Psychiatric personal injury expert witness in Scotland
A psychiatric personal injury report answers the questions a Scottish court needs answered about the mental consequences of an accident: what disorder, if any, the pursuer has, whether the accident caused or materially contributed to it, how long it is likely to last, and what treatment is required. He is instructed by pursuer agents, by defender agents and by insurers, and the opinion is prepared to the same standard whichever party instructs.
Most instructions arise from road traffic accidents, accidents at work, assaults at work, public liability incidents and workplace exposure. Reports are prepared for actions in the sheriff court and in the Court of Session.
What Dr Qureshi can advise on
- Whether the pursuer meets diagnostic criteria for a recognised psychiatric disorder under ICD-11 or DSM-5, and which.
- Whether the index accident caused, materially contributed to, or accelerated that disorder.
- The relationship between physical injury, pain and psychiatric symptoms.
- Prognosis with and without treatment, and the period over which symptoms are likely to resolve.
- The treatment reasonably required, its duration, and the basis for costing it.
- Effect on capacity to work, to retrain and to carry out domestic and social activities.
- The influence of pre-existing psychiatric history, and apportionment between accident and constitutional factors.
- Where the evidence raises it, consistency of the presentation, exaggeration and factors relevant to reliability.
Where a question falls outside general adult or addiction psychiatry — neuropsychological testing, for example, or orthopaedic causation — he says so and, where appropriate, recommends the appropriate discipline rather than stray beyond his expertise.
Typical instructions
- Road traffic accident with continuing travel anxiety
- A pursuer with modest orthopaedic injury who has not driven since the collision, whose GP records show sertraline started three weeks after the accident. The question is whether this is post-traumatic stress disorder, an adjustment disorder or a specific phobia, and what treatment and prognosis follow.
- Accident at work with pre-existing depression
- A pursuer with a recorded history of depressive episodes before the accident. Defender agents seek an opinion on apportionment: what proportion of the current presentation is attributable to the accident and what would probably have occurred in any event.
- Assault on a member of staff
- An employee assaulted by a member of the public who has not returned to work eighteen months later. The instruction addresses diagnosis, fitness for the pre-accident role, the prospects of return with adjustment, and treatment costs.
- Late-instructed report before a fixed diet of proof
- A case where a proof date is already assigned and a psychiatric report is required to complete the schedule of damages. Availability is confirmed before the instruction is accepted, so no deadline is accepted that cannot be met.
What the report includes
The report follows the structure expected of expert evidence in the Scottish courts: instructions received, documents considered, background and personal history, account of the index event, symptoms and their course, mental state examination, past psychiatric and medical history, and a reasoned opinion section that answers each numbered question in the letter of instruction.
Where the records and the examinee's account differ, the difference is set out rather than smoothed over, and the opinion states which account is relied on and why. Where more than one view is tenable on the medical evidence, the range of opinion is given together with the reasons for the view preferred.
The report closes with a statement of truth and a declaration that the duty to the court overrides any duty to the instructing party, in accordance with the Royal College of Psychiatrists' guidance on expert evidence and the relevant court rules.
Related expertise
- PTSD and psychological trauma — Diagnosis, causation and prognosis in post-traumatic stress and adjustment disorders.
- Chronic pain and somatisation — Psychiatric opinion on chronic pain, somatic symptom disorder and medically unexplained symptoms.
- Anxiety and depression (including adjustment disorders and phobic anxiety) — Assessment of depressive and anxiety disorders arising from accident, assault or workplace events.