Professional Activities:
- Psychiatric evaluation and treatment of children and adults
- Forensic assessment, independent medical evaluations (IMEs), and consultations
- Supervising of residents' treatment of adults and children
- Scholarship and research interests:
- forensic psychiatry
- violence prediction
- ethics
- medical decision-making
- statistics
- drug treatment of psychotic disorders
- evaluation of diagnostic tests
- stalking
- Consultations to courts and attorneys
- Testimony as a medical expert witness
- Teaching psychiatry residents and law students about forensic psychiatry
- Continuing medical education lectures to psychiatrists on law and psychiatry, psychopharmacology, medical decision making, and ethics
- Continuing legal education lectures to attorneys and judges on mental disorders and mental health testimony
Certification and Licensure:
- Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Certificate No. 28500 (1986)
- ABPN Diplomate in Forensic Psychiatry, Certificate No. 169 (1994, 2003)
- Ohio Medical License No. 35.048263
- The
Executioner's I.Q........ Test," by Margaret Talbot, Senior Fellow, New
America Foundation, reprinted from the cover story in The New York Times
Magazine, June
29, 2003.
- Radio interview about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: "American Moods," broadcast Sept. 21, 2001, by Radio National, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's national radio network of ideas.
To view the following files, you will need Adobe Reader, a free download.
- Curriculum Vitae for Douglas Mossman, M.D. (Updated November 8, 2007.)
- Critique of Pure Risk Assessment or, Kant Meets Tarasoff
University of Cincinnati Law Review 2006;75:523-609
Winner of the Manfred S. Guttmacher Award (2008) honoring outstanding contributions to the literature on forensic psychiatry.
Abstract: This article examines the legal and scientific assumptions that underlie current practices of violence risk assessment. Through a mathematical examination of the limits of risk assessment, the article shows why courts and mental health professionals should abandon the hope that better predictions about future violence will lead to better decisions about potential violence. The article then provides a moral and legal framework for reformulating the Tarasoff rule, under which psychotherapists have a duty to intervene in response to patients’ explicit, credible threats. Responding to what patients say and do is consistent with Kant's view that all individuals deserve respect as ends in themselves.
- Predicting Restorability of Incompetent Criminal Defendants
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 2007;35:34-43
Abstract: For centuries, Anglo-American legal tradition has barred prosecution of accused criminals who are not mentally fit to defend themselves. In courts across the U.S., psychiatrists and psychologists offer opinions concerning the likelihood that criminal defendants who are not competent to stand trial can become competent if they receive treatment (often called “restoration”). This article describes a study designed to see whether consistent, reliable information can support clinicians’ opinions about this issue. Dr. Mossman examined several types of information and modeled the probability of successful restoration using logistic regression equations. These equations allowed selection of subgroups with high predicted probabilities of restoration (>90%) and low probabilities of restoration (<35%), and had ROC areas of 0.73. Dr. Mossman’s findings provide empirical support for mental health testimony that two types of incompetent defendants have are much less likely to regain competence: chronically psychotic individuals who have need lengthy psychiatric hospitalization, and individuals who suffer from irremediable cognitive deficits, such as mental retardation.
- Is Prosecution "Medically Appropriate"?
New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement.
In its June 2003 decision in Sell v. United States, the Supreme Court issued guidelines for forcible administration of medication to restore competence to stand trial. Among those guidelines is a requirement that the proposed treatment be "medically appropriate." This requirement forces both testifying and treating physicians to consider an under-appreciated ethical question: How can it be proper, or "medically appropriate," for a physician to treat a patient when "success" makes the patient eligible for prosecution, a guilty verdict, and punishment? This article answers this question using a Kantian conceptualization of punishment's justification. The same principles that permit fair, justly administered punishment also provide physicians with an ethical imperative to give defendants competence-restoring medical therapy, despite the practical consequences of such treatment.
- "Another Look at Interpreting Risk Categories"
© 2005 by Douglas Mossman.
Mental health experts now use several published actuarial scales to make predictions about sex offenders' risks of recidivism. This article explains why simply applying and comparing published risk percentages can be misleading, and shows how percentages of recidivism associated with actuarial scores may vary across study populations. The article offers recommendations for researchers who design and evaluate actuarial measures and for clinicians who interpret actuarial results. Accepted September 2005 for publication in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com.
- Summary of 'A Fool for a Client': Print Portrayals of 49 Pro Se Criminal Defendants. Douglas Mossman, M.D., and Neal W. Dunseith, Jr., M.D., published in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) December 2001.
- Abstract: "Unbuckling the 'Chemical Straitjacket': The Legal Significance of Recent Advances in the Pharmacological Treatment of Psychosis," by Douglas Mossman, M.D., Published in: San Diego Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 1033-1164, Fall 2002.
- Abstracts/papers published by Dr. Mossman can be accessed on the Social
Science Research Network (SSRN) through the following URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=339541.
For more information, contact: Douglas Mossman, M.D.
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