Carolina Academic Press

The doctor's doctor; a biography of Eugene A. Stead Jr., MD.

This biography of Eugene A. Stead, Jr. (1908-2005), describes his life and career as a doctor and teacher. Laszlo and Neelon, both physicians and former faculty at Duke U., trace his career at various medical schools in the US, accomplishments such as his establishment of the profession of physician assistant and the development of the PA degree program, his work as the editor of medical journals, and his transformation of the Duke U. Medical Center into a major institution. The book is based on and includes interviews with Stead and colleagues as well as other personal materials. There is no bibliography. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Mental disability law; cases and materials, 2d ed.

Approaching casebook writing from the "one toe" rather than "the jumping right in" method, Perlin (New York Law School) overviews how the legal status of persons with mental disabilities has been constructed since the Roman Empire and looks at forensic mental health practice and the perspectives on mental disability law that elucidate the underlying principles. With some material reprinted from earlier works, he treats such approaches as sanism, pretextuality, and therapeutic jurisprudence. The section on involuntary civil commitment is the lengthiest, as the cornerstone of mental disability law. A key point is that the term "person with disability" still appears in contexts that would be politically incorrect for "racial minority" or "woman." The text includes critical thinking questions and a table of principal cases cited. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The myth of a psychiatric crime wave; public perception, juror research, and mental illness.

Persons with psychiatric disorders have been called the lepers of the modern world. Following an overview of the public's misconceptions about mental illness as influenced by the media and its criminalization, Vitello (PhD, forensic psychology) and Hickey (forensic studies, Alliant International U., Fresno, CA) discuss their study on the relationship between authoritarian views of mental illness and the severity of sentencing recommendations for mentally ill defendants. (Annotation ©2006 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)