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Led by Canadian-trained psychiatrist Dr. Armita Saligheh, MD, FRCPC, the new Manitoba practice provides psychiatric independent medical examinations, file-review opinions, and medico-legal reports that go beyond diagnosis to address function, causation, treatment adequacy, and return to work.

Winnipeg, MB, Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MedLegalPsych has launched an independent psychiatric assessment service in Winnipeg, Manitoba, providing psychiatric Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs), file-review opinions, and medico-legal reports for insurers, disability carriers, employers, legal professionals, workers' compensation programs, and other third-party referral sources.

Dr. Armita Saligheh, MD, FRCPC, psychiatrist and founder of MedLegal Assessments in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The practice is led by Dr. Armita Saligheh, MD, FRCPC, a Canadian-trained psychiatrist with specialized expertise in occupational psychiatry and medico-legal mental health assessment. Her background includes assessing mental health in high-demand military occupational environments and evaluating complex workplace psychological injury claims, disability-related concerns, and return-to-work capacity in the workers' compensation setting.

Mental health conditions are an increasingly significant component of disability claims and workplace absence. For the professionals who manage those files, establishing a psychiatric diagnosis is often only the beginning. The harder questions are functional: how a condition is affecting the individual's ability to work, whether reported limitations are consistent with the clinical evidence, which restrictions are medically supported, whether treatment has addressed the factors maintaining impairment, and what a safe and sustainable return to work would look like.

"The presence of a psychiatric diagnosis does not, by itself, establish an inability to work, and meaningful impairment can require careful consideration even when the diagnostic picture is complex or evolving," said Dr. Saligheh. "A useful independent assessment examines the evidence in context rather than relying on a diagnostic label alone. The goal is a report that is clinically rigorous, balanced, and useful to the people responsible for making disability-management decisions."

MedLegalPsych approaches each referral from both a psychiatric and an occupational perspective. Assessments are structured to answer the specific questions relevant to the referral, which may include diagnosis, causation, psychiatric impairment, functional abilities, medically supported restrictions and limitations, treatment adequacy and recommendations, prognosis, and considerations regarding accommodation and return to work. Where the available evidence does not permit a reliable conclusion, that limitation is identified rather than filled with assumptions.

The purpose of an assessment is not to make the administrative, contractual, legal, or benefits decision. It is to provide an independent medical opinion that gives decision-makers clearer psychiatric and functional information on which to base their work. An independent psychiatric assessment can be particularly useful when the clinical picture is unclear or conflicting, when diagnostic opinions differ, when symptoms have persisted despite treatment, when the relationship between a condition and a workplace event requires clarification, or when questions arise about prognosis, treatment adequacy, or return to work.

In addition to independent psychiatric assessments, the practice offers addiction assessments, court-mandated assessments, consultation and IME supervision for other examination providers, and occupational mental health advisory and education for insurers, employers, healthcare organizations, and multidisciplinary teams, covering topics such as psychological injuries in the workplace, return-to-work planning, and functional psychiatric assessment.

Referrals from insurers, legal counsel, employers, workers' compensation programs, and government agencies are now being accepted. Referral sources can learn more about services and submit an assessment request at medlegalpsych.ca.

About MedLegalPsych

MedLegalPsych (medlegalpsych.ca) is a Winnipeg-based independent psychiatric assessment service providing psychiatric Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs), file-review opinions, addiction assessments, court-mandated assessments, and medico-legal reports for insurers, disability carriers, employers, legal professionals, workers' compensation programs, and other third-party referral sources. Led by Dr. Armita Saligheh, MD, FRCPC, ACBOM, a Canadian-trained psychiatrist with specialized expertise in occupational psychiatry, the practice approaches every assessment from both a psychiatric and occupational perspective, focusing on diagnostic clarification, causation analysis, functional assessment, treatment adequacy, prognosis, and safe, sustainable return to work. MedLegalPsych also offers occupational mental health advisory and education for employers, insurers, and multidisciplinary teams, as well as consultation and IME supervision. Learn more at medlegalpsych.ca.

Press Inquiries

Alex Zlatin
alex [at] mintops.ca
https://medlegalpsych.ca