Today in the morning, Anthony Atwell, MD took the stand.
Atwell is a prosecution witness to rebut the testimony of yesterday’s defense weasel Gil Kliman. Due to scheduling complications for Atwell, he was actually taken a bit out of order; normally prosecution rebuttal witnesses go after the defense witnesses finish, but everyone was polite about it.
Atwell and McKowan dealt a crushing blow to the defense today. Here are some words that I would use to describe him: Personable, professional, experienced, kind, patient, intelligent, dryly funny, calm, calming. There are probably more…. All of them very much along this same line I suppose.
Atwell is listed as Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, and has his own practice in Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry, and Forensic Psychiatry, on the days that he is not teaching. Hopefully at some point we will dig up his resume.
He has been practicing and teaching for 34 years, in some combination or other. The purpose of his testimony was to provide the counterpoint opinion that Psychiatrists should do no intrusive physical exam. He stated that he has done physical exams, ONLY as they relate to the prescription of medication… Check of height and weight, have patient hold out hands to check for tremors, for example. When asked if he has patents disrobe for these exams, he said he asks them to take off their shoes for the height/weight measurement.
His overall testimony was that he has ALWAYS taught and been taught that you are not only NOT encouraged to do medical exams beyond this scope, but you are encouraged NOT to do such exams.
All told, his testimony and cross lasted until the lunch break. He was not boring, he was very direct, and occasionally caused the crowd to chuckle, most frequently when he had funny responses to Weinberg’s questioning. It was very obvious that the jury appreciated his testimony, all the more so, after yesterday’s train wreck.
When he was being cross examined by Weinberg, there were a few moments when it appeared that he was becoming flustered, and I started to worry, but based on the responses that we got, I think his concern was how to answer the questions in without belittling Weinberg, and yet without giving an inch. At one point when Weinberg was pestering him about "all of the literature out there" that says that you SHOULD do exams, Atwell made a comment about there being some “fringe” publications, He elicited a chuckle from the crowd, I think mostly because he was obviously trying to downplay his statement a bit, but finally gave up and just called it fringe.
When Weinberg then badgered him more: “surely, you’re not saying that the publications listed here are fringe…” Atwell said something along the line of: Well I didn’t read those, so I don’t know about ALL of those, but yes, there’s definitely some fringe stuff out there…” which elicited an even bigger laugh from the crowd. Atwell actually looked concerned that people thought he was making fun of Weinberg. Atwell was the definition of a class act.
Weinberg repeatedly nagged him about: Have you read this book, have you read that book, have you read the other book, to which the doctor calmly replied “no, no, no, no... no” Didn’t even flinch… no visible searching for weasel words like Kliman the day before.
Weinberg repeatedly asked him if he had done ANY research to prepare for today, to which he always calmly replied that other than his 34 years of clinical experience and teaching at Stanford, and reading a few articles given to him… no, not really…. Other than journals and books and continuing education that he keeps up with routinely. It was a very matter-of-fact, non-pompous answer. And it bugged Weinberg to no end.
After lunch, Weinberg moved to have Atwell’s entire testimony removed, as he didn’t like that Atwell didn’t research enough about literature that states that you should do medical exams, and that he doesn’t have SPECIFIC experience in this area.
Judge said no.
A personal note:
This has been the most painful testimony for me to take so far. (Including ayres on the stand in the afternoon.) At one point Weinberg asked Atwell some question to try to get him to say that it would be ok to do an exam in some hypothetical circumstance. Atwell was clearly horrified, but calmly described what a Psychiatrist has the obligation to do to provide a safe and helpful environment in which to heal a patient. I was simply stunned. What if I had gone to a normal, qualified, kind, human being like this, instead of ayres?
The thing about stuff that rips your heart out is that it always sneaks up on you like this.
I hope that the fact that the testimony was painful is also ultimately good pain, because you saw the difference between someone like Atwell and Ayres (I hate to put the 2 names in the same sentence) so great, and that you realized that there are indeed competent and compassionate therapists out there.
ReplyDeleteI am not identifying myself, but will say that I went to grad. school in psychology some years ago. I realized after I went that I didn't really want to be a psychologist, I just needed to learn some things about the dysfunction I had experienced in my life and also find out that the therapist I had gone to was unethical. Just learning this was enough to give me strength.
Most of this was about alcoholism in my family. I did not become a therapist but kept my previous job. I felt the 2 years I spent studying and learning were immensely useful to my own well being and a start at becoming more honest and true to myself.
I want to thank you for the information you have provided on this site, as it has opened yet another door to something which happened to me as a child. A person hired to work for our family repeatedly unlocked the bathroom door of our house when I was bathing and came in and stared at me, always telling me it was nothing I should worry about. He would stare at me a long time, never touched me. Only after reading the DSM stuff and the factual information on this site do I realize the pain I have over thinking about this. I never, never told anyone about it for 50 years!
