Epilepsy and Homicide.

Epilepsy and homicide.

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2013; 9: 667-673
Pandya NS, Vrbancic M, Ladino LD, Téllez-Zenteno JF

We report the rare case of a patient with intractable epilepsy and escalating aggression, resulting in murder, who had complete resolution of her seizures and explosive behavior following a right temporal lobectomy.We searched the available literature from 1880 to 2013 for cases of epilepsy being used as a court defense for murder and collected information regarding the final sentencing outcomes. We selected 15 papers with a total of 50 homicides.We describe the case of a 47-year-old woman with drug-resistant right temporal epilepsy who developed increasing emotional lability, outbursts of anger and escalating violent behavior culminating in a violent murder. The patient was imprisoned while awaiting trial. In the interim, she underwent a successful temporal lobectomy with full resolution of seizures, interictal rage and aggressive behaviors. After the surgery, her charges were downgraded and she was transferred to a psychiatric facility.The aggressive behavior associated with epilepsy has been described in the literature for over a century. A link between epilepsy and aggression has been disproportionally emphasized. These patients share some common characteristics: they are usually young men with a long history of epilepsy and lower than average intelligence. The violent act is postictal, sudden-onset, more likely to occur after a cluster of seizures and is usually related with alcohol abuse. HubMed – drug

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