Medical-legal issues in Charcot's neurologic career.

OBJECTIVE: Trace the medical-legal involvement of the 19th century clinical neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.

BACKGROUND: The two major neurologic concerns of the 1800s that involved legal questions were topics of particular academic interest to Charcot: post-traumatic neurologic syndromes and the behavioral consequences of hysteria and hypnotism. Although Charcot's medical views influenced several nonmedical fields, including art, poetry, and drama, his impact on medical-legal issues has not been examined.

METHODS: Original documents from the Bibliothèque Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, legal documents, and publications from Charcot's era were examined.

RESULTS: Although his involvement in medical-legal affairs was a modest element of Charcot's multifaceted career, he was involved in four different types of medical-legal activities: as a cited authority in the medical-legal literature, as an author of articles within medical-legal contexts, as a subpoenaed expert consultant, and as an expert examiner.

CONCLUSIONS: Charcot's involvement demonstrates the long tradition of an interface between neurology and legal medicine and provides a model for highly limited but authoritative involvement by academic neurologists in medical-legal affairs.