What do you folks in Wisconsin think of this?

William G. Hagerbaumer
tree@hooked.net

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online Main Page
Repressed memory lawsuit is settled

By Meg Jones 
of the Journal Sentinel staff 

March 4, 1997

Appleton -- A bizarre medical malpractice trial featuring lurid testimony
about exorcism, multiple personalities and satanic cults ended Monday with a
$2.4 million settlement -- one of the largest in the nation involving repressed
memory.

Nadean Cool, 44, sued her former psychiatrist, Kenneth C. Olson, for
malpractice after he diagnosed her as suffering from multiple personality
disorder that included 126 personalities ranging from children and adults to
angels and a duck.

Olson also thought Cool was possessed by the devil and performed an exorcism
on her in 1989 at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, according to
testimony.

The trial, which began Feb. 3, abruptly ended Monday morning when 
attorneys announced the settlement. By agreeing to settle, Olson does not
admit liability in the case, said his attorney, David Patton.

In an extended interview Monday, Cool said it was humiliating to spend four
days on the witness stand describing weird tales of repressed memories 
that she said she later learned never happened.

Among the repressed memories that Cool said Olson suggested to her 
were remembrances of belonging to a satanic cult, eating babies, having sex
with animals and being drenched in blood from human sacrifice. 

"When I realized what had happened to me, I just told myself I would do
whatever it took to hold (Olson) responsible, and to get a measure of my
self-respect back, and to claim that part of my life because it almost 
destroyed me and my family," Cool said.

Of filing the lawsuit, she said: "I knew it was the right thing to do. If
that's what it took, I didn't feel ashamed of anything I had done or felt
that what I had done was wrong."

Olson, who now practices psychiatry in Bozeman, Mont., was not in court
Monday. His secretary in Montana referred all questions to his attorneys.

Patton said Olson was looking forward to testifying this week but decided to
settle because "each of us looked at the situation and felt an amicable 
settlement was warranted."

The settlement was reached, in part, because the trial would have gone on
for another five or six weeks at considerable expense, Patton said. Yet 
Olson's attorneys were prepared to bring in experts to testify about
multiple personality disorder, including doctors who agreed with Olson's
diagnosis of Cool, Patton said.

"There are two basic perspectives here: whether false memories can be
implanted or do they happen naturally," Patton said. "That's the debate that's
now raging nationwide."

This wasn't the first time that a former patient has sued Olson. An 
Outagamie County jury determined in 1995 that he was negligent in the case
of an Appleton woman he diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. 
The jury, which determined he was 65% negligent and the patient was
35% negligent, awarded total damages of $204,000. 

Patton said the settlement Monday wouldn't affect Olson's private
practice.

 "He's still a respected psychiatrist."
 
But Cool said she hoped that Olson would leave psychiatry.

"I would hope in a perfect world that he would re-evaluate what he's doing,"
Cool said. "I don't want him to hurt anybody else." 

Cool added: "No, I don't hate the man. I've tried really hard not to invest
myself emotionally in any feeling at all. I have other things to do in my life,
and I want to get on with it."

Cool's attorney, William Smoler, said the settlement resolved the first 
significant case in Wisconsin involving false memories. There have been 
only a handful of false memory lawsuits elsewhere, notably in Texas and
Minnesota, that have had higher settlements, Smoler said.

Smoler said Olson's insurance company, Legion Insurance Co. of Pennsylvania,
would pay $400,000 of the settlement and that the Wisconsin Patients
Compensation Fund, which handles excess insurance for state physicians,
would pick up the rest.
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