Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry

This book comprehensively educates psychiatrists about malpractice and other liability. It is written to also specifically assist psychiatrists who are sued or are involved in other complaints.

The first two sections discuss malpractice law and the litigation process; the litigation section mainly addresses some of the more emotionally charged issues, including do’s and don’ts, how an attorney will be looking at the case, the defendant doctor’s testifying at deposition and trial, and the stress of being sued. The subsequent three sections address specific topics that give rise to liability, with each section taking a different perspective such as risks in particular clinical, by practice site, and special issues, including practice in special situations such as the current pandemic. The final section discusses other forms of liability, such as complaints to medical boards or professional association ethics committees.

An exceptional work, Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry, functions as both a go-to handbook and all-encompassing read on the aforementioned topics.

Peter Ash, MD, DLFAPA

Emory University

Psychiatry and Law Services

Atlanta, Georgia 

USA

Peter Ash, MD, DLFAPA, is a forensic child and adolescent psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Emory University where he directs the forensic psychiatry service and the forensic psychiatry fellowship. He is a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, and the Georgia Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  Further biographical information is available online at: http://jaapl.org/content/39/1/12

Richard L. Frierson, MD, DFAPA

Alexander G. Donald Professor of Psychiatry

Vice Chair for Education and Director, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship

Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science

University of South Carolina School of Medicine

Columbia, South Carolina,

USA

Richard L. Frierson, M.D, DFAPA, is the Alexander G. Donald Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He is a Past President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. He is recipient of the Seymour Pollack Award for distinguished lifetime contributions to the teaching and educational functions of forensic psychiatry.  He has served on committees for Recertification in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Further biographical information is available online at: http://jaapl.org/content/47/1/7

Susan Hatters Friedman, MD, DFAPA

Case Western Reserve University 

Forensic Psychiatry

Cleveland, Ohio 

USA

Susan Hatters Friedman, MD, DFAPA, serves as the inaugural Phillip J. Resnick Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Friedman serves as President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), and has served as Chair of the Law and Psychiatry committee at the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP). Dr. Friedman served as Editor of the GAP book entitled Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate, for which she and GAP were awarded the 2020 Manfred Guttmacher Award. Dr. Friedman also serves as the Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.