Scientology Money Talks

Joan Wood has resurfaced, but says stress prevents her from appearing in court about several murder cases.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times
published August 23, 2002

GAINESVILLE -- Dr. Joan Wood virtually disappeared after she was forced into retirement as Pinellas-Pasco medical examiner in late 2000.

She dodged subpoenas to testify in murder cases about autopsies. She didn't answer her phone or knocks on her front door. To this day, defense attorneys can't locate her.

Defense attorney Michael Schwartzberg of St. Petersburg said he has never had so much difficulty finding a witness. "Not one who is still alive," he said.

But on Thursday, Wood appeared for the second straight day at a conference of state medical examiners in Gainesville. The appearance comes even as she still insists to prosecutors she is unable to testify in a handful of ongoing cases because of health problems caused by 25 years of job stress.

Wood, 58, plans to launch a pathology consulting business by the end of next month.

In her first interview since her departure, Wood discussed years of overwhelming job stress that still keeps her out of court.

That included the stress of one of her last high-profile cases, her reversal on the cause of death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who died in 1995 after 17 days in church custody. McPherson's death became a focus for critics of the church.

Wood ruled McPherson died of complications from dehydration. But in 2000, she ruled the death accidental, and charges of abuse of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license were dropped. Wood said Thursday that her decision was based on facts, not pressure from anyone.

During a break in the conference, Wood smoked her trademark filtered cigarettes in 90-degree heat, saying she feels more relaxed than ever.

Still, "I have some bad stress that I'm not yet able to cope with," Wood said during a 40-minute interview. "I have panic attacks whenever I go into a courtroom. It's something I can't face yet."

Wood blames her stress on all the violence, death and weighty decisionmaking of 25 years on the job.

"I don't want to make a mistake, call something a homicide when it's not," she said. "You don't want to mistakenly send someone to prison."

In the Lisa McPherson case, the church "hounded" her office during the criminal case with unending paperwork requests and subpoenas, she said.

After the reversal, she felt the heat from the other side. Prosecutor Doug Crow warned Wood that he was releasing a report critical of her decision. Wood said she asked Crow if she and prosecutors could "still be friends."

"He told me, "I don't know if that's possible,' " Wood said. "Their reaction shocked me."

Now that Wood appears to be out and working again, she may face legal complications in the courtrooms she said she now dreads.

Prosecutors say Wood told them shortly after leaving office that she could not testify because of stress. Other doctors working with the Medical Examiner's Office, reviewing her notes, have testified for her at trials on autopsies she conducted.

But some local lawyers, told of Wood's activities in Gainesville and new business venture, say they might try to compel her testimony.

"Legally, she has to be unavailable" to be spared from testifying, said Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger. "Well, it doesn't look like she's unavailable anymore."

Attorneys in a Pasco case worked for months to find Wood, whose office declared that the death of a 7-month-old girl was caused by a violent shaking. The girl's father was charged with first-degree murder.

A deputy appeared at Wood's home eight times but could not get Wood to accept a subpoena.

Later, the new medical examiner reversed Wood and said the girl's death was an accident. The murder charge was dropped this year.

Today, Wood said she is incapable of dealing with that case, or any other, because of stress.

Though Wood acknowledges her consulting work will lead her back to the witness chair, she hopes to delay the inevitable long enough to allow her to overcome her fear: "Any testimony for my business would be a ways down the road."

The job stress, she said, built up over the years. The stress was compounded by a bad back that developed in a career with more than 5,600 autopsies.

Wood said she lost sleep, rarely going out. About 15 years ago, she considered leaving forensic pathology for a residency and career in psychiatry, she said.

Wood said retirement bored her and she wants to get back to work even if it means stress.

Wood said she was overjoyed to come to the conference and not sit among active medical examiners, who catch flak for tough decisions.

Yes, Clinton/Albight.

