P3.B028: Below The Surface: How Medical & Mental Health Knowledge Provides Insight Into Legal Cases

Background: Educational collaboration between medical and legal professionals can optimize healthy outcomes for children and families. There are many important medical topics that affect legal decisions; however, these are not necessarily regularly taught in law school. Ultimately, many patients encounter the judicial system, and judges may not be fully informed on the intricate medical aspects of a case. It has been shown that judges welcome education on medical topics and feel they need more training in substance use, psychiatric disorders, family dynamics, adolescent development and trauma. However, there is wide variability in the education they receive. Medical and behavioral sciences are intertwined with legal matters, so it could be beneficial to broaden education to include these topics for judges and legal professionals.

Methods: A four-part virtual lecture series was designed for judges. Topics included Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma-Responsive Courtrooms, Medical Aspects of Child Abuse (CA), Domestic Violence (DV) Custody Cases, and Personality Disorders (PD) causing “High-Conflict” Litigation. Presenters were physicians, PhD’s, judges, and attorneys. An information flyer was distributed widely through email and online platforms. Participants completed a pre-course, post-course, and 3-month follow-up survey.

Categorical survey items are displayed as counts and percentages. Data cleaning and descriptive results was performed and created using R (Version 4.2.1).

Results: The pre-course survey consisted of 43 participants, of which 21/43 (49%) were judges. (Table 1) The majority of participants were somewhat knowledgeable on all four lectures presented (ACEs-[25/43,(58%)]; CA-[20/43,(47%)]; DV-[31/43,(72%)]; PD-[26/43,(60%)]) and very interested in learning more about each topic (ACEs-[33/43,(77%)]; CA-[35/43,(81%)]; DV-[35/43,(81%)]; PD-[36/43,(84%)]). (Table 2) Most participants [37/40,(86%)] would find it helpful having additional background knowledge from medical professionals regarding issues testified to by expert witnesses.

Completion rate of each post-course and 3-month follow up surveys were ACEs(N=13), CA(N=10), DV(N=7), PD(N=10), 3-month(N=6). There was an increase in participants becoming somewhat or very knowledgeable on each subject, and 0% were not knowledgeable. (Table 2) After each lecture, participants were very interested in learning more, reflected the most in the DV [7/7 (100%)] and PD [9/10 (90%)] lectures.

Most participants in the pre-course survey do not get feedback about the cases they handle regarding child abuse [26/37,(70%)], domestic violence [28/35,(80%)], and custody disputes (CD) [25/32,(78%)], but would prefer feedback regarding these cases (CA-[35/37,(95%)]; DV-[34/36,(94%)]; CD-[30/31,(97%)]). (Table 2)

Conclusion: Broadening the knowledge base of medical topics that affect legal decision-making has the potential to enable judges and legal professionals to be fully advised of the issues and evidence before them. Participants were interested in learning more about the topics presented, which can have practical and legal implications for children’s health and safety. Further research and advocacy efforts to ensure judges and legal professionals obtain feedback on these sensitive cases can be beneficial.