Dr KEITH J.B. RIX - Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist

Dr Rix's Role

You have probably been asked to see Dr Rix for a report

Dr Rix will have been asked to give an independent, unbiassed opinion about your case.

This means that:

In a civil case, he is not ‘on your side’ if instructed by your own solicitors and he is not ‘against you’ if instructed by the solicitors for the defendant.

In a criminal case, he is not ‘on your side’ if instructed by your own solicitors and he is not ‘against you’ if instructed by the prosecution or the court.

His job is to consider all the evidence available to him and reach an independent and impartial opinion regardless of who has instructed him.

“Expert evidence presented to the Court should be, and should be seen to be, the independent product of the expert, uninfluenced as to form or content by the exigencies of the litigation. To the extent that it is not, the evidence is likely to be not only incorrect, but self-defeating.”

Lord Wilberforce in Whitehouse v Jordan [1981] 1WLR 246