United States Department of Veterans Affairs
MIRECC Centers

VISN 19 MIRECC Specialties: Incarcerated Veterans

 

Veteran's Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19 Mental Illness Research Education Clinical Center

Research, Education and Clinical Care Related to
Incarcerated Veterans

 

Recent Presentations Related to Incarcerated Veterans

Neuroimaging For Forensic Psychologists
9/23/11
Hal S. Wortzel, MD 
Denver CARES
Keywords: Brain & Biology, Incarcerated Veterans
PowerPoint | PDF 
Disrobing Associated with Epileptic Seizures and Forensic Implications
7/6/11
Hal S. Wortzel, MD 
University of Colorado School of Medicine Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry Case Conference
Keywords: Brain & Biology, Incarcerated Veterans
PowerPoint | PDF 
Suicide Risk Assessment: A Medicolegal Perspective
5/5/11
Hal S. Wortzel, MD
Boulder Mental Health Center
Keywords: Assessment, Incarcerated Veterans, Suicide Prevention
PowerPoint | PDF 
Neurotoxin Exposure in Forensic Assessment: “Look what my meds made me do…” - A Case of Alleged Mefloquine-Induced Criminal Behavior
10/23/10
Hal S. Wortzel, MD
41st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Tucson, AZ
Keywords: Brain & Biology, Incarcerated Veterans
PowerPoint | PDF
Review of Clinical Neuroscience for Forensic Psychiatry: Forensic Neuropsychiatric Assessment of Cognition
10/22/10
Hal S. Wortzel, MD
41st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Tucson, AZ
Keywords: Brain & Biology, Incarcerated Veterans
PowerPoint | PDF
Forensic Applications of Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury:  Current Status
10/21/10
Hal S. Wortzel, MD
41st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Tucson, AZ
Keywords: Brain & Biology, Incarcerated Veterans, TBI
PowerPoint | PDF

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Recent Publications (since 2009)

