Legal principles in the psychiatric assessment of personal injury litigants.

The authors review the legal principles that a psychiatrist must understand in assessing the emotional and psychiatric sequelae of a personal injury leading to a litigation claim. The principles of the establishment of fault or liability, the assessment of pain and suffering, causal connection, the credibility of the plaintiff, the credibility of the expert witness, the determination of prognosis, the award of damages, and the adversarial system are discussed. An appreciation of these principles will enable psychiatrists to provide assessments that will be useful to the legal system in arriving at a fair and accurate determination of the compensation to which a victim is entitled.