Fort Lauderdale News
SHOCKED!
Psychiatrists Claims Scientologists’ criticism made him impotent
By Stephen d’Oliveira
Staff Writer
November 19, 1980

A West Palm Beach psychiatrist is suing the controversial Church of Scientology for more than $1 million, claiming verbal attacks by church officials harmed his reputation and made him sexually impotent.

Dr. Lionel Blackman, a staff psychiatrist for Lake Hospital in Lake Worth, names the Churches of Scientology of Florida and California, a Scientologist minister and the Committee for the Protection of Patients’ Rights as defendants in the trial, which began yesterday in Broward Circuit Court.

The suit, filed in 1978, claims that Scientologist minister Larry Slatkoff libeled Blackman by criticizing electroshock therapy – Blackman’s field of expertise – during a talk show on radio station WIRK.

The suit also claims that Blackman’s wife, Miriam, was damaged “by virtue of the loss of consortium with her husband and the loss of services.”

Blackman said in a deposition filed in Broward Circuit Court that he became impotent after hearing the statements made about him by the Scientologist.

The suit says Slatkoff, who was the guest on the station’s “Conversation” program Nov. 13, 1977, called electroshock therapy “barbaric” and “inhumane” and said Blackman performs the therapy “freely.”

“I don’t know how any psychiatrist who does it sleeps at night,” the suit quotes Slatkoff as saying.

Blackman, who has performed 45,000 shock treatments, maintains Slatkoff has no “medical background or qualifications” to speak on the subject.

Lawyers for the defendants yesterday argued that Slatkoff was quoting informed medical officials.

“It’s mild-mannered, it’s calm (Slatkoff’s radio show remarks),” said Allen Jacobi, Slatkoff’s attorney. “Nobody’s out to get anybody. It’s (Blackman’s charge) a farce.”

Defense lawyers also argued that while Slatkoff may be a member of the Church of Scientology, he wasn’t speaking on behalf of that organization when he appeared on the radio show.

Blackman’s suit also hinges on a peaceful demonstration in 1978 by about 20 representatives of the patients’ rights committee, a group based upon the human rights principles of Scientology and supported by the church.

The demonstration took place at Banyan Psychiatric Institute — now Lake Hospital — over allegations of drug abuse and forced shock treatment.

Blackman’s suit claims that demonstrators handed out leaflets containing Blackman’s picture and statements about the psychiatrist which weren’t true, further harming his reputation.

“We are fully in support of the work of Mr. Slatkoff and Miss Shape,” said the Rev. Robert Warner, a spokesman for the Church of Scientology’s national office. “We view electroshock treatment as spiritual murder.”

Jacobi promised jurors they would hear testimony about how shock therapy causes “brain damage” and loss of memory. He also said the demonstration wasn’t directed against Blackman, but against the institute.

The state Legislature adopted a law two years ago requiring patients to be informed in writing of the possible side effects of shock treatment, which include head¬aches, nausea, loss of memory and confusion.

The trial is expected to last one week.