Psychological Tests
Posted Friday, August 7, 2015 by Chris Thayer
As your personal injury case unfolds, your Washington State personal injury attorney may tell you that you’ve been asked to complete psychological testing. Depending on your condition, this is quite common. Defense attorneys often require plaintiffs to submit to such tests, which are typically performed by psychiatrists, psychologists and neuropsychologists. There are so many psychiatric and psychological tests and many variations of the most popular ones.
Further complicating matters is the fact that there are often many ways to administer and score such tests. All of these factors can lead to confusion for personal injury lawyers. Defense expert witnesses–usually doctors–use this confusion to their advantage in many cases. They refuse to allow plaintiffs’ attorneys to view raw test data and strictly provide summary reports. Your attorney may be expected to trust the accuracy of the report, but it could be detrimental to your case.
Experienced personal injury lawyers use these steps to combat potentially damaging test summaries:
- They Learn About the Tests: Personal injury lawyers familiarize themselves with the most common psychological tests, researching how they should be administered and scored. That way, they can tell whether or not the doctor followed the proper protocol.
- They Learn About Mental Health Conditions and Diagnoses: Most defense doctors rely on the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM-IV. Experienced personal injury attorneys study the manual too.
- They Get the Raw Data: Your attorney can and should refuse to be satisfied with just the summary report and can use the court’s authority to obtain raw test data.
- They Get Second Opinions: Finally, your attorney may bring in an expert to re-score your test or to score it by hand. This allows them to see how your scores compare to those from the expert’s testing. The expert may also review the summary report in detail.
Contact Washington State Personal Injury Lawyers
Today Do not go it alone when pursuing a personal injury claim. Be prepared for psychological tests and other factors by acquiring legal representation. Experienced Washington State personal injury lawyers can help, so contact Chris Thayer at (866) 884-2417 today.