The Montgomery Advertiser

October 15, 2003 Wednesday 01 Edition

Ex-patient wants ruling reconsidered

BYLINE: William F. West Montgomery Advertiser

SECTION: B; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 337 words

A former counseling patient plans to contest an Alabama Supreme Court opinion that took away his $495,000 jury verdict for a psychiatrist’s improper conduct. Justice Champ Lyons’ recent opinion said East Alabama Behavioral Medicine wasn’t responsible for Dr. Kimberly Whitchard having an affair with Phillip Chancey. “We’re extremely disappointed,” attorney Frank Hawthorne, who is representing Chancey, said Tuesday. He said he would file papers asking the high court to reconsider but didn’t say when. Lyons, writing unanimously for the high court on Friday, threw out a verdict handed down in September 2002 in Montgomery County Circuit Court in favor of Chancey and his wife, Beth. Hawthorne said he believes that there was a legitimate case, that the presiding circuit judge, Gene Reese, handled it properly and that the jury heard all the evidence. During the trial, jurors heard testimony about Phillip Chancey, an attorney, and his doctor, Whitchard, having had an affair in late 1996. They also heard details about a friend of Chancey’s wife having spotted Chancey and Whitchard together. The clinic ordered Whitchard to undergo psychiatric treatment and barred her from treating male patients. Her license to practice was suspended in 1998, and although she later regained her license, she left Montgomery. Phillip and Beth Chancey sued both Whitchard and the clinic. Whitchard paid $5,000 to settle her role in the dispute and agreed to testify for the Chanceys. Mike Wright, an attorney who represents the clinic, said Monday that he was pleased with Lyons’ opinion because it affirmed his argument that Alabama law says the clinic wasn’t liable for Whitchard’s misconduct. But Hawthorne said Tuesday there’s no question that there were internal problems and improper conduct at the clinic. “They didn’t even call an expert to say that they didn’t do wrong — and of course, we did,” he said.