George P. Kelly, md

Case Descriptions

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Competency

The case involved a man who robbed a fast-food restaurant and was caught. His lawyer claimed he was incompetent to stand trial. The issue was whether the man had a mental illness that hindered his ability to understand the charges against him or assist in his own defense.

The case involved an elderly woman who changed her will a month before she died. Relatives who were affected by the change contested the will. They claimed she was demented and therefore could not legally change the will. The issue was to identify her state of mind at the time of changing her will by examining relevant doctors' reports and testimony of people interacting with her at that time.

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Claiming Psychiatric Illness Including PTSD

The case involved a cemetery that found a buried casket when they opened a grave site that was supposed to be unoccupied. They did an audit and found another unidentified casket. They identified a family that might be related to the remains in the unidentified casket and contacted the adult son of the possible deceased. The son identified the waterlogged remains in the casket as his father's. The son claimed PTSD and sued the cemetery. The issue was whether the son had PTSD from this experience.

The case involved a woman in a car as she stopped for a red light. A truck hit her from behind and "crushed" the car between it and the car in front of her. Her car was "totaled." She claimed severe injuries including PTSD as a result. She sued the owner of the truck that hit her. The issue was whether or not she really had PTSD, as the defense attorney claimed that the "crushed car" was simply the "crumple" effect of the car's safety system and did not involve a serious threat to her life.

The case involved a woman who was given oral radiographic contrast material before a radiographic examination in the hospital. It was ten times the usual dose and as a result she had explosive diarrhea. She claimed she went into shock and developed PTSD. She sued the hospital. The issue was what physical and psychological damage was actually done to the patient. Did she really have PTSD?

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Attempted Murder / Standard of Care

The case involved a man who was admitted to a mental hospital against his will because he was deemed to be a danger to self or others. He was discharged 3 days later by the attending psychiatrist, but another mental health professional on the team disagreed with this decision in writing and put her opinion in the chart. Sometime later, the man very severely injured a member of his family. The injured person's conservator sued the psychiatrist and the hospital. The issue was whether the man's treatment in the hospital reached the level of standard of care and was the discharge appropriate. Was the attempted murder of this family member a foreseeable act? How much did the other team member's opinion matter?

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Workplace Dangerousness / Violence

The case involved a whistleblower who was fired before whistleblower-protective laws were enacted. He threatened the lives of the board of directors of the company that fired him with an arsenal of semiautomatic weapons he had at home. He had specific plans for a revenge mass shooting at the next board meeting. The issues involved duty to protect, limits of confidentiality, and assessment of dangerousness and risk of workplace violence.

The case involved the Team Leader of a multinational electronics company who spoke during a meeting. A member of the team, a foreign national, at the meeting became fearful and upset at what the Leader had said. The foreign national notified HR of potential workplace violence. The Team Leader was suspended with pay pending an evaluation of the risk of violence. The issue involved "he-said, he-said," with very high stakes. The issue was resolved by holding face-to-face interviews, examining emails, and evaluating transcripts of HR meetings, and administering screening tools for dangerousness, violence, and suicide to the examinee.

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Risk of Suicide

The case involved an employee who verbalized to a co-worker that he felt suicidal. The co-worker told HR and an ambulance was called to take the employee to a hospital for examination. The employee was given a leave with pay. The issue was the evaluation of suicidality in the employee. Determination was made after in-person interviews, evaluation of hospital records, discussions with family members, review of employee's personnel file and screening tools for suicidality and homicidality.

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Involuntary Hospitalization

The case involved a young man who was committed to a psychiatric hospital. As the time for his discharge approached, he wrote emails about wanting to join terrorist organizations and to plan terrorist attacks. The issue was involuntary hospitalization because of foreseeable harm.

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Determining the Amount of an Award After Successful Litigation

The case involved a man who successfully sued his company after a workplace injury. A hearing was held to determine the amount of the award. This amount was to be the total he could collect for his lifetime of expenses for psychiatric care. The issue involved crafting an amount, with plaintiff's attorney, which would take into account unforeseen psychiatric circumstances.