During the period September 1992 to June 1996 I was a psychotherapy out-patient in the Department of Psychiatry of The George Washington University Medical Center. The department chairman at that time was Jerry M. Wiener, M.D., a nationally-prominent psychiatrist/psychoanalyst who served as president of The American Psychiatric Association as well as The American Psychoanalytical Association.
Dr. Wiener participated in a conference on presidential disability under the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a provision that outlines the line of succession in the event of the incapacitation of the President of the United States. The conference was sponsored by The Carter Centre of Emory University, January 26-28, 1995.
The work of the conference was memorialized in a book that addressed the following questions: Who should determine when a United States president is unable to fulfill the office's responsibilities? What political and medical decisions are necessary? This book consists of the proceedings of a series of conferences held by the Working Group on Disability in US Presidents. The Working Group contains medical doctors, politicians, and former administration members, who examine the current implications of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. This Amendment establishes the causes and methods for the removal (either temporary or permanently) of the President of the United States if he/she becomes incapacitated and what the chain-of-command is in the event of his/her removal. The Working Group received a great deal of national attention from these conferences, and its findings and policy recommendations were endorsed by former Presidents Carter and Ford. The implications of the Working Group's findings are currently being debated by the United States Congress. This book is especially pertinent with the recent 2000 Presidential election, as the health of the candidates, as well as their right to privacy, have become public issues.; James Toole, MD is professor of neurology at Wake Forest University; Robert Joynt, MD is professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The contents of the book comprise the following:
Part 1 Introduction, Arthur S. Link; participants; presidential disability - introductory remarks, James F. Toole, sudden incapacitation, Herbert L. Abrams, neurological disorders, James F. Toole and Burton J. Lee, III., behavioural disorders, James M. Post, the medical heritage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hugh E. Evans, discussion, Edwin M. Yoder, Jr.; maintaining presidents' health - President Wilson, Arthur S. Link, the spouse's view, Kathy J. Harriger, taking care of the president -the White House physician, Lawrence C. Mohr, the president's physician, Daniel Ruge, the public's right to know, Thomas G. Wicker, discussion, Kenneth M. Viste, Jr. and Jerry M. Wiener; possible remedies - reform - yes, Bert E. Park, reform - no, Stephen E. Ambrose, discussion, Richard E. Neustadt and Lloyd N. Cutler. Part 2 Wake Forest University, November 10-12, 1995: participants; address, President Gerald S. Ford; introduction, James F. Toole; report on investigating advantages and disadvantages of formalized, standardized contingency plans in cases of disability, Francis I. Kitteridge; report on balancing public disclosure with patient confidentiality, Wayne King; report on the role of the spouse in determining disability and ensuring presidential health, Katy Harringer; report on strengthening the position of the physician to the president and White House medical staff, Howell Smith; discussion; draft summary for future consideration; letters from Daniel Ruge and Jonathan Rhoads. Part 3 The White House, December 1-3, 1996: participants; committee reports; preparation of draft report and recommendations -discussion, consideration of principles, questions and answers; consideration of draft report and recommendations - discussion; adoption of principles and consideration of final draft of report and recommendations. Part 4 Report, recommendations and commentaries: participants; recommendations and commentaries; appendices.
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Lloyd N. Cutler, Esq. (deceased) Counsel to President Clinton and founder, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, was a friend of Bob Strauss.
I sent numerous letters to Mr. Cutler.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/04/letter-to-lloyd-n-cutler-esq.html
December 9, 1996
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530
Lloyd N. Cutler, Esq.
Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering
2445 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037-1420
RE: Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Employment Inquiry - Homicide/Violence Risk
Dear Mr. Cutler:
During the period March 1988 to October 1991 I was employed as a legal assistant at the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ("Akin Gump"). Attorney managers at Akin Gump terminated my employment effective October 29, 1991 upon determining, in consultation with a psychiatrist, that a complaint of harassment I had lodged against several co-workers was attributable to a psychiatric symptom ("ideas of reference") prominent in the psychotic disorders and typically associated with a risk of violent behavior. See Freedman v. D.C. Dept. of Human Rights, D.C. Superior Court no. MPA 95-14 (final order issued June 10, 1996). In the period immediately after my job termination senior Akin Gump managers determined that it was advisable to secure the office of my direct supervisor against a possible homicidal assault, which it was feared I might commit.