Seethe Church of Scientology site:

http://www.freedom.org.uk/mag/issuea01/page12.htm

"Human Rights Report Makes it Clear Germans Are Discriminating"

Whatever your culture, whatever your creed, the right to worship is basic,” said newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright on the occasion of the release of the State Department’s 1996 Human Rights Report in Washington on January 30.

“Broadening the recognition of that right and placing the spotlight on its denial,” she added, “will be a priority of our human rights policy.”

Prominent in the report’s country-by-country criticism of human rights abuses is an extensive section on Germany. For the fourth consecutive year this section includes the State Department’s serious concerns over politically-sanctioned discrimination against members of the Church of Scientology. Indeed, this year’s report contains the most stinging and extensive reproach yet.

In her first official voyage as America’s senior diplomat in February, Albright raised the issue in talks with German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel and said she hoped the situation could be resolved amicably on a bilateral basis.

The human rights report stresses concern over “both government-condoned and societal harassment, including expulsion from (or denial of permission to join) a political party and loss of employment. Business firms whose owners or executives are Scientologists may face boycotts and discrimination, sometimes with government approval.”

In fact, most of the examples cited in the report are examples of discrimination not only condoned politically, but instigated by one or the other of Germany’s major political parties.

“... In late summer, the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party approved a resolution saying that membership ’in the Scientology organisation is not compatible with employment in the public service,’ and urging that the Church be put under surveillance,” states the report. “The resolution also urged the banning of federal funding for cultural and artistic events featuring Scientologists. In December a state organisation of the CDU confirmed the expulsion of three members for belonging to the Church.”

Numerous other specific examples of abuse and discriminatory conduct were cited:

“Individual German states also took action against members of the organisation. On November 1, the state of Bavaria began to screen applicants for state civil service positions for Scientology membership. Bavaria also said it would not fund arts-related activities in which Scientologists were to appear. It also decreed that private companies awarded state contracts in certain ’sensitive’ fields must sign a statement that they do not follow the tenets of Scientology.”

“Various artists have been affected because of their membership in the organisation. Artists have been prevented from performing or displaying their works because of their membership in the Church. In the summer, the youth wing of the CDU in a number of German states urged a boycott of the film ’Mission Impossible’ because the leading actor in this film is a Scientologist. In Bavaria the Minister of Culture was criticised by the state parliament for allowing American musician Chick Corea, a Scientologist, to perform at a state-sponsored jazz festival.”

Discussing the State Department’s responsibility for monitoring human rights abuses, a spokesman explained, “We are mandated by law to issue these reports and to tell the truth and to call the shots as objectively as we can.”

Making it clear that politically-spawned persecution of members of the Church of Scientology was not based on any evidence of wrongdoing on their part, he added that Scientologists “essentially face discrimination not by what they do,” but simply because of their beliefs.

This factor was stressed in the report, which noted that in October 1996, even the Ministry of Interior itself has conceded that “no concrete facts exist currently to substantiate the suspicion of criminal acts.”

Considering that there are tens of thousands of Scientologists in Germany, the failure to come up with even any suspicion of criminal acts after years of investigation and harassment should tell the German government something. But, if it doesn’t, perhaps the embarrassment of consistent condemnation from governments and human rights watchdogs will. "

Your purposly changed title is slanted and misleading. Nowhere in this article does it remotely suggest she got money for changing her findings.

Hey, I try to get along with everyone, even the anally retentive. So here:

Yes, the title is mine. To declare that it is 'purposely changed' is like saying you purposely chose a weird handle. So what?

The article is cut and pasted in full, and a link is provided for authentification (at least as long as it is live). As noted, I emboldened the points that are key to my post. And that's the main thing. It is MY post. The article is a vehilce I used to make MY point. Did she get money? How would I know. They don't tell me. They might have threatened her life or her loved ones. They might have paid her off. They might have done nothing at all, though that is the remotest of possibilities.

The only reason I've put this much into replying to your post which has no bearing on the content of the thread, is that I'm bored. Now, I'm tired. Nite.

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