Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160040
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH LENGTH: Medium
A couple and the teen-age daughter who once leveled sensational charges of sexual molestation against them are suing a psychiatrist who they say failed to evaluate whether the girl's tales were lies.
Richard and Cheryl Althaus, who were arrested on sex-abuse charges before their daughter, Nicole, recanted, contend Dr. Judith Cohen should have asked more probing questions of the girl.
On Thursday, a state jury began deliberations in the malpractice case against Cohen and her former employer, the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh. The Althauses have not specified how much they are seeking in damages.
In a separate federal lawsuit, the family is suing the authorities who investigated Nicole's claims.
Nicole claimed she had been sexually abused for years by her parents and others before she began therapy with Cohen in 1991. She also said she was tortured with a medieval thumbscrew device, bore three children who were murdered, had a grandmother who soared on a broom and was raped in view of diners in a crowded restaurant.
Cohen testified this week that she never believed the wildest claims of orgies, murders and torture - and the parents never were charged with those offenses - but that she doesn't know even today whether the girl was abused.
She maintains she followed accepted psychiatric practices, including encouraging Nicole to acknowledge the abuse and understand that it was not her fault.
Cohen's attorney, Jeffrey Wiley, said in closing arguments that Cohen's job was to treat Nicole, not investigate her. He said confronting Nicole about her claims could have undermined the girl's confidence and worsened her depression.
In 1991, at age 15, Nicole told a teacher her parents had abused her frequently. The teacher informed authorities, who quickly dismissed many of her wildest allegations. But the basic claim of abuse led social workers to refer Nicole to Cohen, who saw the girl 100 times in 1991 and 1992.
Both her parents were charged with sexual abuse. Nicole was put in foster care in 1991 and returned to her parents' home in 1992.
Before the Althauses' 1992 trial, Nicole suddenly refused to testify. She later told a judge she recanted to stop ``this snowballing kind of thing.'' Without a witness, prosecutors dropped all charges.
by CNB