useful in criminal matters when concerns about competency or mental capacity arise. Evaluations provide objective measures of overall intellectual capacity (i.e., IQ), memory, strategic planning, problem solving, abstract reasoning abilities and impulsivity. This enables quantifiable estimates of factors that may impact behavior and decision making abilities. Standardized assessments of attention, working memory, learning and memory and language abilities are useful in determining whether an individual is capable of understanding the legal process and effectively participating in his or her defense. Further, examination of the pattern of performance across cognitive measures, in combination with thorough review of medical records and comprehensive clinical interview can also be used to establish etiology of behavioral, emotional and cognitive dysfunction. Evaluations are conducted for both defense and prosecution attorneys.
Civil Cases
Comprehensive assessment of cognitive and emotional functioning is commonly used to identify and determine the severity of functional impairment following a traumatic brain injury in disability/worker's compensation cases and civil court proceedings. Depending on the nature of the referral, the neuropsychologist works with the client and devises an appropriate evaluation based on the presenting symptoms. The goal of the evaluation is typically to determine the cause(s) of impairments, to establish how such impairments impact an individual's everyday functioning and to predict how functioning will improve over time. Commonly, the evaluation will examine both cognitive and emotional factors that contribute to functional impairment. Evaluations are conducted for both plantiff and defense attorneys.