Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al

Filing 402

FILING ERROR - DUPLICATE DOCKET ENTRY - DECLARATION of NATHANIEL B. SMITH in Opposition re: 297 MOTION for Summary Judgment .. Document filed by Adrian Schoolcraft. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit POX 50, # 2 Exhibit POX 51, # 3 Exhibit POX 52, # 4 Exhibit POX 53, # 5 Exhibit POX 54, # 6 Exhibit POX 55, # 7 Exhibit POX 56, # 8 Exhibit POX 58, # 9 Exhibit POX 59)(Smith, Nathaniel) Modified on 2/17/2015 (db).

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

3

-------------------------------------------X

4

ADRIAN SCHOOLCRAFT,

5

Plaintiff,

6

Case No:
-

7

10

against -

cv 06005

8

THE CITY OF NEW YORK,

ET AL.,

9

10
11

Defendants.
------------------·-------------------------X

12

220 East 42nd Street
New York,

New York

13

July 7,
14

2014

10:06 a.m.

15
16
17

DEPOSITION OF VINOD DHAR,

18

Notice,

19

time,

20

within and for

M.D.,

pursuant to

taken at the above place,

before DENISE ZIVKU,

a

date and

Notary Public

the State of New York.

21
22
23

24
25

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M.D.

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information if at the time of trial or

3

some other hearing,

4

serve process on the doctor.
Given that,

5

I

would need to

would you agree to

6

accept service of any papers that I

7

need to serve on the doctor for him to

8

appear as

9

future proceedings.

the 30 (b) (6)

MR.

10

RADOMISLI:

witness in any

If he's

s t i l l an

11

employee of Jamaica Hospital at the

12

time,

13

otherwise we would not.

14

want to ask him his address,

15

be better off.

16

Q.

17
18
19

we would accept service,

All right,

If you

My home address

Juniper Lane,

Syosset,

just

you might

would you mind

providing us with your address,

A.

but

is

Doctor?
60,

6-0

New York.

20

Q.

Where are you currently working?

21

A.

I

22

work at Jamaica Medical

Hospital.

23

Q.

What's your title?

24

A.

I

25

am currently the associate

chairman of the department of psychiatry.

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VINOD DHAR,

1

Q.

2
3

M.D.

How long have you had that

position?

A.

4

I

have had that position for

5

five

6

Jamaica Hospital i t would be seven years.

7

8
9

-- almost nine years.

Q.

Actually at

Have you had any other positions

while working at Jamaica Hospital?

A.

Yes.

I

started as an attending.

10

Then the unit chief,

11

Hospital.

12

to associate chairman.

13

14

Q.

and I

That's where I

went to Flushing
got my promotion

What's the relationship between

Flushing Hospital and Jamaica Hospital?
MR.

15

RADOMISLI:

Objection to

16

form.

You can answer.

17

A.

In 1999 Jamaica Hospital took

18

over Flushing Hospital and came under the

19

umbrella Medisys Network.

20

the consortium in the same department.

21
22

Q.

So i t was part of

When did you start working at

Jamaica as an attending?

23

A.

That was 1996.

24

Q.

And?

25

A.

To 1999 and then from 1999 to

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2007,

A.

were

I

Q.

Is

was

inpatient psychiatric

unit.

7

8

When you were attending,

you an attending in the psychiatric ward?

5

6

was at Flushing.

Q.

3

4

I

M.D.

in a

that the same thing as being

ward?

9

A.

Yeah.

10

Q.

You also mentioned that you were

11

unit chief,

12

A.

what was
Well,

that?

unit chief is

13

for

14

aspects of the inpatient unit,

the both administrative and clinical

Q.

15
16

responsible

one unit.

What was your t i t l e at Flushing

Hospital?

17

A.

I t started with the unit chief

18

and as we progressed in Flushing,

19

became the assistant director of inpatient

20

services and then

21

the entire department.

Q.

22

the associate chairman of

Prior to

23

Hospital in 1999,

24

then I

joining Jamaica

work?

25

A.

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Yes.

did you have any other

I

was

in Dayton,

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Dayton

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VINOD DHAR,

M.D.

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Mental Health Center from 1990 to 1995,

'96.

3

Q.

What did you do in Dayton?

4

A.

I

5

Q.

Where is Dayton?

6

A.

Dayton,

7

Q.

What did you do from 1996 -- so

8

was an attending there.

Ohio.

'96 you went to Jamaica?

9

A.

Jamaica.

10

Q.

Before Dayton what did you do?

11

A.

I

12
13

14

did my training at New York

Medical College, Valhalla.
Q.

What do you mean by saying you

did your training there?

15

A.

16

psychiatry,

I

did residency training in

general psychiatry.

17

Q.

How long was

18

A.

That was three years.

19

did two years of a

20

that?
Then I

fellowship in child

psychiatry.

21

Q.

Where?

22

A.

Same place,

23
24
25

New York --

Westchester Medical Center.
Q.

Prior to being at New York

Medical College as a

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resident,

what did you

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VINOD DHAR,
do?

