Even before Perez stood up, Janice saw the quick, puzzled expression leap into Scott Velie’s eyes as he turned to the courtroom, studying first the witness moving through the gate, then Bill, with a gaze that was intensely questioning. Bill’s only response was to sigh deeply and shake his head in an abject way.
The news-hungry press leaned forward in their seats as the witness took the stand and was sworn in by the bailiff. A polite silence ensued while Brice Mack allowed Perez to make himself comfortable.
“Would you state your full name, please?” he asked in a soft, friendly voice.
“Gregory Alonzo Federico Perez.”
“And what is your profession?”
“I am a Doctor of Psychiatry.”
Bill recalled the thin Spanish-accented voice from their phone conversation of more than two months before.
“Are you licensed to practice in this city?”
“Yes.”
“And at what address do you practice?”
“I hold a clinical appointment at the Park East Psychiatric Clinic at 1010 Fifth Avenue.”
An expression of fear passed over Janice’s face at the mention of the clinic.
“Will you tell the jury when you first received your appointment at the Park East Clinic?”
“Immediately after completing my training at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson, Maryland, I arrived at Park East and served my internship there. The year was 1966.”
“At that time were you brought into contact with Dr. Ellen Vassar?”
Scott Velie’s lips pursed as if to speak, but he restrained himself.
“Yes, I worked closely with Dr. Vassar as her assistant for six years, until her death in 1972.”
“Would I be correct in assuming that during that time you were familiar with most of Dr. Vassar’s cases?”
“Yes. All her cases.”
“Are you familiar with a case involving a patient named Ivy Templeton, who received treatment from Dr. Vassar during the period commencing December 12, 1966, and extending through September 23, 1967?”
Scott Velie rose slowly, his brow furrowed pensively, and in a flat, undramatic voice, said, “This is privileged information, Your Honor. Defense is getting into the question of a doctor-patient relationship, and this is privileged, and we object to it on that basis.”
Mack, with an eye on the jury, quickly interposed, “There’s no question that the privilege exists, Your Honor; however, in this case there has been a waiver of the privilege by the child’s parents.”
“At no time,” Velie lashed back, “have the parents of Ivy Templeton waived the privilege, Your Honor. I contend the question violates the doctor-patient privilege rule and is objectionable, and I—”
Judge Langley had begun to bang his gavel and cut in with: “Just a second here.” Then, turning a questioning face toward Brice Mack: “Are you prepared to make an offer of proof to support your claim of waiver?”
Mack, savoring this moment, said, “I am prepared to introduce into evidence three documents that clearly establish a waiver by the parents of Ivy Templeton of the doctor-patient privilege. One, the claim filed by Mr. and Mrs. Templeton with the Mutual Insurance Company of Manhattan. Two, the insurance claim form of the Mutual Insurance Company of Manhattan, completed by Dr. Vassar and submitted to the insurance company. And three, the written supplementary statement concerning Ivy Templeton’s mental disturbances, prepared by Dr. Vassar and submitted to the Mutual Insurance Company of Manhattan, all at the request of and with the authorization of Mr. and Mrs. Templeton.”
Velie shouted, “That’s not really a true waiver! It was only made for the purpose of collecting insurance money and wasn’t intended to reveal the nature and contents of the child’s illness!”
Judge Langley banged the gavel.
“They can’t have their cake and eat it,” he admonished the prosecutor. “They wanted to get reimbursed, and they had no objection to submitting information on the child’s illness to a third party—namely, the insurance company’s file clerks, typists, claim adjusters, and so forth. You can’t claim privilege here, Mr. Velie. I deem it’s been waived. Objection overruled.”
Brice Mack turned back to the witness, wearing the smile of a victor. “Once again, Dr. Perez, are you familiar with a case involving a patient named Ivy Templeton, who received treatment from Dr. Vassar during the period commencing December 12, 1966, and extending through September 23, 1967?”
“Yes.”
Brice Mack next addressed the bench. “Your Honor, in view of Dr. Perez’s answer I ask your indulgence to have him step down from the stand. I’d like to put another witness on the stand out of order so as to lay a foundation for the introduction into evidence of the three documents I’ve just mentioned to you.”
“Proceed,” Judge Langley said.
Dr. Perez resumed his seat in the witness row while Frank Tallman, custodian of records for the Mutual Insurance Company of Manhattan, was called to the stand and sworn in.
During the transaction, Brice Mack glanced briefly at the Templetons and was not surprised to see them both slumped deeply in their seats, wearing expressions of shock, fear, and self-recrimination.
In total command of himself and greatly relishing the moment, the defense attorney quickly ascertained from the custodian of records his name, function, and the nature and contents of the record room over which he held custodianship. Brice Mack then asked him to identify the file which he had been subpoenaed to produce in court. Taking a folder from his briefcase, Tallman described it as a file concerning the claim of Mr. and Mrs. Templeton for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by their daughter during the period of December 12, 1966, and September 23, 1967.
Selecting the three documents he had previously referred to from the file, Brice Mack offered them into evidence as Defense Exhibits One, Two, and Three, captioned “Templeton” and as identified by the witness.
Whereupon Scott Velie rose and, putting a good face on a bad situation, not only agreed to their admission, but insisted, “Your Honor, I think the entire file ought to go into the evidence.” And further to demonstrate his utter lack of concern over their introduction into evidence, he even declined the right and privilege to examine the exhibits.
It was all over and done with in less than five minutes, at which point Frank Tallman returned the witness chair to Dr. Perez.
Brice Mack’s smile went out to him like a soft embrace.
“Dr. Perez, will you tell the court something about the reputation Dr. Vassar enjoyed as a psychiatrist?”
“Certainly. She was an acknowledged leader in her field, being that of child psychiatry. She was in great demand as a lecturer, and she published frequently. Her papers are considered definitive by most psychiatrists even today. She was a brilliant woman.”
“Thank you. Now, you said you worked in close association with Dr. Vassar until the time of her death?”
“Yes.”
“And that you were privy to all her cases?”
“Yes.”
“Dr. Perez, the subpoena served upon you required that you produce a file of Dr. Vassar’s concerning her patient, Ivy Templeton. Have you produced those records?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have them with you?”
“Yes.”
“May I see them?”
With a nod, the witness unzipped his briefcase and removed the file folder that was immediately recognizable to Bill and Janice.
Accepting the folder, Brice Mack held it up to the witness.
“I show you a file folder, dated December 12, 1966, to September 23, 1967, and bearing the caption Templeton. Can you identify it?”
“Yes. It is the file containing the records of the examination and interviews and conclusions concerning a patient named Ivy Templeton, who, at two and a half years of age, came under the psychiatric care of Dr. Vassar during the period of those dates.”