During the summer of 1992, approximately nine months after my job termination by Akin Gump, I submitted an employment inquiry to Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, as evidenced by the enclosed response signed by Yvonne F. Nearing and dated July 10, 1992. I do not know what communications, if any, Yvonne F. Nearing may have had with Akin Gump's attorney managers or supervisors at the time of this employment inquiry.
I have been under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service as a potential security risk to President William J. Clinton, and was interrogated at the Washington Field Office by Special Agent Philip C. Leadroot as recently as February 1996.
I request that you counsel Yvonne F. Nearing to candidly disclose to federal authorities the content of any communications she may have had with any senior Akin Gump supervisors or attorney managers, including Dennis M. Race, Esq. (whom I expressly designated as a job reference in the employment inquiry to Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering), relating to the subject matter of my job termination by Akin Gump, including facts relating to the firm's alleged determination that I suffered from a paranoid mental state that rendered me potentially violent, or facts relating to the firm's concerns that I might have been armed and homicidal and possibly poised to carry out a homicidal assault on the firm's premises.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
Lloyd Cutler, Esq., now deceased, was a friend of Robert S. Strauss, Esq. and served as White House Counsel to former President Clinton. Mr. Cutler was an opera-lover and served as President of the Metropolitan Opera Guild.
August 19, 1993 [afternoon]: I meet with GW psych. department chairman, Dr. Jerry M. Wiener to discuss the letter of complaint that I plan to send to the D.C. Board of Medicine. (I thought that it was appropriate that I meet with a Board Certified Psychiatrist before sending the letter of complaint to the D.C. Board of Medicine, and I had first sought to meet with previous psychiatrist, Stanley R. Palombo, M.D. I learned, however, that Dr. Palombo would be away from his office until Monday August 23, 1993. It was upon learning that Dr. Palombo was unavailable that I arranged an appointment with Dr. Wiener). At my meeting with Dr. Wiener he advises that he has read the letter of complaint, a copy of which I submitted to him on August 17, 1993. He states that the letter is incontrovertible evidence of my paranoia, and that my paranoid preoccupations have crippled my life. He states that he declines to investigate the charges made in the letter of complaint to the D.C. Board of Medicine. Throughout the meeting, Dr. Wiener refers to the letter of complaint, copies of which I have forwarded to various parties, as symptomatic of severe psychopathology. Dr. Wiener refuses, however, to reduce to a writing his comments concerning my paranoid mental state that I could then submit to the U.S. Social Security Administration in connection with my disability claim; he reminds me that I had initially agreed that my meeting with him was in his capacity as Psychiatry Department Chairman and not as a psychiatrist conducting a consultation. We do not discuss Dr. Pitts or my current psychiatric treatment, per se, and Dr. Wiener makes no treatment recommendations, which is consistent with the agreed nature of the meeting.
2008 bio of Dr. Wiener's son, Ross Wiener:
Ross Wiener is Vice President for Program & Policy at the Education Trust, a national, non-profit organization focused on closing achievement gaps in public education. Prior to joining The Education Trust, Ross served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. As an attorney in the Educational Opportunities Section, Ross investigated and prosecuted violations of federal civil rights laws in schools and school districts across the country, including cases involving desegregation, disability rights, harassment, and the adequacy of services to limited-English proficient students. Ross received a B.A. with Honors in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a law degree with High Honors from the George Washington University Law School, and clerked for Judge Kermit Victor Lipez of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
One would expect that Dr. Wiener would be especially sensitive to issues relating to presidential security. But see:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-did-eric-holder-know-and-when-did_14.html
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