Unhappily it not infrequently transpires that the physician, when acting as expert in medicolegal cases, leaves the witness stand painfully conscious of having failed, perhaps ignominiously, in his attempt to lay his opinion fairly before the court. In this event, he and the attorney who engaged his services alike suffer from a sense of disappointment and discomfiture.
In a brief discussion of medicolegal cases in which either insanity is set up as a defense in a criminal charge or it is sought to prove that insanity, apoplexy or some other disease has destroyed testamentary capacity, it is my purpose to offer hints or suggestions which, if accepted, might in my opinion measurably minimize the liability to such a distressing experience.
By way of introduction to a given case, I hold that it is of cardinal importance that the attorneys who seek his assistance should submit to the expert all facts