By Ana Acle And Marika Lynch . aacle@herald.com. Published Friday, April 7, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Psychologist Mitch Spero, flanked by psychologist Alina Lopez-Gottardi and family attorney Laura Fabar, reveal details of their examinations of Elian Gonzalez at a press conference outside the boy's Miami home Thursday.
Two psychologists who believe Elian Gonzalez should remain in Miami on Thursday revealed details of their examinations of the 6-year-old boy after obtaining written consent from Elian's great-uncle.
``Elian has expressed that his father freely expresses his anger out of control and in an abusive manner in specific instances,'' said psychologist Alina Lopez-Gottardi, who has been seeing Elian since December.
Psychologist Mitch Spero, who spoke with Elian late Wednesday, said the boy ``meets many of the criteria for post-traumatic syndrome'' and predicted that if he is separated from his cousin Marisleysis ``he'll suffer irreversible emotional damage.''
The psychologists' public comments came after federal lawyers rejected the family's demand that Elian only be turned over to his father if psychologists found that it was in the boy's best interests.
But the psychologists' comments before a coterie of television cameras drew immediate criticism from colleagues.
``The child is entitled to have his evaluation kept private. Period,'' said Ken Goodman, director of the bioethics program at the University of Miami.
``I'm dying to know what a psychologist would say about a child who can't go to school, come home from school or play in the yard with the extraordinary level of electronic eavesdropping that this child is enduring. . . Why now are we trying to conduct drive-by psychiatric consultations? This is
psychology on the fly,'' Goodman said.
Spero said, however, that he was comfortable with speaking publicly, noting that he had received a signed consent form from Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez. Spero said he plans to talk today to NBC's Today show, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Elian learned from his great-uncle Lazaro and the morning television news shows that his father had arrived in the United States. But the boy, who hasn't seen his father Juan Miguel Gonzalez in four months since he was rescued from a shipwreck on Thanksgiving, didn't react much, his Miami
relatives said.
``He was calm,'' great-uncle Delfin Gonzalez said. ``He neither said yes nor no.''
Marisleysis Gonzalez, Elian's cousin and caregiver, has said in television interviews that she fears Elian will be ``tortured'' psychologically and put in a mental hospital if he returns to Cuba. But the relatives say they have not told Elian their fears about his fate in Cuba.
On Thursday, Lazaro Gonzalez, who has temporary custody of Elian, told reporters little of the boy's reaction to his father's arrival, saying only ``we have the television on.''
But Elian doesn't usually watch television. He prefers to swing and slide on a playset in the backyard or point a toy gun at the media horde across the street.
On Thursday, Elian did those things and looked happy.
Herald staff writers Sara Olkon and Jay Weaver and Herald writer Mireidy Fernandez contributed to this report.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald |