ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A lawsuit against deputy chief medical examiner Faruk B. Presswalla has brought the soon-to-retire autopsy expert into a new conflict with the state.
Presswalla contends he has been abandoned because the attorney general's office won't help defend him in the case brought by a couple whose month-old grandson died in November 1994. As a result, he said he's told prosecutors that he'll no longer freely offer medical opinions in court cases.
``I will not go out on a limb for this commonwealth anymore,'' he said. ``I have no confidence in this commonwealth.''
The dispute stemmed from an autopsy that concluded the infant died of shaken baby syndrome. The child's father was accused of shaking the boy and is scheduled to go on trial in June in Norfolk Circuit Court.
After the autopsy, the baby's grandparents wrote a scathing letter to Presswalla's boss, chief medical examiner Marcella F. Fierro, that criticized Presswalla and other authorities who handled the case.
Presswalla said the couple contends the child had a birth defect that caused symptoms similar to shaken baby syndrome.
After the couple sent the letter to Fierro, Presswalla hired an attorney who wrote back demanding an apology. If the couple refused, the letter said, Presswalla would sue them for defamation of character.
Instead, the couple brought a $5,000 lawsuit against Presswalla in March. The suit accused him of ``intentional infliction of emotional distress'' for threatening legal action.
Presswalla said he sent the lawsuit to Fierro, asking for help in defending the case. She turned his request over to the attorney general's office, which declined to offer assistance.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB