PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE

Professional Negligence

Dangerous delusions? Misidentification syndromes and professional negligence.

A number of case histories have reported an association between the presence of misidentification syndromes and violent behavior. If patients with such delusions are truly more likely to perpetrate violent acts, treating mental health professionals could potentially be considered liable for not warning or protecting potential victims. However, the purported association between violence and misi...

Professional Negligence, Paralegals and Modern Legal Ethics between the Bookends

Over the past few months three books have come to the office which deserve some attention from the legal profession. Each is unique in its own way and serves a useful purpose. The first of the three is Professional Negligence1 by Australian National University law professor David F. Partlett. The book deals fundamentally with tort liability of professionals, mainly, M.Ds. and lawyers, but inclu...

Negligence Actions by Police Officers and Firefighters: A Need for a Professional Rescuers Rule

Intoxication, Recklessness and Negligence

According to what is here called the “Intoxication Recklessness Principle,” a defendant who, thanks to voluntary intoxication, is unaware of a condition of which a reasonable person would have been aware is to be treated as though he were reckless with respect to that condition, rather than negligent. And, according to what is here called the “Intoxication Negligence Principle,” a defendant who...