Binswanger IA, Wortzel HS (2009) Treatment for Individuals With HIV/AIDS Following Release From Prison. [Letter to the Editor.] JAMA 302(2):147, 2009
No abstract available.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Boyer, J., Wortzel HS, & Martinez, R. (2010). Ineffective counsel in a death penalty case. Legal Digest, 38(3), 427-429.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Foote, A., Wortzel HS, & Martinez, R. (2010) Competency to waive postconviction review for a death sentence. Legal Digest, 38(3), 425-427.
In Corcoran v. Buss, 551 F.3d 703 (7th Cir. 2008), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. District Court and Indiana Supreme Court decision ruling that a person with a diagnosis of schizophrenia is competent to waive postconviction review of the death sentence despite unanimous expert opinions to the contrary.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Hoffman TR, Wortzel HS, Martinez R. (2009) Admissibility of Demeanor Evidence from a Police Interrogation Videotape. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 37(3):408-10.
No abstract available.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Maxey, J. J., Wortzel HS, & Martinez, R. (2011). Duty to warn or protect. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 39, 430-432.
No abstract available.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Meng, A., Wortzel HS, & Martinez, R. (2009). Limitations of Attorney Work Product and Physician-Patient Privilege. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 37(3), 410-412
In Cardenas v. Jerath, 180 P.3d 415 (Colo. 2008), the Supreme Court of Colorado ruled in two areas of confidentiality involving civil malpractice claims. In the first instance, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that notes created by an attorney retained by the hospital for purposes of assessing the potential for liability on the part of the hospital could not be shielded by the usual attorney work product privilege. In this case where a child was born with severe neurological injuries, the Colorado Supreme Court recognized that the hospital had failed to conduct a standard risk management assessment, bypassing such a process by retaining an outside attorney. Since the attorney's work product represented the only available documentation of events during the alleged negligence, the plaintiff was able to establish substantial need and inability to obtain equivalent materials by an alternative process without creating an undue burden on the plaintiff. In the second instance involving confidentiality, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the mother, in filing on behalf of her child injured during birth, placed her own health at issue, thereby limiting her physician-patient privilege.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Thurman, M. T., Wortzel HS, & Martinez, R. (2011). Mental health evaluation/counseling as a special condition of supervised release. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 39, 432-434.
Abstract not available
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Wortzel HS & Arciniegas, D. B. (2010). Combat veterans and the death penalty: A forensic neuropsychiatric perspective. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(3), 407-414.
With our nation's present conflicts, a new generation of veterans are returning home, many of whom have substantial psychopathology and are encountering significant barriers in accessing care. Headlines from around the nation reflect that some of these wounded warriors go on to commit offenses that are potentially punishable by death. Existing circumstances speak to the urgency with which the subject of combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), or both facing capital crimes ought to be addressed. This publicity has led to a recent call for a legislatively or judicially enacted, narrow, categorical exclusion for combat veterans who were affected by either PTSD or TBI at the time of their capital offenses. In the present article, we illustrate the reality that combat veterans who commit capital offenses may face execution, summarize legal arguments offered in favor of a categorical exclusion, and provide a neuropsychiatric perspective on PTSD, TBI, and aggression, to help inform further dialogue on this weighty subject.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans
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Wortzel HS, Binswanger, I. A., Anderson, C. A. & Adler, L. E. (2009). Suicide among incarcerated veterans. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 37(1), 82-91.
Both veterans and jail/prison inmates face an increased risk of suicide. The incarcerated veteran sits at the intersection of these two groups, yet little is known about this subpopulation, particularly its risk of suicide. A Pubmed/Medline/PsycINFO search anchored to incarcerated veteran suicide, veteran suicide, suicide in jails/prisons, and veterans incarcerated from 2000 to the present was performed. The currently available literature does not reveal the suicide risk of incarcerated veterans, nor does it enable meaningful estimates. However, striking similarities and overlapping characteristics link the data on veteran suicide, inmate suicide, and incarcerated veterans, suggesting that the veteran in jail or prison faces a level of suicide risk beyond that conferred by either veteran status or incarceration alone. There is a clear need for a better characterization of the incarcerated veteran population and the suicide rate faced by this group. Implications for clinical practice and future research are offered.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans, Suicide
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Wortzel HS, Kraus MF, Filley CM, Anderson CA, Arciniegas DB. Diffusion tensor imaging in mild traumatic brain injury litigation. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2011;39(4):511-23.
A growing body of literature addresses the application of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Most TBIs are of mild severity, and their diagnosis and prognosis are often challenging. These challenges may be exacerbated in medicolegal contexts, where plaintiffs seek to present objective evidence that supports a clinical diagnosis of mild (m)TBI. Because DTI permits quantification of white matter integrity and because TBI frequently involves white matter injury, DTI represents a conceptually appealing method of demonstrating white matter pathology attributable to mTBI. However, alterations in white matter integrity are not specific to TBI, and their presence does not necessarily confirm a diagnosis of mTBI. Guided by rules of evidence shaped by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., we reviewed and analyzed the literature describing DTI findings in mTBI and related neuropsychiatric disorders. Based on this review, we suggest that expert testimony regarding DTI findings will seldom be appropriate in legal proceedings focused on mTBI.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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Wortzel HS, Strom LA, Anderson AC, Maa EH, Spitz M. Disrobing Associated with Epileptic Seizures and Forensic Implications. J Forensic Sci. 2011 Dec 8. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01995.x. [Epub ahead of print]
Little is known about the clinical aspects and medico-legal consequences of disrobing in the context of epileptic seizures. Seizure-related disrobing may occur either as an ictal automatism or during the postictal period. Some patients may experience a seizure while already in the unclothed state, engage in ictal wandering, and thereby appear in public in the nude. Two cases involving disrobing associated with seizures captured via video-monitored electroencephalography are offered. An additional case reveals the legal consequences endured by one patient who experienced a nocturnal seizure and began wandering in an unclothed state. Collectively, these cases illustrate the medical reality of seizure-related disrobing and the related adverse effects on patients' quality of life. Disrobing associated with epileptic seizures carries the potential for serious legal consequences if not properly identified as an ictal phenomenon.
Keywords: Incarcerated Veterans, Brain & Biology
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