[A mistake in forensic psychiatric evaluation or abuse of psychiatry for non-medical purposes - a case report]. / Pomylka w opiniowaniu sadowo-psychiatrycznym czy naduzycie psychiatrii dla celów pozamedycznych - opis przypadku.

In this study we attempted to visualize certain irregularities that took place in the evaluation of a patient with personality disorders performed by psychiatrist expert witness, which resulted in an incorrect diagnosis, leading to wrong ruling of the court and a referral of the patient to clinical therapy lasting six years. The psychiatric and psychological expert opinions submitted to the court and first-hand psychiatric and psychological examination of the patient were analyzed. Efforts were made to show that the failure to comply with the diagnostic criteria in the process of diagnosis and not taking into account the previously issued five forensic psychiatric opinions issued by independent and experienced teams of psychiatrist expert witnesses, as well as not taking into account the nature of the offense committed have led to a number of irregularities in the assessment of the mental state of the patient. Above mentioned shortcomings have caused unjustified legal classification of the offense and six years long detention of the patient in closed psychiatric institutions, in our regard unnecessary. The described case could be regarded as an abuse of psychiatry for the non-medical purposes and thus should have be punish. Based on the presented case it has been demonstrated that insufficient experience in forensic psychiatry and failure to comply with diagnostic criteria of psychiatrists and psychologists expert witnesses had led to a series of blatant offense of civil rights and liberties, and thus unnecessary detention of the patient for six years.

[Quality of life and depressive symptoms in patients diagnosed with uterus cancer]. / Jakosc zycia i depresyjnosc u pacjentek z rozpoznaniem raka trzonu macicy.

UNLABELLED: In the present study quality of life and depressive symptoms as well as the influence of illness on emotional state in patients with diagnosis of uterus cancer was evaluated. The aim of the study was to evaluate quality of life and depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with uterus cancer who underwent surgical treatment and complementary therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study has been conducted on randomly chosen group of 100 patients diagnosed with uterus cancer who underwent surgical treatment and adjunctive therapy. Surveys has been conducted 6 months after completed therapy when no recurrence of carcinomatous disease was confirmed. Quality of life was evaluated using quality of life questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30 and depressive symptoms were measured by means of Beck's depression self-rating scale. RESULTS: In the conducted study in most cases patients with diagnosis of uterus cancer didn't show symptoms of depression and in 40% of patients there were mild symptoms of depressive disorder. The results show that patients without depressive symptoms had better quality of life compared to those with concomitant depressive symptoms and it was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with diagnosed uterus cancer in whom no symptoms of depression were detected presented with better quality of life compared to patients with depressive symptoms. Emotional state of patients with uterus cancer can be an important factor influencing their quality of life.

[Selected problems in the forensic-psychiatric evaluation of persons posing a likelihood of repeating a criminal act]. / Wybrane problemy w opiniowaniu sadowo-psychiatrycznym osób stwarzajacych prawdopodobienstwo ponownego popelnienia czynu przestepczego.

In the current penal code, compared to previous regulations, there have been alterations concerning medical security measures. These amendments have been prompted by socio-politic circumstances in Poland as well as implementation of Mental Health Act. According to the current law the court, on the request of expert psychiatrists, can pronounce a sentence of obligatory stay in psychiatric institution for perpetrator of criminal act who has been deemed not sane due to 31 subsection 1 of penal code and who is predictably able of recidivism. In legal-medical practice those less experienced expert psychiatrists may encounter difficulties producing expertise for the court, especially evaluating probability of recurrence of committing a criminal act and resulting request for psychiatric detention. In order to make this issue more acquainted we present a review of literature concerning it.