In Analysis of Computer Games for Violence Potential, forensic psychology expert

Dr. Julie Armstrong writes:

The psychological processes at work are called projection and sublimation. First, projection. When an individual is using projection “…affective and ideational components are attributed to another, while that other actual person is controlled.” {This was taken from Reid Meloy’s The Psychopathic Mind.} In the case of the computer game, the person who is heavily into playing the game, called a gamer, puts his ideal personality, as well as his affective or emotional state, into the characters, which by the very nature of game playing, he can now control. He becomes the superhero with the big gun, and tries to annihilate the enemies that represent his tormentors.

Sublimation is the other psychological process at work here, and is the process that makes these games so popular. In sublimation, the emotions experienced by a person are acted out in the context of the game. Every one of us has aggressive and violent feelings that get resolved through the coping strategies we use on a day-to-day basis. For some, the violent computer game may actually serve as a pressure release valve, and prevent someone from acting out their rage. I want to be clear here: Computer games don’t make people act out their violent feelings, they are a socially appropriate place to put those feelings. When anger, violence and hostility overwhelm a person, he may become obsessed with playing these games. They become a sort of an obsession.

In Analysis of Computer Games for Violence Potential, forensic psychology expert

 Dr. Julie Armstrong writes:

When psychologists evaluate an individual, they use external data, such as school, military and hospital records, personal diaries, and drawings in addition to interviewing the person directly. In fact, there are several tests used that ask a person to draw specific figures, which are evaluated as products of his mind, and as a reflection of his inner world. With the advent of computer technology we have a new data set to be evaluated during the course of an investigation. Computer games are wildly popular, and yet have been overlooked. After all, “…it’s only a game…”

Well, these games represent an important glimpse inside the mind of the suspect. The games can be a direct product of an individual’s thinking, of his state of mind. Just as we would use drawings, diaries or other personal products, we should be using personal computer game information, whenever available, to add to our body of knowledge about a suspect.

Dr. Dipak Desai, the majority owner of two endoscopy centers linked to a hepatitis C outbreak, is claiming incapacity from a July stroke.  A Nevada State Board of Medical Examiner hearing officer has ordered the doctor to undergo an independent physical examination.  A medical expert will determine whether Desai is still suffering residual effects of a July stroke or is able to participate in his medical malpractice defense.

Health officials have linked nine cases of hepatitis C to two clinics owned by Desai.  The complaints allege that Desai directly worked on three patients who were infected with hepatitis C.  Desai's license has been suspended pending the outcome of disciplinary hearings.

For more, see LasVegasReviewJournal.com. 

Dr. Jayant Patel won't know whether he will face a trial until at least the middle of next month and possibly as late as May. The inquiry into Dr. Patel's alleged malpractice at Australia's Bundaberg Hospital has linked him to as many as 87 patient deaths. Prosecutor David Meredith said the committal hearing would run until February 27 because three medical expert witnesses could not give evidence until that date. A forensic nursing expert may be called to collect evidence and investigate the case.  One nurse has already testified that "All the nurses in intensive care were seeing these patients dying every day and we couldn't do anything." Ms. Hoffman also told the inquiry in March "We'd taken to hiding patients. We just thought 'What on earth can we do to stop this man."

After studying medicine in India, Dr Patel moved to New York, where the first complaints against him were made in 1984, when he was found not to be examining patients adequately before surgery. Dr Patel has also been accused of fraud for allegedly falsifying his application to practice medicine in Australia, by removing any mention of his previous blemished record in the US.  He fled Australia in April, and while Queensland state authorities want to seek his extradition, his current whereabouts remain unknown.

The Sacramento area's largest health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, runs a special, doctor-to-doctor call operation that has become a target of legal actions alleging malpractice and failure to pay claims. The doctors' telephone hub has drawn legal criticism at the same time the state is investigating allegations that Kaiser's much larger customer call center lets unlicensed staffers make medical decisions. Sacramento Bee.com reports:

Both are examples of streamlining medical care in ways some Kaiser members defend for keeping their health expenses down, but others criticize as callous or dangerous.  A Shingle Springs couple contend the doctors' call center played a role in the death of their 19-year-old daughter by making it difficult to get the young woman quickly to the first available neurosurgeon.

"She was sitting while a business meeting was being carried out to determine what was best for a large corporation and not for the patient," said Dr. VanBuren Lemons, a Sacramento neurosurgeon, who acted as a medical expert for the family in its claim against Kaiser. Kaiser declined comment on the case, which has been settled. The family's lawyer said the amount Kaiser paid is confidential.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld a claim against a medical doctor for the disclosure of mammography films to an expert witness hired by his patient’s former physician. The patient, in a prior suit, had sued her former doctor for failing to diagnose her breast cancer. The patient lost her case against her former doctor, the defendant in the medical malpractice case arising from an alleged failure to diagnose breast cancer.

The patient then filed a malpractice action against a radiologist who released her mammogram x-rays to an expert witness for the former doctor in connection with the prior malpractice action. The only claim against the defendant radiologist who released the mammogram x-rays to the expert witness was that he released these x-rays without authorization. There was no allegation that the radiologist committed any malpractice in connection with his performing medical services for the patient. The trial court had dismissed the claim against the radiologist. The patient appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals which upheld the claim.

Excerpted from InjuryBoard.com.

A three-judge panel granted Larry Ray Swearingen a stay of execution one day before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection for the 1998 murder of 19-year-old Montgomery College student Melissa Trotter. Swearingen maintained his innocence from the beginning and his appellate attorneys have filed numerous appeals based on forensic evidence that suggests Swearingen was actually locked up in jail on an unrelated charge when Trotter’s body was left in the Sam Houston National Forest. U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr. writes there’s a very real possibility the lower court to which Swearingen’s case was returned “could view the newly discovered medical expert reports as clear and convincing evidence that the victim in this case could not possibly have been killed by the defendant.”

Swearingen’s attorney, James Rytting, has presented evidence from several forensic scientists and physicians, including the former Harris County medical examiner whose original testimony helped convict him, who all agree that Trotter’s body was left in the woods well after Swearingen’s arrest.

Excerpted from Chron.com.