As promised, a clinical guide on issues related to testimony. Please let me know if I have left something out and it can be added in. Every attempt will be made to update this guide on a regular basis.
Category: Testimony
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10 Things: Testimony
Since the webinar I’ve had many questions about some of my go-to resources and general tips about testifying. So here are some of the things I think are important about testimony. But keep in mind, these are just *my* 10–I know that many FHO readers have plenty of experience with testimony, so please add your tips (shy people), to make this an even richer discussion.
We presented the Ethical and Effective Testimony webinar the other morning at 3am, Korea time day; it’s now archived on the SAFEta site. The handouts are also available.
Stay tuned–the next FHO clinical guide will be one on court testimony.
I will be doing a webinar on Ethical and Effective Testimony (along with AEQ Director, Jennifer Long) for SAFEta Source. The session will be held April 10th from 2-3:30pm ET and is free. You can register here. This is one of my all time favorite topics to discuss, so hopefully we’ll be seeing many of you there!
UPDATE: Archived versions available here.
I am consulting on a couple cases right now, so testimony is on my mind. Today I am going to post my Expert Witness’ Bill of Rights. By all means, please do add to this if you come up with any I have missed. Also remember, this is opinion and opinion only. Just because I think it’s true doesn’t mean you will agree, or that the attorneys you work with will care what I think (in fact I’d say it’s a solid bet that they won’t). So, with all those caveats, here are what I consider to be essential considerations for taking on the role of expert witness:
Oh, I do love a good expert witness webinar. And IAFN and AALNC are offering a joint one Auguts 17th at 3pm ET, The Nurse Expert Witness: The Basics and Beyond (plus they’re offering CEUs). Registration’s not yet open for this event, but it’s worth getting on your calendar, and I will update the page when it becomes available .
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Child Fatalities
I have a lot of respected friends and colleagues who care for pediatric abusive head trauma and sexual abuse patients. And I have a lot of respected friends and colleagues who prosecute these cases. So I will be interested in feedback about this particular Frontline program (it debuted last night on PBS) that looks at child fatalities and its central premise that some forensic pathologists are ill-equipped to fully explore cause of death in child cases where abuse is suspected.
Okay, gang, commence with the collective eye rolling: time once again for an evaluation offering. I know, I know–not the most popular of subjects on this site. And yet, I still force feed you them. Why? One, because I’m a giant nerd, and I think evaluation is cool and super interesting; and two, you can’t sustain something if you aren’t sure it’s getting the job done, or you don’t know how to be better at what you’re already doing. So a whole bunch of folks are putting on a live webinar on evaluating organization performance, and perhaps you’d like to attend.
As part of the process of writing a book chapter on injuries obtained during consensual sexual intercourse, I put together a grid of the research that looks at this issue. I figured I’d go ahead and post it after some lengthy conversation today during a 2 hour Q&A session with Army defense counsel. Understanding what the research does (and doesn’t say) about this topic is incredibly useful, although, to be clear, the research is still somewhat limited.
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Suggestability
First off, a thank you to everyone on the testimony webinar yesterday. What a fantastic turnout! And some really great questions, as well.
Over at NCPTC, they have a webinar next week on suggestability. It will take place September 16th at 3pm CT, and cost is $10. I’m not a peds person, but I looked at the slides (PDF), and I have to confess, I found the research and the discussion in them pretty fascinating.
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Physician Expert Testimony
Medscape has an interesting CME case study on physician expert testimony. And when I say interesting, I mean that it touches on a couple issues (albeit briefly) that are relevant to anyone providing this service, physician or nurse. Specifically, it touches on the notion that expert testimony should be subject to peer review, and that professional organizations have a responsibility to ensure that their members provide quality testimony. The article actually refers to case law that supports this, although I’m not certain the authors don’t overstate their case just a bit on this point.
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Court Testimony
And now for a wee bit of self-promotion: one of my AEQ partners, Jeff Greipp, and I will be teaching a webinar on court testimony, Wednesday September 8th from 2-3pm ET. It’s being hosted by IAFN, and cost for members is $40 ($50 for non-members). This will net you CEUs, so it’s a good deal. Plus we’ll be talking practicalities related to evidence-based, ethical testimony, so that’s always a relevant discussion.
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Friday Wrap-Up
It’s been lovely being at home this week. Next week, back on the road, first to celebrate NSVRC’s 10th anniversary (hope to see some of you there!) and then on to DC to get some serious work done before (dare I say it) a bit of vacation in the Colorado Rockies. Before I sign off for the weekend, an update for the SAFE Virtual Practicum from IAFN. The Update will allow you to use the Practicum in Instructor mode as a teaching tool, so I highly recommend getting the download. If you already own a copy, it’s free. Instructions after the jump:
Don’t forget, we have a fantastic giveaway going on right now! Just leave your comment here to enter.
The National Child Protection Training Center has a webinar coming up in July that should be fantastic for those of you working with kids: Testifying in Court will be presented July 15th at 3pm Central. Cost is $10 to register. Their events often fill, though, so be sure not to wait too long.
I’ve been meaning to get a new clinical guide up, but this one has been a challenge. See, injury photography hasn’t been written up extensively in the literature. What is out there is by and large pretty old (you’ll see several Polaroid references in the resources I share). Still, all of these have something to offer forensic practice. As with everything I post, due diligence, please. Read through the materials and decide for yourself whether these are useful and relevant to your work. And if you have other resources and tools you like not already listed here, by all means send them on and I’ll be happy to include them with attribution.
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Expert Witnesses
I’m in Boise, Idaho this week speaking at their 2 Days in June conference (with the fantastic Doug Miles, one of my favorite traveling companions). One of the topics we’re presenting is Using Experts in DV and Sexual Assault Cases. I’ve actually written on the topic before, in a monograph for NDAA: The Role of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners in the Prosecution of Domestic Violence Cases. My friend and new boss, Jennifer Long, formerly of NDAA, wrote a related monograph in that series: Introducing Expert Testimony to Explain Victim Behavior in Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Cases. You can download both of them (along with the rest of the monographs in that series) here. Yes, they’re written for lawyers, but I think there’s valuable info there for anyone working as an expert in these types of cases.
And if you’re attending 2 Days in June, please come by and say hello!
If you have not yet perused this site, Child Abuse Evaluation & Treatment for Medical Providers is a virtual one-stop for all things on this subject. It’s essentially an e-book, with chapters that are well-organized and easy to read. The site is pretty accessible and plentiful links allow you to delve more deeply into subject matter as warranted. And if you’re helping to train police and prosecutors, some of the charts and outlines would be pretty useful for them, as well. My biggest complaint so far (because I’m still working my way through the site, and admittedly, it’s not my area of specialty) is that some of the resources are out of date (read: IAFN, which according to this link still has us in NJ), or just missing (like NSVRC).
JWI has announced their next teleconference: Expert Witnesses in Domestic Violence Cases–How They Can Assist Survivors. The call will be held May 21st from 12-1pm ET. Cost is $25 (unless you’re a member–then it’s free). Based on the agenda, it would appear that this call will be useful to those who would like to be experts (advocates, nurses, etc.), as well as those who would hope to use them in their cases (prosecutors, family law attorneys). Preregistration is required and space is limited.
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Topics in Forensic Nursing
The International Association of Forensic Nursing is offering 4.25 CEUs for their Topics in Forensic Nursing Practice webcast. This is a session originally held in Annapolis, MD July, 2008. By purchasing the session, participants will be able to access 3 tracks: Human Trafficking, Courtroom Testimony and Ethics in Forensic Nursing.