Breivik refuses MRI of brain
Accused terrorist Anders Behring Breivik (32) will not satisfy psychiatrists’ wish that his brain be analyzed.
The two court-appointed psychiatrists, Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby, originally had a deadline of October 15 to submit their report on Breivik to the Oslo District Court. One of the reasons they got an extension until November 30 was that they have not yet completed an MRI examination of Breivik’s brain. But Breivik does not want it, according to VG.
“His immediate response is that he does not want any such investigation. He does not consider it necessary,” says lawyer Geir Lippestad, who spoke with Breivik about a possible brain scan on Friday.
The psychiatrists cannot force Breivik to go along with such a test, according to VG.
“I assume he will not be sent to any such investigation, if he does not want it,” says Lippestad.
The two psychiatrists are to determine whether Breivik is criminally sane.
According to law psychiatrists, an MRI can show differences in the brain that it are impossible to detect by clinical examination. One can also identify any damage, epilepsy or tumors in the brain, but it cannot detect any psychiatric diagnosis.
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