Forensic Psychiatric Practice

A. David Axelrad, M.D., DLFAPA, FACPsych is a practicing psychiatrist who specializes in Adult Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatry, Pain Medicine, Psychoanalysis, and Forensic Psychiatry. Over the course of his career, he has practiced forensic psychiatry in California and Texas. He continues to practice medicine in both states.

  • Psychiatry, Certificate #17308
  • Forensic Psychiatry, Certificate #22
  • Pain Medicine, Certificate #102 (2003-2013)

During the course of his practice in California and Texas, he has practiced Forensic Psychiatry and has been appointed to court panels to serve as a court-appointed expert in cases involving questions concerning competency to stand trial, competency to waive Miranda rights as well as diminished mental capacity, and criminal responsibility (insanity). In addition, he has also practiced Forensic Psychiatry in evaluating patients who are involved in litigation regarding personal injuries, physical and psychiatric injuries, and wrongful death. He has also practiced Forensic Psychiatry in areas in Family Law and in the evaluation of mental capacity, guardianship proceedings, and testamentary capacity. He has also practiced Forensic Psychiatry in fitness-of-duty evaluations, professional liability evaluations, and professional impairment. He has also undertaken evaluation of professionals who were involved in administrative legal proceedings and Board proceedings regarding their license to practice their profession.

A. David Axelrad, M.D., DLFAPA, FACPsych has served as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Director of Forensic Psychiatry for the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, University of California at Davis, during his practice in California. In Texas, he has served on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas School of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center in Houston, Texas. A. David Axelrad, M.D., DLFAPA, FACPsych continued his notable forensic psychiatric practice in Houston, Texas. Currently, he serves on court panels in Harris County, Texas, and Fort Bend County, Texas. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center in Houston, Texas.

A. David Axelrad, MD & Associates
  • He provides expert evaluations in District Courts in Harris County, Fort Bend County, Brazoria County, Matagorda County, and Montgomery County—in the areas of competency to stand trial, competency to waive Miranda rights prior to interrogation, and criminal responsibility-insanity.
  • He has also undertaken evaluations in the Federal Courts in Houston, Texas.
  • He has been retained by appellate attorneys to evaluate and review defendants who have been found guilty and have been incarcerated in the State Department of Corrections. Some of these evaluations have involved mentally disordered offenders who have committed capital offenses.
  • He has performed forensic examinations and consultations in areas of personal injury, pain and suffering, wrongful death, and professional liability in the civil courts of Texas.
  • He has performed professional liability and fitness-for-duty evaluations.
  • He has served on the faculty as an appointed Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching forensic medicine to third year law students.
  • He has undertaken forensic psychiatric assessments of patients who suffer traumatic brain injury and require forensic evaluations, utilizing his experiences as a neuropsychiatrist, specializing in the treatment of traumatic brain injury. He has also undertaken forensic psychiatric assessments of patient who experience Posttraumatic Stress Disorder associated with traumatic experiences.
  • In addition, Dr. Axelrad has also undertaken evaluation of patients who sustained traumatic brain injury and neurocognitive disorders associated with traumatic brain injury. During his practice in Houston, Texas, he has served as a Director of Neuropsychiatric Services for the Del Oro Institute for Rehabilitation in Houston, Texas. Dr. Axelrad did undertake psychiatric evaluations of injured workers involved in industrial explosions. He was involved in evaluating injured workers in the industrial explosions that occurred in the Phillips 66 Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, in 1989; the Deep Water Horizon drill-rig explosion that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; and the explosion that occurred in the BP facility in Texas City, Texas, in 2005.