3

A.

4

after I

5

Q.

6

M.D.

I

was in India.

I

came here

did medical schooling in India.
So you went to medical school in

India?

7

A.

Yes.

8

Q.

Which one?

9

A.

I t ' s called Medical College,

10

Government Medical in Kashmir.

11

Kashmir.

12
13

Q.

State of

What were the years of your

training at New York Medical College?

14

A.

That would be from 1981 to

15

Q.

And from

A.

I

16
17

'86 to 90,

'86.

what did you

do?
worked as an attending at

18

State Hospital,

19

Center.

20

Q.

Where is that?

21

A.

I t ' s Wingdale,

22
23

Harlem Valley Psychiatric

Upstate,

New York.

Q.

Have you had any other forms

24

employment,

25

of

Dayton and Jamaica Hospital?

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other than at State Hospital,

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A.

4

No.
MR.

3

Q.

M.D.

RADOMISLI:

And Flushing.

Right and Flushing.

I

meant to

5

include Flushing in that since they merged

6

with Jamaica,

right?

7

A.

Yes.

8

Q.

So I

9

questiqn

will

just restate that

just to make i t clear.
Other than being at State

10

11

Hospital,

Dayton,

Flushing and Jamaica

12

Hospital,

you had no other employment as a

13

psychiatrist?

14

A.

No.

15

Q.

Have you had any private

16
17

practice as a
A.

I

psychiatrist?
have --

I

am currently in

It is a part-time small practice,

18

private.

19

been there since

'92 or

'93,

not sure.

20

Q.

Where is

21

A.

That's in Forest Bills,

22
23

that practice?
Forest

Bills.

Q.

Bow much of your working time do

24

you spend at private practice,

25

working at Jamaica?

212-267-6868

as opposed to

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A.

I

spend -- I

M.D.
have 40 hours of

3

work at Jamaica and I

4

at the most private practice.

5

spend 15 to 20 hours

So i t ' s about a

Q.

6

working time is

7

that fair

third of your

the private practice;

is

to say?

8

A.

Yes.

9

Q.

Is i t fair

to say you have

10

experience making decisions about

11

involuntarily committing patients based on

12

your work experience with State,

13

Flushing and Jamaica?

Dayton,

But mainly at Jamaica.

14

A.

Yes.

15

Q.

Can you give me an approximation

16

of the number of patients that you've made a

17

decision to involuntarily commit to a

18

psychiatric institution?
MR.

19

RADOMISLI:

20

witness is a

21
22

hospital.

23

I

This

could talk about the policy of the

25

witness and so he

Anything he does personally

am going to object.
MR.

24

30 (b) (6)

Objection.

SMITH:

Are you instructing

him not to answer that question?

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I

A.

2

now.

I

don't know.

M.D.
Be is not there

think his name was Mr.

Mule.

4

Q.

Can you spell that for me?

5

A.

M-u-1-e.

6

Q.

Who was

7

A.

No,

8
9

Dr.

the chair?

he -- the chair was Vivek,

Vivek.

Q.

Did you personally have any roll

10

in the review and revising of department of

11

psychiatric,

12

procedures?

13

A.

Yes,

14

Q.

Were you part of a

psychiatry admission

review.
committee

15

that would regularly review this or was i t

16

on an ad hoc basis that you would review the

17

procedure?

18

A.

On ad hoc basis.

19

Q.

See the second page of this

20

exhibit?

21

A.

Yes.

22

Q.

There is another policy

23

statement called involuntary legal status?

24

A.

Yeah.

25

Q.

Can you tell me what that

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VINOD DHAR,

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about looks like 20,

3

called the court at 10:54,

4

Judge Sweet's law clerk,

5

had a

6

record discussion or an off the record

7

discussion about instructions not to

8

answer certain questions and Mr.

9

said that since Judge Sweet is away,

I

M.D.
25 minutes
I

I

spoke with

Adam Chen.

We

think i t was an on the

Chen
he

10

didn't know whether or not he was going

11

to be able to get back to us with a

12

ruling and we've waited or I've waited

13

approximately 25 minutes and there has

14

been no

15

we will get a

16

proceed with my examination and note

17

that I

18

interference with the order and

19

methodology with which I

20

this witness'

21

Q.

22

Exhibit 130.

23

of you?

24

A.

Yeah.

25

Q.

Do you have an emergency

212-267-6868

indication from the court that
ruling.

So I

am going to

object to the needless

wanted to take

deposition.

Can you turn,

sir,

to

You have that s t i l l in front

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admission

3

fourth,

4

status policy,

M.D.

exhibit?

fifth

and the

which

is

the

sixth page of

5

A.

The page number?

6

Q.

I t ' s page

the

7

page

17

and i t goes

8

A.

Q.

start on

through 19.

Okay.

9

number

Yes.
MR.

10

RADOMISLI:

Starting at 17.

11

Q.

Starting with 17,

12

A.

Okay,

13

Q.

