General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDr. Ford's therapist should be asked to testify before the Senate.
With Dr. Ford's permission she can present her notes. This would carry weight and is legal.
At the very least, she should be allowed to call expert witnesses to speak on the effects of assaults like this, and how memory works -- that it's not unusual for a victim to be able to recall some of the details.
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/14/health/what-you-reveal-to-a-psychotherapist-may-go-further.html
"The privilege of privacy is the patient's, and ordinarily a therapist needs a signed release to breach it," said Dr. David Nevin, a psychologist in Albany. "Any licensed therapist who breaches confidentiality without a patient's approval is open to a lawsuit and can lose his license for violating professional ethics."
brooklynite
(94,602 posts)Either Dr. Ford testifies or she doesn't. Non-contemporaneous reports aren't going to weigh heavily.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)explaining why most girls and women don't immediately report sexual assault, as well as confirming the effects the attack had on Christine's life.
Otherwise, it's just " he said, she said."
Stallion
(6,476 posts)...her testimony as a medical expert would justify Republicans legally to request Dr. Ford's entire psychological file since any opinion she would have would be based partly on those medical records. In fact I was concerned that the mere mention of her prior statements to her psychiatrist might have waived her medical privilege
in legal terms it is referred to as the Sword/Shield Doctrine-you can't use your medical records as a sword and simultaneously claim to shield those same records from discovery
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)about the attack.
Stallion
(6,476 posts)---which might be humiliating on a national scale. Any random comment might be used to completely discredit her