Criminal Responsibility Assessment of Frontotemporal Demantia: A Case Presentation

Abstract

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is one of the most prevalent forms of early-onset dementia cases and a kind of primary degenerative dementia. Assessment of criminal responsibility is one of the most important issues for forensic psychiatry due to the help of justice. A 55-year-old male who allegedly committed an offense of threat and libel to a doctor was referred to the psychiatric clinic at our hospital by the prosecution office for the evaluation of his criminal responsibility. Seventeen years ago, he suffered severe head trauma. After this trauma, his mental and behavioral problems began to develop. It was realized that his ability to think abstractly, reasoning, and reality testing are impaired. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed atrophy characterized by sulcal widening and brain parencymal volume loss, which are more prominent in the bilateral frontal and temporal lobes. Additionally, disinhibited behaviors in his medical history such as verbal violence and suddenly leaving the house were noticed. A diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia was made. We understood the onset of symptoms of our case began when he was 40-year-old from the medical records. With this aspect, our case has a remarkably young age of initiation of symptoms. The purpose of this case report is to draw physicians' attention to the medical symptoms and medicolegal consequences of a patient with early-onset FTD.