About.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY.
Sara G. West, M.D. has been practicing forensic psychiatry for over ten years and is board certified in both general and forensic psychiatry. She is a member of both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL). Dr. West has published numerous articles and book chapters as well as presented on the local, national and international level on multiple occasions. She has worked on inpatient psychiatric units in state and federal facilities as well as in correctional institutions. She also maintains a full-time clinical practice at a community mental health centers in Akron, Ohio. She enjoys teaching and supervising the forensic psychiatric fellows at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. West completed both her undergraduate and medical school education at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. In 2008, she finished her psychiatry residency at University Hospitals – Case Medical Center in Cleveland and remained there for a fellowship in forensic psychiatry, which she completed in 2009. During her residency, she received the Rappeport Fellowship from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), the Mahmoud A. Parsa Excellence in Research Award, a Resnick Scholarship from the Midwest chapter of AAPL and the Ruth Fox Memorial Endowment Scholarship from the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
Work Skills.
SERVICES
Forensic psychiatry is a medical sub-specialty that focuses on the intersection of mental health issues and the law.
- Providing services nationwide
- Includes:
- Record Review
- Psychiatric Evaluation
- Report Preparation
- Testimony
- Consultation
CASES
- Criminal
- Competence to Stand Trial
- Insanity
- Mens Rea/ Criminal Responsibility/ Diminished Capacity
- Aid in Sentencing/ Mitigation
- Capacity/Competency to be Executed
- Civil
- Independent Medical Examinations (IME)
- Psychiatric Malpractice
- Guardianship
- Civil Commitment/ Court Ordered Treatment
- Employment Evaluations
- Fitness for Duty
- Disability Investigation and Determination
- Workers’ Compensation Claims/ Work Limitations
- Other
- Psychological Autopsies
- Dangerousness/ Violence Risk Assessments
- Peer Review
- Education/ Speaking Engagements
CREDENTIALS
- Full CV available upon request
- Select Publications
- West SG, Noffsinger S. Is this patient competent to stand trial: how to evaluate mentally ill criminal court defendants? Current Psychiatry. 2006;5(6):36-42.
- West SG, Noffsinger S. Is this patient not guilty by reason of insanity: how to assess a defendant’s mental state at the time of the offense? Current Psychiatry. 2006;5(8):54-62.
- West SG, Friedman SH. Filicide: a research update. In Forensic Psychiatry Research Trends. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2007, pp. 29-62.
- West SG, Feldsher M. Why do sons and daughters kill their parents? The role of mental illness in parricide. Current Psychiatry. 2010;9(11):20-38.
- Testa M, West SG. Civil commitment in the United States. Psychiatry 2010. 7(10):30-40.
- West SG, Resnick PJ. Necrophilia. In Sharpless B, ed. Unusual and Rare Psychological Disorders. New York: Oxford University Press. 2017;124-135.
- Resnick PJ, West SG, Wooley C. Malingering of PTSD and other traumas. In Rogers R (ed). Clinical Assessment of Malingering and Deception, Fourth Edition. New York: The Guilford Press. 2018;188-211.
- Morris N, West SG. Misconceptions about working in correctional psychiatry. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 202o; 48(2):251-258.
- Hicks C, West SG. Does your patient have the right to refuse medications? Current Psychiatry. 2020; 19(4):22-30.
- Luther CW, West SG, Newman AW. Inpatient General Psychiatry. In Ash P, Frierson RL, Friedman SH (eds). Malpractice and Liability in Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. 2022;147-155. https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-91975-7_19.
- Baselice K, West SG. The state of forensic literature on persons with intellectual disability who sexually offend. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 2022; 50 (4):577-589.
- Select Presentations
- Cerny CA, Friedman SH, West SG. Teacher’s Pet: Female Sexual Offenders and Their Students, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, 2007
- Hatter Friedman S, Sorentino R, West SG. Special Topics in Stalking, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2013
- West, SG. School Shootings, Grand Rounds, Mason Clinic Regional Forensic Psychiatry Services, Auckland, New Zealand, 2014
- West SG. Fifty Shades of Deviance: Sexual Deviance and the Law, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY, 2018
- Lapchenko M, Saxton A, West SG. From Proscribed to Prescribed: Marijuana’s Impact on Forensics, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD., 2019
- Breaux A, Lapchenko M, Lynch S, West SG. Services Instead of the Slammer: Diversion for Mentally Ill Offenders American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Annual Meeting, Online (in lieu of Chicago, IL), 2021
- Fisher K, West SG. Psychiatrist Beware! Using Landmark Cases to Lower Your Malpractice Risk, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2022
- Testimonial Experience
- Deposed as a plaintiff’s expert in psychiatric malpractice cases
- Testified in Probate Court in reference to a guardianship
- Testified for the prosecution in Common Pleas Court in the sentencing phase of a capital case
- Testified for the defense in reference to the plaintiff’s psychiatric symptoms and diagnosis
- Deposed as the defense’s expert in a psychiatric correctional malpractice case
- Testified for the defense in Common Pleas Court regarding defendant’s eligibility for the insanity defense
- Testified in Common Pleas Court for the defense in a defendant’s sentencing hearing in a filicide case
- Testified in Probate Court for the defense in a testamentary capacity case
- Testified for the defense in Common Pleas Court regarding defendants’ competency to stand trial
- Testified for the defense in Common Pleas Court regarding the defendant’s eligibility for the plea of Guilty But Mentally Ill
- Testified for the prosecution in Common Pleas Court regarding the defendant’s eligibility for execution
Service Agreement
- Inquiries ONLY from attorneys, Courts, insurance companies or employers, please.
- I am NOT accepting patients NOR providing treatment.
- I do NOT accept insurance NOR take payments directly from evaluees.
- Rates
- Services are billed at a rate of $400.00 per hour (rates to increase to $450.00 per hour on January 1, 2024).
- Charges are calculated in 15-minute increments.
- Depositions are scheduled for a minimum of 2 hours.
- Court appearances are scheduled for a half day (5 hours) or full day (10 hours).
- An $800 fee will be assessed if a scheduled interview is cancelled with less than 48 hours’ notice.
- A late fee of 1.5% will be assessed for payment not received within 90 days of the date of the invoice.
- Returned payment will incur an additional fee of $100.
- Expectations
- Timely transmittal of all relevant documentation requested for the purpose of the evaluation.
- Understanding that no specific opinion or finding is in any way assured or guaranteed and disagreement over findings in no way absolves the retainer of payment for the services provided.