Personal Injury
Litigation

In civil cases, Dr. Heller is retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel to assess plaintiffs for emotional and mental injury. He takes an unbiased, ethical approach to assessments. He is an expert in objective evaluations that assess the probability the plaintiff is suffering PTSD, other long-term emotional injuries (e.g. depression, anxiety, relationship problems, psychotic reactions) or if there is exaggeration of symptoms.  Dr. Heller has special expertise necessary in civil matters, applying skills in forensic interview, data collection, collateral interviews, research, record review and the use of psychological tests including symptom validity indices  to document in metric terms the emotional and mental symptoms related to posttraumatic stress (PTSD) reported by plaintiffs.  He has advanced experience and expertise to assess how a traumatic emotional injury secondary to negligence, accidents and other traumatic events interacts dynamically with the pre injury status. These new injuries can interact and exacerbate the previous diagnosis, resulting in a poorer prognosis and creating an injury from the traumatic event that will be much more difficult to treat. These cases are the most complex. For example, Dr. Heller routinely evaluates children and others suffering from autism spectrum disorder or other developmental disorders who do not have the verbal ability to communicate how they feel. These procedures clarify how the plaintiff may have been injured by accidents, or criminal behavior such as negligence, assault, sexual assault and emotional/verbal abuse by agency and other staff.  These skills have also been used successfully to explain the cultural issues that may inhibit how a plaintiff describes feelings and memories related to a traumatic event that is taboo to talk about in their culture, their country of origin or share with providers in a new culture. Dr. Heller will also glean from his evaluation, whether the plaintiff is fabricating, exaggerating or malingering symptoms due to a lawsuit or simply minimizing their symptoms for other reasons (e.g. shame, guilt, difficulty with emotional disclosure). And, finally, Dr. Heller reviews reports provided to litigants by other experts; assessing the reports for ethical, methodological and the professional standards required of these evaluations that are necessary to provide the court or jury with an accurate assessment. Some examples of services provided by Dr. Heller in civil cases have included:

1. Assessment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/Emotional pain suffered by people who have Disabilities, Intellectual retardation, Developmental delays, Autism spectrum disorders, Brain injury/trauma, Asperger’s disorder.
2. Injured Child Assessments.
3. Children who have been burned, bitten/injured by animals, sexually abused, emotionally abused or neglected in foster homes, hospital, group home or other settings (e.g. a neighbor’s home, children’s camps, school bus, residential schools, substance abuse treatment centers, developmental centers, therapist’s offices, classrooms), by professional staff, school bus drivers/aides, teachers and other students.
4. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and stress reactions due to Motor Vehicle accidents, false arrest, violence in correctional facilities, construction and industrial accidents.
5. Assessment of children and adults who do not show obvious signs of PTSD or effects related to trauma due to cultural/family taboos about showing or talking about the trauma (e.g. Punjab culture, Native Americans, closed, suppressive family system rules) or due to developmental/autism spectrum disorders/Brain injury/verbal expression problems.
6. Foster care (standards), group homes (standards), institutional care for intellectually retarded/developmentally disabled (standards regarding level of supervision required, pain and suffering), psychological care (standards) and assessment of evidence-based treatment.
7. Malpractice/ethical issues of behavioral health providers/institutional staff that may have resulted in patient death, sexual assault or patient suicide.
8. Psychological, Psychiatric and Alcoholism Treatment Record Review (inpatient and outpatient).
9. Inappropriate psychiatric hospitalization, negligent child welfare agency performance and care.
10. Alcoholism and other drug abuse problems, Accidental death caused by alcohol and other drug abuse. Addictions to prescription pain medication, Adderall, and other substances.
11. Personal injury, sexual harassment, job discrimination and employer harassment, emotional pain, long-term effects, long-term psychological treatment plans and estimation of costs.
12. Symptoms and signs of child sexual abuse; behaviors of child sex abuse predators.
13. Children with special needs (psychological, educational), learning disabilities.
14. Bullying (effects of), School and agency response to bullying, inappropriate handling of school issues by schoolteachers, guidance staff, school principals.
15. Suicide, homicide, psychological autopsy, crime victims, accidental death and liability.
16. Work-related Injuries (e.g. school bus driver injuries due to MVA, injuries to carpenter/other construction workers related to defective safety at the workplace.  (Emotional and trauma assessments).
17. Assessment of emotional pain/relationship deterioration to a victim/plaintiff’s significant others/family.
18. Eating disorders, sexual addictions, gambling addictions, internet/pornography addictions and other compulsive disorders (treatment of, effects of).
19. Native American issues (alcoholism, inter-generational posttraumatic stress, cross-cultural psychology, domestic violence, adoption issues, criminal involvement, pain and suffering).
20. Postpartum depression,
21. Police officers and stress, Critical incident stress.
22. Pain and suffering caused by false arrests, coerced confessions, inappropriate police/security guard behavior.
23. Americans with disabilities Act (ADA) and alcoholism/drug/psychiatric claims.
24. Independent medical examinations related to accidents/motor vehicle accidents/other accidents.
25. Case and trial consultation to legal team regarding psychological/emotional aspects of and analysis of pertinent psychological issues of a case.
26. Emotional pain and suffering due to domestic violence/abusive spouse (e.g. battered women syndrome, interpersonal violence, child abuse/neglect).
27. Review and analysis of case documents, including medical records, peer review and critique of evaluation reports performed by opposing experts, and other consultation regarding psychological/psychiatric/mental health treatment discovery.
28. Assessment of symptom under- or over- reporting related to childhood sexual abuse, clarification of research related to recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse and other reported emotional/mental issues.
29. Written briefs on related forensic/ethical issues for attorneys (e.g. the inappropriate use of a psychological test by another forensic practitioner with a plaintiff from a different culture in which the test was not standardized/normed).
30. Cases that involve group home/residential schools, provider negligence and assaults/negligence/abuse by educational and transportation staff or other students that the plaintiff should have been protected from.
31. Consultation to the legal team regarding standards of care, emotional pain and suffering, trauma as well as the probable future mental health treatment plan and cost necessary to provide services to address the emotional, mental or cognitive injuries.
32. Consultation/literature review/report to the legal team regarding the possible preventive effect of a temporary order of protection on prevention of a homicide/suicide by perpetrator of domestic violence.