Neuropsychology Central

[Pinkaboo]

I've recently been sent by my workplace for a neurophsycholgical assessment.
I had a stroke last year and also have severe sleep apnea Around 45 episodes and hour, so I'm like the walking dead
The thinking is the sleep apnea caused my stroke
I'm also being treated for depression since the stroke

The out come of my tests were that I'm a malingerer,
I'm actually quite worried as I tried hard on the tests
But after getting myself by taxi to the hospital an hour away
Then having an hour of questions prior to the test
I was totally out of it, my vision was blurry and I was drained

Because of the test work now want to sack me! I've been there 30 yrs so they will save a fortune, it's all a bit of a nightmare especially as I feel so unwell

Could the test be wrong? Is there anyway I can contest this?
My g.p. Is very good and is supporting me as is my stroke consultant and the sleep consultant but work are ignoring everything and just using this report to try and sack me

Hope you don't mind me asking for your help
Very kind regards
Sonia

[Pinkaboo]

Just to add I'm 48'
My MRI showed left cerebella stroke plus previous stroke plus frontal small vessel disease and a cyst

[drejb]

While I cannot address yor specific situation, in general Malingering is a term, in DSM-IV which is made when there is Gross exaggeration out of line with findings for some specific gain. Sometimes neuropsychological testing can be invalid due to inconsistent performance or poor performance on tests specifically designed to assess validity of performance - but most psychologists agree that invalid results, or concerns about validity is not identical to malingering.

Fatigue, sleep apnea and even stroke do not typically cause failure on the better tests to assess effort. Usually only severely impaired individuals fail, most of which are already not living independently - which, I suppose would raise serious concerns about fitness for duty regardless of why one had scored so poorly to fail these tests.

Some workplace fitness for duty evaluations are exempt from HIPAA as they are considered forensic evaluations. THe assessment of neurological vs psychiatric vs motivational factors affecting assessments is best done by an experienced and reputable forensice neuropsychologist. Your best bet is to hire an attorney who will in turn hire a neuropsychologist to examine the data and basis for the opinion;
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