The use of telemedicine to evaluate competency to stand trial: a preliminary randomized controlled study.

To investigate whether forensic evaluations can be performed reliably using telemedicine, we compared the results on a standard competency assessment instrument using telemedicine (TM) and live interviews (LI). Two board-certified forensic psychiatrists used the Georgia Court Competency Test (GCCT) to evaluate 21 forensic psychiatric inpatients. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to a telemedicine interview and half were assigned to a live interview.