Dr. John Thompson
Chair and Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of Forensic Neuropsychiatry
Biography
John W. Thompson Jr. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He is the Director of the Division of Forensic Neuropsychiatry and founding Director of the Tulane Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program and the Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Thompson is board certified in Psychiatry (ABPN) with added qualifications in Forensic Psychiatry (ABPN) and in Addiction Psychiatry (ABPN). He serves as Chief of Staff for Feliciana Forensic Facility and the State of Louisiana’s Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System. He is an active member of the American Psychiatric Association (Distinguished Fellow), the Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, and the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry. Dr. Thompson currently serves as a member of the TUMG Executive Board, the Dean and Clinical Chairs Committee, the Executive Committee, and the FPP Executive Committee of the Tulane University School of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Thompson is the Director of the planning committee for the Department’s annual Forensic Symposium that covers the latest updates in forensic psychiatry, with unique presentations of topics on forensic characters and prominent cases throughout history. Dr. Thompson serves as a reviewer to several professional journals to include Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (past Associate Editor 1998- 2014), and the AAPL Newsletter. He continues his very active medical legal practice and serves as expert witness to the national, state, and local judicial systems. He publishes regularly on the areas of competency to stand trial and forensic risk assessment.
Education
University of Florida, College of Medicine
University of Florida, College of Medicine
University of Texas
Articles
Filicide: Historical review and prevention of child death by parent
2008
Filicide has occurred throughout the world since before recorded history. Although rates have declined in developed nations, it remains a leading cause of child death with approximately equal numbers of children killed by fathers and mothers. A large percentage of filicides is associated with mental illness, particularly postpartum depression and psychosis. The remainder results from child abuse and neglect. Men convicted of filicide are usually incarcerated whereas female perpetrators are more likely to receive treatment‐oriented sentences. Individuals working with families and children should be trained to recognize risk factors and intervene to protect endangered children.
Maternal-Fetal Rights and Substance Abuse: Gestation Without Representation
2015
In the field of forensic psychiatry we are accustomed to working with attorneys on a regular basis in a variety of circumstances. We take access to attorneys for granted. We should not take it for granted. A pregnant woman arrested for alleged addiction to opiates should have an attorney appointed to defend her before she undergoes forced treatment. This was not the case with Alicia Beltran.
Ms. Beltran, in her second trimester of pregnancy, was arrested for refusing to follow the recommendations of her nurse practitioner. She had been advised to continue buprenorphine (Suboxone), even after tapering herself off of opiates when she learned she was pregnant. She was evaluated by an emergency room physician, who indicated that inpatient treatment was not necessary. Ms. Beltran was taken to court for a hearing, but she was not appointed an lawyer. Her fetus, on the other hand, already had an assistant district attorney and guardian ad litem appointed for representation. The judge ordered Ms. Beltran to substance abuse treatment in a halfway house for a substantial portion of her early pregnancy.
