Board restricts psychologist Robert D. Kahl from conducting forensic evaluations

December 23, 2011

On August 12, 2011, the Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists formally reprimanded psychologist Robert D. Kahl and permanently restricted his practice to exclude competency evaluations and any psychological services described in the State Forensic Service – Court-Ordered Examination Statement of Purpose and Non-confidentiality form.

The Board’s Statement of Facts states that the Board received a complaint from the mother of an adult who was the subject of a competency evaluation performed by Kahl. The complaint alleged Kahl engaged in incompetence by permitting a parent to be present during the evaluation (thereby potentially introducing bias and compromising the results); using profanity during the evaluation; leaving a wooden board, which he uses as a defensive weapon, in view of the subject of the evaluation and then gratuitously volunteering an explanation of its purpose; using leading rather than open-ended questions, which not only suggested answers to the subject, but were of a nature that could have influenced the subject’s mental state and, thus, the evaluation results and introducing topics (such as people wanting to kill or poison others) which were irrelevant to the purpose of the competency evaluation and could have influenced the subject’s mental state and, thus, the evaluation results.

Kahl was reprimanded in February 2007 by the Maine Board for violations of the Ethical Principals of the Psychologists of the American Psychological Association (“Ethical Principles”).

Dr. Kahl admitted to the use of profanity during counseling sessions with three minor children, in describing the children’s parents.

Source: Consent Agreement in re: Robert D. Kahl, Ph.D., Complaint No. 2010-PSY-6244, State of Maine Board of Examiners of Psychologists.