Schlesinger, R., Private Practice, Australia The expert clinical
neuropsychological evaluation has a unique role to play in the
head injury litigation process. Though the clinical
neuropsychologist is but one among many experts who can
contribute to the evaluation of damages from traumatic head
injury, the specialisation of the neuropsychologist in
thoroughly evaluating the overall 'higher' brain functions sets
this expert apart from the others. In most traumatic head injury
cases, it is the impairment of such higher cerebral processes as
attention, concentration, memory, language processes, complex
thinking, emotional expression, and personality structure that
constitute the bulk of the actual damages resulting from the
injury. Though physicians such as physiatrists, neurologist, and
psychiatrists can evaluate medical and physical deficits in
details, their examinations of complex higher cerebral processes
are relatively cursory and brief - sometimes lasting only a few
minutes or so. In most head injury case