Justice for Sale: So Called Expert Witnesses

Many years ago I exposed an “expert” psychiatrist named Joseph Keenan who was appointed by many judges in Los Angeles to give a “neutral” evaluation of the parents in custody cases. One parent got suspicious when Dr. Keenan demanded she pay a second installment of many thousands of dollars for his fees, and he sent a “runner” to pick up the money. It felt like a drug deal to the woman.

She was especially perplexed because the father of her child was incarcerated. It did not seem like figuring out which parent should have custody would require someone to be a brain surgeon.

Turns out the appointed expert’s extracurricular activities included advertising for “b.b. sex with strangers”, meaning bare back, no condom, and holding “snow parties” in Palm Springs, snow meaning cocaine.

The story was told by the Los Angeles Times a couple months after I wrote about it and they spoke with me. It also made it to the Associated Press.

Sometimes experts are hired by one party to a lawsuit or another. For example, in the Johnny Depp – Amber Heard trial several experts testified.

One expert who had an office on Park Avenue in New York charged $500 per hour.

My advice to pro se litigants and attorneys alike is to investigate the opposing party experts’ credentials.

There is a man named Sanjay Adhia that holds himself out to be an “expert” in psychiatry who charges $700 per hour. He is a licensed medical doctor in Texas. He works nationwide.

I spoke with the Arkansas Medical Board’s regulatory representative named Julie. She said the Board voted long ago that it is acceptable for out of state doctors to review records in Arkansas cases, but it is not acceptable for the “expert” to make his own diagnosis.

In a report about an Arkansas case that should be kept confidential, Dr. Adhia made a “diagnosis”.

The Texas Medical Board (“TMB”) shows Dr. Adhia went to medical school in India. He gave the name of his school as “M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore University”. There are hundreds of colleges affiliated with Bangalore University, but M.S. Ramaiah and any permutation of that name are not included. See this list: https://eng.bangaloreuniversity.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/List-of-Collees-for-A.Y-21-22-with-UUCMS-Core-Subjectwise-16.05.2022.pdf

Wikipedia shows Ramaiah “is an autonomous institute and affiliated with the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Jayanagar, Bangalore.”

[Added 6/24/2022] The Medical Council of India (“MCI”) website shows that there was some affiliation between Ramaiah and Bangalore “previously”.

The MCI recognizes a degree in Medical-Psychiatry from Ramaiah “when degree granted on or after 2019, 1 to 2 (1) Seats Increased in Academic Year 2021-22.” Dr. Adhia claimed his degree was obtained in 2003.

A person who is less than honest is able to purchase a fraudulent “degree” from either university here. https://firstdegreeonline.com/india/

Dr. Sanjay Adhia said he graduated medical school in 2003, according to the records of the TMB. His first non-provisional license was issued in 2014. Did he do 11 years of residency and fellowships? This man was no Doogie Howser. He was about 39 years-old when he received his license.

So, even assuming Dr. Adhia went to a low ranked school in India, is this a man who should make diagnosis that can affect life and death? Literally.

And why would attorneys from Rose Law Firm and Troutman Pepper hire him for $700 per hour to make Defense Medical Exams, when they could hire Johnny Depp’s expert for less? Or a local expert for far less?

The answer to that will be explored in a coming post. Stay tuned.