Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15, 1994 TAG: 9405150026
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NAPA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
"It was apparent to every juror here that the medical community for the last hundred years has been thought of as untouchable," Thomas Dudum said.
The jury Friday awarded $500,000 to former winery executive Gary Ramona, 50, who said his life was destroyed when therapists planted in his adult daughter false memories that he raped her as a child. He had asked for $8 million.
The jury foreman emphasized that the panel did not think family counselor Marche Isabella and psychiatrist Dr. Richard Rose acted maliciously while treating Holly Ramona for bulimia.
"But clearly there was some negligence," Dudum said.
Ramona said he was delighted with the result, but his main concern was winning back Holly, now 23, her two sisters and his ex-wife.
"I hope and pray that my friends and family, especially my daughters, will now realize that the therapists lied to all of us," he said.
Isabella, who cried after the verdict, said it was a blow to her profession, insisting "repressed memories are a reality."
Ramona's attorney, Richard Harrington, called the trial a warning to psychotherapists who carelessly use the concept of recovered memories.
"If they use nonsensical theories about so-called repressed memories to destroy people's lives, they will be held accountable," Harrington said. "No one should have to suffer the hell Gary Ramona has been through."
After Holly confronted her father with sex abuse accusations in March 1990, his wife divorced him. Soon after, Ramona lost his $400,000-a-year marketing job with Robert Mondavi Winery.
Critics of the recovered memory concept say the Ramona verdict will have a profound effect.
The Philadelphia-based False Memory Syndrome Foundation has received 13,000 calls from families suffering through similar cases since March 1992, said director Pamela Freyd.
"Now, parents will feel a little bit bolder - it will prompt them to take action," she said.
Publicity about the case is already making therapists think more carefully about how they treat these cases, said Steven Gold, a family counselor who practices in Santa Cruz County.
"We are going to have to be more careful in those cases dealing with regression and childhood memories of molestation - careful not to lead our clients in those directions, but be sure we're exploring them from an impartial point of view," Gold said.
Mary Riemersma, executive director of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, said allowing a malpractice lawsuit by a third party will have a chilling effect on treatment.
If therapists are worried about lawsuits by someone mentioned during a session, they can't consider the patient's needs first, she said.
"If the patient is crazy, if the patient has incorrect memories, the therapist still has a duty to start from that point," she said.
The scientific evidence is conflicting on the validity of recovered memories, said Dr. Ronald Fox, head of the American Psychological Association. His group has appointed a committee to examine the latest studies.
"There do seem to be indications that certain kinds of memories can be suggested, even inadvertently, and believed by the person," Fox said. "But people, given the right kind of trauma, can forget significant chunks of experiences they've undergone and remember those later - we all know about amnesia and battle shock."
Fox said the verdict does not mean the sky is falling on psychotherapists. He noted they have been sued before by third parties, including families of patients who committed suicide.
"I think there are a lot of potential pitfalls, but it's not something that's new," he said. "It's not anything we can't cope with - it's just part of doing business."
by CNB