Are you familiar

14

please.

sure.
with

this

policy statement?

15

A.

Yes,

16

Q.

When was

17

than

18

the

last time,

20
21

A.

that you've

other

statement?

19

just now,

I'm familiar.

This

I

read this

read recently when

I

reviewed the policy on CPEP.

Q.

So

22

statements

23

that you

this was

one of

that was part of

the policy

the

statements

reviewed?

24

A.

CPEP.

25

Q.

Did you have any role

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creation of this document,

3

document,

this

which is pages 17,

three-page

18 and 19?

4

A.

No.

5

Q.

Who created this document?

6

A.

This is created by the

7

administration -- administrator and the

8

chairman.

9

Q.

Who are those people?

10

A.

Same people,

11
12

Mr.

Mule and Dr.

Vivek.

Q.

The administrator.

13

we refer to as

14

Is this what

the 939 admission or

involuntary admission?

15

A.

That's correct.

16

Q.

In the second paragraph under

17

heading policy i t says that the patient's

18

alleged to have a mental illness.

19

see that reference there to a

20

illness?

21

A.
Q.

Am I

mental

Yeah.

22

Do you

correct that one of things

23

that's required in order to admit somebody

24

involuntary is a medical or psychiatric

25

determination that an individual has a
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MR.

2

RADOMISLI:

M.D.
Then I

will

3

because I

4

court order says and what you asked for

5

and what you asked for was a

6

testify about the policy on involuntary

7

admissions.
MR.

8
9

am just going by what the

SMITH:

Right,

witness

okay,

to

and so

you're telling me that the only time

10

that's relevant to make an inquiry

11

about the hospital's policy is the

12

moment that the staff physician signs

13

the piece of paper saying that yes,

14

are going keep this person against

15

their will and that anything that

16

happens

17

irrelevant to the scope of this

18

examination?

19

which is what I

20

then you're taking an extremely narrow

21

view of the court order and needlessly

22

interfering with my deposition.

thereafter is completely

MR.

23

we

If you're saying that,
think you're saying

RADOMISLI:

That isn't what

24

I'm saying.

25

exceedingly narrow interpretation of

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Number two,

i t ' s not an

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the court order,

because when you

3

applied to -- when you served the

4

30 (b) (6)

5

motion,

6

regarding involuntary admission.

7

didn't say anything about the discharge

8

either in the application to

9

or in response to my objection or

and when --

subject to

the

you only asked about policies
You

the court

10

during conference and therefore,

11

is no court order --

12

limited to involuntary admission.
MR.

13

there

the court order is

The second page of

SMITH:

14

the involuntary admission policy talks

15

about the second evaluation needing to

16

be done under the Jamaica policy.

17

you're

18

about

19

patient has already been admitted.

20

Then

21

examination and I

22

application.

telling me I

can't ask questions

the second assessment because the

I

think we should really stop the

MR.

23

will make my

RADOMISLI:

I'm not saying

24

that you can't ask questions

25

second evaluation.

212-267-6868

So

about the

You can ask the

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VINOD DHAR,

1

M.D.

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somebody will go there and make an

3

assessment and if what they find there is

4

potentially a

5

remove

6

emergency room.

7

as well as,

9

situation,

the patient and bring to

Q.

8

dangerous

So there is a

they will

the
substantial,

potential.
Isn't there a

difference in your

mind between any risk and substantial risk?

10

MR.

RADOMISLI:

I'm going to

11

object to the extent you're asking for

12

his mind.

13

it's a

14

If you want to ask whether

policy
MR.

SMITH:

Okay.

Fine.

I

will

15

ask what the policy is and see i f he

16

thinks

17

because we are mincing words here.

18

Q.

19

policy,

20

potential or any potential risk of

21

dangerousness and a

22

dangerousness?

A.

23

24
25

I

there's any distinction either

Under the Jamaica Hospital
is

there any difference between a

Again,

substantial risk of

it's a

clinical

judgment.

don't think i t ' s defined in the policy.

Q.

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In your opinion,

is

there a

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difference between any potential risk and a

3

substantial risk of dangerousness?
MR.

4
5

30 (b) (6)

6

Q.

7

RADOMISLI:

witness.

Okay.

You can answer the

question.

8

MR.

RADOMISLI:

9

MR.

SMITH:

10

No,

he can't.

You're instructing

him not to answer that question?

11
12

He is here as a

MR.
of a

RADOMISLI:

30(b)(6)

I t ' s not proper

witness.

13

MR.

SMITH:

No,

14

MR.

RADOMISLI:

You know that.
I

don't.

I

cited a

15

Don't answer that question.

16

proper.

17

Q.

case.

I t ' s not

Does the term substantial risk,

18

as defined in the Jamaica Hospital policy,

19

include any risk of harm?

20

A.

Yes.

21

Q.

So under Jamaica's policy,

any

22

possible risk is a

23

to involuntary admit somebody,

24

the conclusion that they are dangerous to

25

themselves or others;

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sufficient basis in which

is

because of

that correct?

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