I am involved in a custody case in which a child alleged physical
abuse at the hands of a parent, and the spouse alleged numerous and
severe instances of psychological disturbances.  The court appointed
psychologist was made aware that there were hundreds of pages of
writings from the person in question that other psychologists believed
showed psychopathologies.  Yet the court appointed psychologist
refused to review these writings/journals for what he claimed to be
ethical reasons.

What I need is a definitive answer, if there is one, to the question
of whether the psychologist had an ethical obligation to read the
journals because of his mandate to look out for the best interest of
the children, or whether he was bound by some other ethical protocol
NOT to review the journals.

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 22 Jul 2003 07:57 PDT

Are the writings provided by the court or any party as evidence?
Perhaps the psychologist considered reading anything not part of the
court proceeding and using them as evidence in court unethical.

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Clarification of Question by benfranklin-ga on 22 Jul 2003 08:18 PDT

The writings were from journals that the subject admitted to writing
in a previous court proceeding.  In addition, there were writings that
were not part of the court proceeding.  Also, the writings were for
the psychologist to review and evaluate, not to be used as evidence in
the proceedings.  To give some contrast, the psychologist DID use
unverified, 3rd-party reference letters submitted by the subject in
order to help form a conclusion, but did NOT use the subjects own
writings.

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 22 Jul 2003 08:52 PDT

Thanks for providing that information. I doubt though I have enough
knowledge to address this sort of issue... perhaps other Researchers
with a greater grasp of legal matters will be able to help you, and I
hope the information you gave will help them. Cheers.

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Clarification of Question by benfranklin-ga on 23 Jul 2003 03:44 PDT

Maybe there are relevant sections from the APA ethics codes available?

In most states and in Federal Courts, an testifying expert witness has
a lot of freedom to decided what information to include in forming an
opinion.  For example a physician might base a diagnosis in part on
information from a patient's family members.  Since that is part of
the normal practice of doctors to gather information from family, the
doctor could testify that he based the opinion in interviews.
It is possible the psychologist does not want the journals to be
discussed in court, so he is refusing to use them as a basis to reach
his conclusions.
(I am an attorney in NC who handles domestic cases)