Balancing Vulnerability and Resilience in Damage Prognostication

[摘要] resilienceneuroplasticitycivil lawdamagesprognosisstressIn civil cases alleging psychic injuries, forensic psychiatrists are asked to diagnose the injury and assign or apportion causal factors. If a plaintiff was damaged or an employee injured, the relevant inquiries are the nature and severity of the injury, the steps needed to remedy it, and the anticipated timeline for maximum medical improvement (MMI). This last item is discomfiting, especially when coupled with permanence. The insurance and disability industry's definition of MMI is when the individual's “condition has plateaued and is unlikely to benefit in a meaningful way from further medical treatment” (Ref. 1, p 90). The interpretation of this tautology falls on us, the experts, to state. Sometimes an attorney will press for a report, saying there is a forensic economist waiting to supply financial numbers for a report. The forensic expert appears to be the linchpin in this process, raising the important question of how such opinions can be supported.

[学科分类] 儿科学

[关键词] resilience;neuroplasticity;civil law;damages;prognosis;stress