THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

December 15, 1994, Thursday, HOME FINAL EDITION

Jury finds psychiatrist liable in slander suit $ 350,000 awarded for child abuse allegations

BYLINE: Tracy Everbach, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 41A

LENGTH: 485 words

A psychiatrist accused of telling a woman’s children that the woman had been sexually abused by her parents – a story the woman later recanted – should pay the parents $ 350,000 for slander, a Dallas County jury decided this week.
The parents, LaVerne and Edward Khatain of Seattle, alleged in a lawsuit that Dr. Wayne Jones of Richardson “implanted” false memories in their 48-year-old daughter’s mind.
Dr. Jones testified that he had simply reported to his patient’s four daughters what the patient had told him.
“Dr. Jones recognized a duty to his patient and tried to help his patient get well and maintain her confidentiality,” said one of Dr. Jones’ attorneys, Sid Murphy.
The woman’s daughters were 17 to 23 years old when they met with the psychiatrist, the woman and her husband to discuss the allegations, according to court testimony. Because of the assertions, two of the daughters “completely ostracized” their grandparents, the Khatains, and the others had a strained relationship with them, said the Khatains’ attorney, Ben Martin.
The woman has since said the allegations were not true, and the family has reconciled.
Dr. Jones presented the allegations to the family as if they were fact and “essentially destroyed the relationship between my clients, their grandchildren and their daughter,” the Khatains’ attorney said. “About the worst thing a person could say about another person is that they sexually abused their children.”
When the woman made the allegations about her parents, she was in a hospital, heavily medicated and not thinking straight, argued her parents’ attorney, Mr. Martin.
Jurors in state District Judge Joe B. Brown’s court found that Dr. Jones had committed slander but had not intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon the Khatains or acted with malice.
The judgment had not been signed by the judge Wednesday, and Dr. Jones’ attorneys, Mr. Murphy and James A. Williams, said he had not decided whether to appeal.
Dr. Jones and a psychologist treated the woman from 1986 to 1991, trial evidence showed. The woman first reported the alleged abuse in April 1990. After that, Dr. Jones interviewed her while she was under the influence of sodium Amytal, a “truth serum,” and she repeated the allegations of abuse, testimony showed. The meeting with her family and Dr. Jones was in June 1990.
The Khatains’ attorney argued at trial that that Dr. Jones asked the woman “leading and suggestive questions” that made her believe that she had been abused when she really hadn’t been.
Mr. Martin said the Khatains, who are retired, pressed the lawsuit in part because “my clients did have a goal that this would not happen to anyone else.”
He said the couple hope that the verdict “has the effect of making psychiatrists and others in the mental health field think very carefully before making statements that are not true about someone else.”