Overlawyered » psychiatry

Canada: man who killed cellmate sues jail staff

Walter Olson — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:19:46 +0000

Justin Caldwell Somers, in jail for not paying a jaywalking fine, brutally murdered his sleeping cellmate by stomping him to death on the cement floor, but was found not criminally responsible because he had been acting under the influence of delusions and hallucinations. Now he is suing various personnel of the remand center for not preventing the incident, in part by not heeding the recommendation of a nurse and psychiatrist that he be housed alone: since the murder Somers “has experienced severe mental anguish and mental distress as a result of his role in causing the death of Mr. Stewart, as well as a result of the conditions of his incarceration.” [Edmonton Journal]

Tags: Canada, criminals who sue, prisoners, psychiatry

Canada: man who killed cellmate sues jail staff is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Schools roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:05:07 +0000

Appalling: pursuing the logic of equality arguments, prominent constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky has proposed abolishing private/religious/home K-12 schooling [Eugene Volokh, Rick Garnett, Marc DeGirolami]
How wrong is the NRA on school security? So wrong that even Marian Wright Edelman makes more sense [Gene Healy]
Schools, marriage, and self-replicating elites: Ross Douthat tells some secrets of the NYT-reading class [NYT]
Critics flay Connecticut bill to require school mental health checkups of children [Raising Hale]
“How the Anti-Bully Movement is Hurting Kids: An Interview with Bully Nation’s Susan Porter” [Tracy Oppenheimer, Reason]
Montgomery County, Maryland pols concerned some public schools might become unfairly good [DC Examiner] Also in Maryland, there’s a push to emulate a truly bad New Jersey idea by shifting the burden of proof onto schools in special education disputes [WaPo]
Telephone frustration in New Haven: “How public schools drive us away…” [Mark Oppenheimer]

Tags: bullying, Connecticut, disability & schools, Erwin Chemerinsky, guns, Maryland, New Jersey, psychiatry, schools

Schools roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Reflections on gun control by a Second Amendment advocate”

Walter Olson — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:28:02 +0000

From Cato Institute chairman Robert Levy, who was co-counsel in the landmark D.C. v. Heller case. [National Law Journal] More: Trevor Burrus, The Blaze. And the New York Times takes up the topic of guns and suicide, but with some pretty big omissions [Tom Maguire, Ira Stoll/SmarterTimes]

Further: “Senate Judiciary Committee Hears from Cato on Gun Policy” [Ilya Shapiro, citing contributions by David Kopel, Randy Barnett, etc.] And while Bing’s real-time reaction tracker isn’t a scientific voter survey (though the sample size is large, and there’s a partisan breakdown) it seems I was not alone in being put off by President Obama’s demagogic “they deserve a vote” State of the Union wind-up on gun control. [Mediaite]

Tags: Barack Obama, Cato Institute, constitutional law, guns, psychiatry, suicide

“Reflections on gun control by a Second Amendment advocate” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Chicago judge not guilty by reason of insanity

Walter Olson — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 04:32:17 +0000

At Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim’s trial this week, “she was found not guilty of misdemeanor battery because she was ‘legally insane’ at the time.” Cook County voters re-elected Brim in November despite reports of her troubles [South Bend Tribune/Chicago Tribune, earlier]

Tags: Chicago, judges, psychiatry

Chicago judge not guilty by reason of insanity is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Guns roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 04:05:22 +0000

“Seattle gun buyback backfires” [David Henderson]
“Gun ban” vs. “sensible gun control”: sorting out some of the major players [David Kopel, Cato Unbound, 2008]
Second Amendment vs. First? Maryland lawmaker proposes bill “to prohibit publications from printing private info of gun owners” [Justin Silverman, Citizen Media Law]
Mental illness and the next Newtown [NYT "Room for Debate", Nick Gillespie, Walter Russell Mead, Ann Coulter, Sam Bagenstos]
Story of gun nuts heckling grieving Newtown father at hearing was too good to check [Nobody's Business, Jim Treacher]
If you’re going to break a D.C. gun law in some unintended and harmless way, let’s hope you’re a well-known journalist and not some unknown schmo [Henderson] Meet some other victims of gun overcriminalization [Scott Shackford]
“The Problem With the ‘Public Health Research on Gun Violence’ That Obama Wants You to Pay For” [Jacob Sullum]

Tags: First Amendment, guns, Maryland, psychiatry, Seattle

Guns roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Can attorney committed to state psychiatric hospital still practice law?”

