Criminal Law Archives - Godoy Medical Forensics, Inc

Discipline or Child Abuse?

Categories: Child Abuse, Criminal Law

When does discipline cross the line into the category of abuse? Many experts are asked to answer this question when they are retained on child abuse cases. It is not as black and white as one might think. Corporal punishment is defined as “an act carried out with the intention of causing a child to Read More...

The Long-Term Effects of Repetitive Head Trauma

Categories: Blunt Force Trauma, Criminal Law, General Medical, Mitigation, Psych/Mental Health
Tags: criminal law, forensic nurse expert, TBI, traumatic brain injury

Traumatic Brain Injury in Criminal Cases After Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), people can experience personality changes, social anxiety, irritability, anger, depression, general anxiety, mood swings, emotional lability, and feelings of being overwhelmed. The bottom line is that the brain no longer functions exactly the way it did prior to the head injury. The location of Read More...

Actinic (Senile) Purpura and Its Imposters

Categories: Assault, Criminal Law, Elder/Dependent Abuse & Neglect (Criminal), Uncategorized

Often in assault or abuse cases, the victim is elderly. When evaluating these cases, it is prudent to retain a medical expert to review the discovery and determine if the injuries are consistent with contusions from trauma or are senile purpura. Contusions (bruises) can have a similar appearance to purpura, but contusions occur because of Read More...

Bruise Dating for Court Cases Can be Tricky

Tara Godoy
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Categories: Civil Law, Criminal Law, Missed Diagnoses

– Transcript of Video – Today we’re going to talk about bruising and the dating of bruises. I get calls on this on a regular basis regarding cases in which the victim has bruises. Whether it’s a child abuse case, a domestic violence case, or assault case, oftentimes the bruising is used as evidence to Read More...

Traumatic Brain Injury or Mental Illness?

Categories: Assault, Blunt Force Trauma, Child Abuse, Civil Law, Criminal Law, Domestic Violence, DUI, General Medical, Homicide, Mitigation, Psych/Mental Health, Uncategorized
Tags: assault, civil law, criminal law, forensic nurse expert, medical expert, mental health, TBI, traumatic brain injury

TBI and Mental Illness What if a defendant commits a crime because of being affected by either an acute brain injury or an acquired or inherited brain disease? This is called the “brain defense.” In criminal cases, defense attorneys are increasingly using clinical evidence of brain injury to either establish their client’s innocence or mitigate Read More...