Civil matters

expert witness and litigation consultant

Dr. Wiita has conducted thousands of forensic psychiatric evaluations to answer psychiatric-legal questions including appropriateness for civil commitments, restoration of right to possess firearms, and capacity to make medical decisions. He has provided thorough and reliable expertise to both petitioners and respondents. As a psychiatrist, Dr. Wiita has special expertise in psychopharmacology and is able to testify on the appropriateness of psychiatric medications and the effect of medication treatment on issues such as capacity to make medical or legal decisions.

Civil Litigation

• Psychiatric personal injury

• Child sexual abuse claims

• Sexual Harassment

• Hostile work environment

• Malingering

• Psychiatric negligence and Malpractice

  • Standard of Care

  • Causation and Damages

Other Civil Matters

• Testamentary Capacity

  • Pre- and Postmortem

• Capacity to make medical decisions (including end-of-life care)

• Fitness for duty

• Violence risk assessments

Special Areas of Expertise

• Critique of expert witness reports and testimony

  • Expert evaluation performed by acceptable professional standards

  • Evidence of bias

• Restoration of right to possess firearms

• Psychological Autopsy (previous mental state of a now-deceased person)

  • Testamentary capacity at the time of signing a will or entering into a contract

  • Mental state compatible with suicide (i.e., to determine manner of death)

Litigation Consulting

Sometimes retaining your own expert to conduct a psychiatric evaluation and offer testimony is not necessary or not desired. Retaining a board-certified forensic psychiatrist as an expert consultant (or non-disclosed expert) may prove valuable and worthwhile. If retained as an expert witness, Dr. Wiita is bound by the AAPL Ethics Guidelines. As a consultant expert, Dr. Wiita can furnish insights to retaining attorneys that may not be considered discoverable and provide strategic advice to effect successful litigation:

• Review of medical records to evaluate a case for merit;

• Examination of medical records for inconsistencies and evidence of nefarious alteration of records;

• Advise on potentially unexplored avenues for investigation or discovery;

• Answer psychiatric questions inappropriate for testimony (e.g., why a criminal defendant is not considering a favorable plea bargain or a plaintiff a reasonable settlement);

• Preparing litigators for the direct- and cross-examination of expert psychiatrists or psychologists;

• Preparing your expert witnesses for direct- and cross-examination;

• Critical evaluation of opposing experts’ evaluations, reports, or testimony for negligence or bias.