Walter Olson — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:25:18 +0000

Not only can she, but it seems she does. [Austin American-Statesman]

Tags: disabled rights, lawyers, psychiatry, Texas

“Can attorney committed to state psychiatric hospital still practice law?” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

August 15 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:08:53 +0000

Tenaha, Texas traffic-stop forfeiture scandal: town settles with ACLU [Thampy/Agitator; related, Steven Greenhut]
A complaint about Progressive Insurance’s posture in an uninsured motorist claim goes viral on the Internet, and Ted Frank supplies a contrarian view [Point of Law and commenters, Consumerist]
ABA again solicits nominations for its annual collection of top 100 law blogs;
“Psychiatric staff ‘should have’ prevented the Aurora shootings. Thus Southern Poverty Law Center ‘should have’ prevented Oak Creek. Right?” [George Wallace]
In Google-Oracle case, judge orders that the litigants disclose which private commentators they have financially backed [Paul Alan Levy and Scott Michelman, CLP; Timothy Lee, Ars Technica; Chris O'Brien, Mercury News]
Suit based on cop allegations says town of Riverdale Park, Md. issued unlawful camera tickets [The Newspaper, Washington Post]
Priceless: “Some Problems Inherent In Trying to Sell a Counterfeiting Machine” [Lowering the Bar]
Maybe drive ‘em to polls too? Massachusetts agrees in lawsuit settlement to send dole recipients vote packs [Michael Graham, Boston Herald; Christian Science Monitor]

Tags: forfeiture, Google, Massachusetts, psychiatry, red light cameras, Texas

August 15 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Torts roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 04:03:26 +0000

Dixon v. Ford Motor Company: “The Best Causation Opinion of 2012″ [David Oliver] “Any exposure” causation: “Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivers significant asbestos ruling” [Point of Law]
Maryland high court may consider pro-plaintiff shift from contributory negligence to comparative fault [Sean Wajert]
In last-minute ploy, Albany lawmakers extend time limits for suing local governments [Torch via PoL, Times-Union]
Mental diagnoses: what to do when courtroom experts armed with DSM-5 shoot from the hip [Jim Dedman, Abnormal Use]
California appeals court, legislature decline to go along with trial lawyers’ crusade against Concepcion and class arbitration waivers [WLF, CL&P]
Critics challenge legality of Louisiana AG’s use of contingency lawyers [Melissa Landry, Hayride]
To curb client solicitation, NJ mulls withholding crash reports from noninterested parties for 90 days [NJLRA]

Tags: arbitration, asbestos, attorneys general, chasing clients, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, psychiatry

Torts roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:03:22 +0000

Government’s hospital care guidelines may be fueling dangerous overuse of antibiotics [White Coat] FDA says fewer drugs are in shortage [Reuters, earlier here, etc.]
“Post-tort-reform Texas doctor supply” [Ted Frank/PoL and commenters] “Change in Procedures Lets Medical Malpractice [Insurance] Industry Thrive” [PC 360]
Forcing companies to make politicized disclosures to customers implicates First Amendment [Hans Bader on HHS "must credit ObamaCare" reg]
Iqbal and Twombly SCOTUS decisions on pleading have helped protect pharmaceutical defendants from flimsily based suits [James Beck, who has changed law firms to Reed Smith]
How accurate is hospital data coding? Ask thousands of pregnant British men [Nigel Hawkes via Flowing Data]
Class-action-fed boom in Medicaid dentistry + “let’s put docs in schools” idea = scope for horrific abuse, no matter how it’s financed [Bloomberg via Jesse Walker]
Suits blaming obstetricians for cerebral palsy rack up $78 million win in Philadelphia, $74 million in California [Legal Intelligencer, Cal Coast News]
Ninth Circuit: on reflection, let’s not seize control of VA mental health programs [AP, earlier here, etc.]

Tags: hospitals, medical malpractice, medical malpractice insurance, Ninth Circuit, ObamaCare, pharmaceuticals, pleading, psychiatry, Texas

Medical roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Dressing psychiatrists like wizards on the witness stand”

Walter Olson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:22:30 +0000

Checking out a published report, Erik Magraken contacted former New Mexico state senator Duncan Scott and found that it was true, the lawmaker had indeed introduced a legislative amendment in 1995 providing that:

When a psychologist or psychiatrist testifies during a defendant’s competency hearing, the psychologist or psychiatrist shall wear a cone-shaped hat that is not less than two feet tall. The surface of the hat shall be imprinted with stars and lightning bolts. Additionally, a psychologist or psychiatrist shall be required to don a white beard that is not less than 18 inches in length, and shall punctuate crucial elements of his testimony by stabbing the air with a wand. Whenever a psychologist or psychiatrist provides expert testimony regarding a defendant’s competency, the bailiff shall contemporaneously dim the courtroom lights and administer two strikes to a Chinese gong…

The amendment — intended satirically, one should hasten to add –”passed with a unanimous Senate vote” but was removed from its bill before consideration by the state house and never became law. (& Coyote, Above the Law)

Tags: expert witnesses, New Mexico, psychiatry

“Dressing psychiatrists like wizards on the witness stand” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system