Possible dementia concerns with judge raised by oversight body
A Michigan judge has been fighting a professional misconduct case, but a new filing by the state oversight body for judges accused her of having a mental disability and indicates concerns with a possibility of dementia. (Image from Shutterstock)
A Michigan judge has been fighting a professional misconduct case, but a new filing by the state oversight body for judges accused her of having a mental disability and indicates concerns with a possibility of dementia, according to a report by the Detroit Free Press.
Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig of the 52-4 District Court in Troy, Michigan, has been fighting a public complaint filed in June 2025 by the state body that investigates bad behavior by judges, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The case involves a number of allegations against her, including that she failed to turn over a psychiatric report that indicated that she’d been deemed “unsafe to practice” in May 2024, the report says.
But until Jan. 9, the state body had yet to formally accuse Hartig of having a mental disability that prevented her from performing her judicial duties, according to the Detroit Free Press, now saying “an emerging dementia-type syndrome is high on the differential list.”
Hartig’s lawyer, Don Campbell, said in a text message the state body’s “hand-chosen” doctor found that Hartig may have a mild neurocognitive disorder. That mild disorder affects a percentage of the population, but it’s not the major neurocognitive disorder that he understands to be dementia, the lawyer said, according to the Detroit Free Press.
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