A psychiatric forensic nurse examiner was asked by a defendant's attorney to determine the defendant's legal sanity. What is the priority task of the nurse examiner?
a. Determine if the defendant understands the charges and can assist the attorney with the defense.
b. Complete a risk assessment to determine if the defendant is a danger to self or others.
c. Reconstruct the defendant's mental state and motives at the time of the crime.
d. Collect and compile evidence to determine whether a crime occurred.
ANS: C
Legal sanity is determined for the specific time of the alleged crime, so reconstructing the defendant's mental state, motivation, thinking, and other elements of functioning at the time of the alleged crime is essential to making the determination. The defendant's ability to understand the charges and assist in his defense is pertinent to an evaluation of competency. Unless the court has specifically asked for a risk assessment (which would be unusual), the risk assessment is the responsibility of clinical staff caring for the patient, not the forensic nurse examiner. Police collect evidence about the crime, and the prosecutor compiles it. A forensic nurse examiner does not participate in evidence collection other than that related to the assessment of the patient's state of mind at the time of the alleged crime.
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