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Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2008) 14: 115-118. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.107.003608
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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He who pays the piper

INVITED COMMENTARY ON ...THE PSYCHIATRIST AS EXPERT WITNESS, PARTS 1 AND 2{dagger}

Sameer P. Sarkar

Sameer P. Sarkar is in full-time private practice, engaging in medico-legal work and general adult psychiatry (correspondence: PO Box 3544, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 9FA, UK. Email: spsarkar{at}onetel.com). He has read law at Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, USA, and at Northumbria University, UK. His main research interest is in mental health law and its application.

It has been clearly established as a matter of legal principle that the duty of expert witnesses is to the court, and not to the cause of those who instruct them. I will suggest that many experts fail to maintain this neutrality, for both conscious and unconscious reasons. If this is so, there may be real dangers in the use of single joint experts, even if there is the benefit of lower costs. In England and Wales, expert witness practice is now seen as part of medical practice by the General Medical Council: the whole profession needs to engage in a debate about how this should be scrutinised and regulated.


Related articles in APT:

The psychiatrist as expert witness. Part 1: general principles and civil cases
Keith J. B. Rix
APT 2008 14: 37-41. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

The psychiatrist as expert witness. Part 2: criminal cases and the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ guidance
Keith J. B. Rix
APT 2008 14: 109-114. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Be the expert you are: INVITED COMMENTARY ON ...THE PSYCHIATRIST AS EXPERT WITNESS, PARTS 1 AND 2
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APT 2008 14: 119-121. [Abstract] [Full Text]  





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