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6 Clev.-Marshall L. Rev. 428 (1957)
Psychosomatic Injury, Traumatic Psychoneurosis, and Law

handle is hein.journals/clevslr6 and id is 430 raw text is: Psychosomatic Injury, Traumatic Psychoneurosis, and Law Paul David Cantor, M. D., LL. B.* T iS PAPER DEALS WITH COURT DECISIONS on liability claims for injuries to the mind rather than for broken bones alone. This subject now is as important to practitioners and students of the law as it long has been to medical men. Much medical knowl- edge is now reflected in new interpretations by the courts, so that today the legal fact is established that a person's emotional security as well as his physical security must be protected and compensated. Since injuries to the mind are now so often stated in actions involving physical injuries, practitioners and students of the law must keep abreast of medical progress in this field. The author's purpose is to focus attention on the develop- ments of recent years as well as those of earlier times, and to demonstrate that interrelated injuries to the mind and to the body should be considered equally compensable. In discussing the question of liability for psychosomatic injury, it must be borne in mind that there are two sides to the matter-the medical view, and the legal or judicial view-and that until recently a very wide gap existed between them, a gap which is slowly being bridged. To understand why this has been so it is necessary to understand the underlying philosophy of each profession. The doctor is dedicated to preserving life by curing the ail- ment if possible, but if complete cure is not possible, then to the alleviation of the attendant pain and discomfort. Quite ob- viously, the medical profession is constantly searching for better methods, whether surgical or medical. In one sense, medical research primarily is based on a trial-and-error philosophy. The lawyer, on the other hand, primarily is sworn to uphold the law as it is written on the statute books, in the Federal and State constitutions, or, in the absence of specific legislation, as it is inherent in the common law. He is imbued by his training with a conservative approach. The entire system of jurisprudence rests firmly on precedents, the ruling case law evolved over * Of Washington, D. C.; Consultant, Medical Jurisprudence; Professor, Legal Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine; Professor, Medical Jurisprudence, Georgetown University Law Center; etc.

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