DALE PANZER, M.D.
Psychiatry
Medical-Legal Assessment
Clinical and Forensic Experience
Dale E. Panzer, M.D. has been a practicing psychiatrist for more than 25 years and served as an expert witness and objective forensic evaluator since 2010.
Seasoned in providing deposition and trial testimony, he has repeatedly been qualified, without challenge, as an expert psychiatrist in County, State, and Federal courts.
Credentials
Dr. Panzer is among a select few psychiatrists who are double-board certified in Psychiatry and Brain Injury Medicine, credentials which are reflected in his patient care and the depth of his forensic assessments and testimony.
Dr. Panzer brings additional expertise in the psychiatric elements of emotional distress to cases involving brain function and/or physical injury.
Treating Patients
Dr. Panzer complements his medical-legal services with a vibrant practice in clinical psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. He treats a broad range of mental disorders spanning from mild anxiety to psychosis and brain injuries–both reversible and permanent.
He is Psychiatric Consultant at Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital, where the focus is on recovery and coping with severe physical injuries and conditions. Dr. Panzer is actively engaged in the psychiatric evaluation and treatment of individuals across a full spectrum of cognitive and medical conditions, including concussion (mTBI), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), spinal cord injury, chronic pain, stroke, dementia, work-related injury, MVA, malingering, secondary gain, and self-injury. His opinions in personal injury are grounded in his clinical work.
Educating Psychiatrists
Dr. Panzer is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the Drexel University School of Medicine and has been educating physicians about Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry for many years.
He is Co-Chair of the Forensic Neuropsychiatry Committee of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. In recent years he has served as a presenter to his colleagues about important topics in the field.
Dr. Panzer’s ability to communicate and teach is reflected in highly valued medical-legal reports and testimony.
Forensic Psychiatric Opinions
During his decades-long career, Dr. Panzer has developed extensive experience in high stakes, high-value litigation including class-action, mass and toxic tort lawsuits, and probate litigation. He has rendered his conclusions in cases involving most issues that are put to a psychiatrist and expert witness.
He has conducted hundreds of forensic psychiatric assessments issuing objective reports and testimony, retained by both plaintiff and defense.
Dr. Panzer is sought-after for his experience and skill as an accomplished educator to triers of fact, attorneys and physicians.
Dr. Panzer is an expert examiner in cases of PTSD, brain injury, and the complex conditions that fall under “emotional distress.”
Mass Torts
Evaluating emotional distress and, in some cases, impaired cognition in people subjected to an accident is essential to a trier of fact, or to attorneys contemplating settlement. Dr. Panzer has testified in cases including train derailment and other mass torts. He is highly respected for his objectivity.
Catastrophic Injury
Dr. Panzer’s forensic and clinical expertise in the treatment of emotional and physical responses to catastrophic injuries reflects thousands of clinical evaluations, and numerous forensic assessments, reports, and testimony.
His experience is reflected in his work at prominent Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital where he treats patients at all stages of life, many of whom are learning to cope with devastating physical injuries including cognitively impaired people, amputees, and those with spinal cord injuries.
Testamentary Capacity/Undue Influence
Dr. Panzer has served in high-stakes cases of alleged undue influence and impaired testator capacity. He has been retained by both plaintiff and defense.
In 2020, he was chair of a panel on Proving and Disproving Testamentary Capacity & Undue Influence for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
He is an invited CLE speaker on these subjects to the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. See below.
Attorney Education Presentations, CLE
Dr. Panzer is honored to be a CLE presenter and panelist to the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Elder Law and Estate Planning Institutes.
Evidence for Elder Law Attorneys: Proving and Defending Undue Influence.
Elder Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute, CLE
What Does Diminished Capacity Really Mean?: Testamentary Capacity, Undue Influence, Medical and Financial Power of Attorney & Guardianship.
Estate Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute, CLE.
Why Can’t Lawyers and Psychiatrists Speak the Same Language?
Estate Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Ethics CLE.
Special Needs Trust Planning for Individuals with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders.
Elder Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute, CLE.
Bridging The Gap Between Lawyers’ and Psychiatrists’ Understanding of Mental Capacities: Testamentary Capacity, Undue Influence, Medical and Financial Power of Attorney & Guardianship.
Invited co-presenter, Estate Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Ethics CLE. 2019, 2017, 2012.
Medical and Legal Perspectives on Incapacity and Undue Influence.
Elder Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Invited Panelist.
Evidence for Elder Law Attorneys: Proving and Defending Undue Influence.
Elder Law Institute. Pennsylvania Bar Institute.
Dr. Panzer is based in the greater Philadelphia area. He attended Philadelphia’s prestigious AB Hahnemann School of Medicine and after residency started his own medical practice in 1997.
Dr. Panzer has continuously consulted as a Psychiatrist to hospitals in Pennsylvania and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Drexel University School of Medicine about Psychiatry and forensic psychiatry.
Dr. Panzer’s forensic work takes him wherever his expertise is needed.
TESTIMONY
Where does Dr. Panzer serve as an expert witness and testify?
Dr. Panzer is based in Pennsylvania and is commonly asked to serve in cases in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and surrounding states.
Dr. Panzer opines in jurisdictions across the United States when his expertise is appropriate to the case at hand.
SERVICES
25 Years in the Making
Consultation and Case Review
Consulting as a pre- or non-disclosed Expert witness
Independent Medical Evaluation
Examinee Assessment, Collateral Interviews
Testimony
Deposition and Trial Testimony Reflecting Considerable Experience
Thorough Review of Records
Review and Interpretation of Medical, Legal and Collateral Records
Expert Reports
Experienced and Unbiased Written Reports and Verbal Consultation