The Menninger Clinic: Gertrude R. Ticho's Former Employer

Note Dr. Menninger's statement that it would not be appropriate for him to draw any conclusions based on just a few bits of information when he was really unaware of all of the scope and details of the issues to which I referred in my letter to him.  Wouldn't that be the response of any ethical psychiatrist?  Yet, my former employer, the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, successfully asserted to the District of Columbia that Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D. -- a nationally prominent psychiatrst -- offered a clinical assessment about me based on the "few bits of information" the firm provided to her.  Are Akin Gump's assertions about Dr. Ticho's behavior at all credible?

January 20, 1998

Mr. Gary Freedman
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW #136
Washington, DC  20008-4530

Dear Mr. Freedman:

Let me acknowledge your letter of January 16 and the accompanying materials.  Your request is not a matter that I can comfortably respond to.  It would not be appropriate for me to draw any conclusions based on just a few bits of information when I am really unaware of all of the scope and details of the issues to which you refer.

Sincerely,

/s/

W. Walter Menninger, M.D.

*****************************************

January 16, 1998
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530

William Walter Menninger, M.D.
Menninger Foundation
P.O. Box 829
Topeka, KS 66601
(913) 273-7500

Dear Dr. Menninger:

During the period June 1988 to October 1991 I was employed as a legal assistant at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Akin Gump terminated my employment in late October 1991; in pleadings filed by the employer with the D.C. Department of Human Rights, pursuant to an unlawful termination complaint that I had filed with the agency, the employer alleged that its termination decision was based on concerns about my mental health and stability (including the potential for violence). The employer alleges that its concerns about my mental health were based on a consultation it had with a psychiatrist concerning me: Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D., a physician licensed to practice in the District of Columbia. Dr. Ticho has denied in writing having consulted the employer as alleged. The unlawful termination matter is currently on appeal before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals: Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, no. 96-CV-961.

During the 1960's Dr. Ticho was a member of the staff of the Menninger Foundation. You or your colleagues may recall her.

Circumstances ancillary to my job termination have prompted inquiries by the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Protective Service. The said inquiries were prompted by reports made by co-workers and senior managers that I may have posed a risk of armed violence during my tenure at Akin Gump, my former employer.

During the period 1992 to 1996 I received out-patient psychotherapy at the George Washington University Medical Center, in Washington, D.C.

There a several peculiarities relating to my psychotherapy at GW:

The initial diagnosis of bi-polar disorder (1992) was succeeded by a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (1996). Bi-polar disorder is considered a rule-out for paranoid schizophrenia, that is, the two diagnoses are mutually inconsistent.

A battery of psychological tests performed by GW in May 1994 failed to disclose any psychiatric illness, and failed to disclose any psychotic thought processes. I was not on any medication at the time of testing.

Additional psychological testing performed in March 1996 (one month after I was officially advised of the diagnosis paranoid schizophrenia, see letter dated February 14, 1996 from Dr. Georgopoulos) failed to disclose any psychotic thought processes. I was not on any medication at the time of testing.

Results of IQ testing performed by the Philadelphia Public Schools when I was 11.5 and 12,5 years old yielded IQ scores of 125 and 122, respectively. The IQ score yielded by the testing performed in May 1994 by GW was 125. The literature indicates that, typically, severe mental illness tends to depress IQ scores significantly.

May I request that, if at all feasible, you review the enclosed materials (including the documents contained on the enclosed computer disc) and offer any pertinent comments to FBI Supervisory Special Agent David M. Bowie at the FBI Washington Field Office: telephone no. 202 252-7801.

I understand that you have served as adjunct professor of Corrections & Criminal Justice at Washington University. I believe that your expertise in both the mental health field and in criminal justice will render especially useful to the FBI any observations you choose to offer pertinent to the professional opinion attributed by the Government of the District of Columbia (Charles L. Reischel, Esq.) to former Menninger Foundation psychiatrist Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D., relating to my mental health and stability (including the potential for violence).

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman

cc: Charles. L. Reischel, Esq., Deputy Corporation Counsel (D.C.), 202 727-6252

bcc: Prof. Samuel Dash (Georgetown Univ. Law Center)