Thus it's easy for me to see how a victim of Dr. Ayres was too young to make any sort of judgment of an "authority figure" and his treatment of the victim. I am continually horrified by these stories as what happened to me seems so tame in comparison to the violations described here.
We don't tell anyone for a long time because of the very complex set of interlocking feelings of guilt and pain. I really can't think of a good way to explain it to anyone, and no explanation ever seems quite good enough. For some reason it seems common that we all feel like we didn't have it as bad as someone else... again part of that complex guilt layer.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the site. I'm glad you posted. Be careful about the "factual" information we post here though... while we try to be accurate, I, at least, am obviously biased, and I don't make any bones about it...
Deep Sounding,
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are with you. I can only imagine how difficult this trial is for you.
You have found some inner strength in being able to attend the trial at all.
On television they make court rooms feel warmer somehow. Like fresh paint, and great chairs.
But it feels so linoleum and old and the chairs are 10,000 times worse than any movie theatre.
It may be a good sign that you see that Dr. Atwell is real and maybe it can give us all hope that there could be a psychiatrist or doctor out there that doesn't cause harm to their patients.
It's not easy to set aside the past. But maybe one could give thought to some sort of healing even if it is just a little.
I will keep you in my thoughts and just think this horrible trial that took forever to take place is coming to a close.
I have a favorite wishing rock up on Sawyer Camp Trail, I will stop at that place this weekend and say a special wish for all the victims of bad medicine and doctors.
I wish I could say more or anything that would end this nightmare for you all.
I certainly commend you and the others for your thoughts, your testimony, and this blog.
It shows a great deal of courage.
Deep Sounding:
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dr. Atwell is accepting new patients. Perhaps adult ones.
As hellacious as this trial is for you, I must tell you that you have given me added courage and strength in my own everyday trials. I want to be able to do that for you too. Knowing that is not possible, but wishing for that magic lamp to rub and make the memory disappear is all I have right now. Possibly Ayres in jail for the remainder of his life will grant at least one of the magic wishes for both of us. Stay STRONG!
ReplyDeleteI understand the part about Dr. Atwell NOT reccomending physical exams to his medical students, but (forgive my technical nature) did Dr. Atwell at any point testify that an MD-shrink who gives a physical or genitle exam to an adolecent patient is in violation of the Standard of Care in effect when Ayres saw the alleged victims--let alone that it is evidence of violation of sectio 288 of the Penal Code?
ReplyDeleteI missed that critical point in your post.
I think regarding the Penal Code:
ReplyDelete288. (a) Any person who willfully and lewdly commits any lewd or
lascivious act, including any of the acts constituting other crimes
provided for in Part 1, upon or with the body, or any part or member thereof, of a child who is under the age of 14 years, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of that person or the child, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years.
It is just my opinion, but the decision to convict on this particular issue is up to the jury.
Deep Sounding may have a different opinion, but from being in the court room, the EXPERTS are just there to state what would be within the standard of care of giving exams.
If the jury finds the statements of what occured to the victims to be fact when they deliberate then yes it would be a violation of the above Penal Code.
I think witnesses, defense and prosecution are there to give the evidence.
Once the jury has heard from both sides, they take the weight of the evidence and decide the guilt or innocence of the person on trial.
To anonymous at July 9 at 1:40 pm. Do the names Dr Donald Lee Rife and Dr. Joseph DeMasi mean anything to you? These were child psychiatrists who were busted for molesting boys in treatment? DeMasi's in state prison now. The state of Connecticut found that he violated the standard of care.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to do some research on the forty or fifty very similar cases involving child psychiatrists and pediatricians in the last ten years who have all been arrested for molesting boys in treatment.
Deep Sounding may have a different opinion, but from being in the court room, the EXPERTS are just there to state what would be within the standard of care of giving exams.
ReplyDeleteA) Not sure what your "being in the court room" has to do with what the EXPERTS are there for.
B) I don't believe I made a statement one way or the other about my opinion about what experts are there for, but certainly, I'd have to agree with you that they "are just there to state what would be within the standard of care of giving exams." It's not clear to me why you might think I'd think otherwise.
Once the jury has heard from both sides, they take the weight of the evidence and decide the guilt or innocence of the person on trial.
This statement is incorrect.
I understand the part about Dr. Atwell NOT reccomending physical exams to his medical students, but (forgive my technical nature) did Dr. Atwell at any point testify that an MD-shrink who gives a physical or genitle exam to an adolecent patient is in violation of the Standard of Care in effect when Ayres saw the alleged victims--let alone that it is evidence of violation of sectio 288 of the Penal Code?
ReplyDeleteI missed that critical point in your post.
He did not testify to that effect to the best of my recolection. Having a concise documented violation of the law would be fantastic; I don't think we have that in this case.
Still, we can hope that justice will be done for all of ayres' victims.