Paul Appelbaum, MD
Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine & Law

Director, Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry,
Dept. of Psychiatry, Columbia University

 

 

PAUL S. APPELBAUM, M.D., the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and Director, Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia was previously A.F. Zeleznik Distinguished Professor and Chairman,Department of Psychiatry; and Director, Law and Psychiatry Program, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

He is the author of many articles and books on law and ethics in clinical practice. Dr. Appelbaum is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, and has served as Chair of the Council on Psychiatry and Law for the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

He is currently Chair of APA's Committee on Judicial Action and a member of the Standing Committee on Ethics or the World Psychiatric Association. He has received the Isaac Ray Award of the American Psychiatric Association for "outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry and the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence," was the Fritz Redlich Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Appelbaum performs forensic evaluations in civil and criminal cases, and treats patients with a broad variety of problems, including depression, anxiety, and adjustment problems.

Education and Training

Undergraduate:  Columbia College, A.B., 1968-1972
Medical School:  Harvard Medical School, M.D., 1972-1976
Internship:  Soroka Medical Center, 1976-1977
Residency:  Massachusetts Mental Health Center/Harvard Medical School, 1977-1980
Post-Graduate:  Harvard Law School, Special Student, 1979-1980
Post-Graduate:  Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Special Student, 1983-1984
Board Certifications:  American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Subspeciality Certifications:  Forensic Psychiatry

Specialties

• General Adult Psychiatry (psychotherapy and psychopharmacology)
• Forensic Psychiatry

Contact information

Address:
NYS Psychiatric Institute
Room 6714  Unit/Box:122
1051 Riverside Drive
New York, NY   10032

Phone: 212-543-4184
Fax: 212-543-6752
psa21@columbia.edu

research summary

My research focuses on how legal and ethical rules affect medical practice and research, including informed consent, decisional capacity, mandatory treatment, advance directives, and confidentiality. I have a special interest in ethical and legal implications of neuropsychiatric genetics.

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Publications

1. Appelbaum PS, Gutheil TG: Clinical Handbook of Psychiatry and the Law, 4th ed,  Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins,  Philadelphia,  PA,  USA,  2007

2. Berg JW, Appelbaum PS, Lidz CW, Parker L: Informed Consent: Legal Theory and Clinical Practice, 2nd ed,  Oxford University Press,  New York,  NY,  USA,  2001

3. Grisso T, Appelbaum PS: Assessing Competence To Consent To Treatment: A Guide for Physicians and Other Health Professionals .  1998

4. Appelbaum PS: Almost a Revolution: Mental Health Law and the Limits of Change.  1994

5. Anfang SA, Appelbaum PS : Forensic evaluation of the older patient, in Agronin ME, Maletta GJ (eds.), Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins.,  Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins,  Philadelphia,  PA,  USA,  2011