Everybody looks fit and rested after a weekend. All right. Dr. Huizenga, would you resume the witness stand, please.
Robert Huizenga, the witness on the stand at the time of the evening adjournment, resumed the stand and testified further as follows:
Doctor, you are reminded, sir, you are still under oath. And Mr. Kelberg, you may continue with your cross-examination.
Doctor, I want to ask you if you would look at your original report of June 15th, which is marked as exhibit 507, and page 2, acute problem no. 2. I'm going to ask Mr. Fairtlough to put this back up and he has got it right where I would like it. There is a topic heading of "Night sweats." Do you recall testifying about that I think in response to Mr. Shapiro's direct examination?
And, doctor, this description was provided to you by Mr. Simpson on June 15, 1994; is that correct?
Now, doctor, night sweats by definition are circumstances in which a person awakens, usually in the middle of the night, dripping wet, correct?
And Mr. Fairtlough, I think we are done with that. So, for example, doctor, I want you to assume there has been testimony in this Court from a limousine driver, Mr. Park, that he picked up Mr. Simpson on June 12, 1994, at Mr. Simpson's Rockingham estate roughly around eleven o'clock at night. And that as Mr. Simpson is getting into the car and through the course of the drive to Los Angeles International Airport, and prior to getting out of the car, Mr. Simpson appeared to be sweating, complained of being hot, asked that the air conditioning be turned on, had the windows rolled down. Assuming that that testimony has been given here, doctor, that would not be the product of the night sweats Mr. Simpson was complaining of to you on June 15th, correct?
No. I would have to disagree with that because he complained of night sweats, but when you sweat at night, that may also indicate episodes of sweating during the day, and there are many other reasons, including lymphoma and various infectious disease and rheumatologic diseases, that can cause sweats, possibly predominantly at night, where a doctor may mistakenly call them night sweats, but in fact there may be thermal regulation problems and temperature variations at other times in the day.
Well, doctor, though, you understood the night sweats to be based on the complaint that he was waking up in the middle of the night dripping wet over the last thirty-day period, right?
Correct. He was not complaining that during the day when he was up and about he was sweating unnaturally, correct?
He did not complain of flushing or things that I would consider endocrine pheochromosoma type symptoms, however, his history under the circumstances was rather trying.
Well, trying, doctor? What do you mean his history under the circumstances was trying? You were trying to get from him a detailed history; is that correct?
And in what fashion would you describe it as trying on Mr. Simpson to ask about his medical history?
He was obviously in a two-hour period, and then this next encounter on the 17th, another hour or so, the vast majority of that time was talking about obviously his acute stress and problems of that nature, in addition to obviously going over every possible cause of the sweats which I viewed as his--one of his two top problems, so that obviously to go back and to try to differentiate between night sweats and any of the other causes that can cause sweats at night and sweats during the day, is probably not all that important. And very frankly, Mr. Simpson, given the fact that he was sleep-deprived, was not being as--as sharp as he might otherwise have been in giving a very clear and lucid history.
When you say "Not as sharp as he might have been," you had never seen Mr. Simpson before June 15, 1994, as a physician; is that correct?
You have no basis, no base line basis as of June 15, 1994, to assess the sharpness of Mr. Simpson's ability to recall his medical history, correct?
No, that is absolutely incorrect. There were parts during my--my physical--I mean, obviously when somebody comes in with--with a complaint, a severe complaint, they are going to be very attentive, and there are periods that he was so sleep deprived that he almost feel asleep right in my office. We essentially had to give him coffee and get him up and moving because he was really so sleep-deprived and so distraught at that point this time, so it was not an optimal time to elicit very detailed medical details.
To my knowledge, based on what he told me, he was not taking Xanax. I didn't get that history, no.
Doctor, were you ever apprised that in a duffel bag searched on June 17, 1994, a full bottle of Xanax was found?
Now, doctor, in page 2 of your report you say on this night sweats issue: "The patient admits to a month-long history of nocturnal sweats severe enough to awaken him and require him to towel off his entire body, then go to sleep or other non-soaked side of the bed without associated flushing or known fever," right?
Now, if a person had an influenza and develops a fever, you would expect to see chills initially as the fever escalates, right?
During the evolving phase of the fever as it is going up, you are right, you would typically see chills.
Then as the fever breaks--the reason you have the chill sensation is because your body, being warmer than its normal temperature, is sensing a chilliness to the environment around it?
No, that is absolutely incorrect. What happens when you get a chill is that as the temperature goes to up, your brain for a variety of reasons, maybe it is saying, hey, there is an infection and the infection can't live at 104 degrees, but my body can, so what the body does is it makes you chill, it makes you shake and that generates heat, and that is body's mechanism to raise your temperature, so no, that is an incorrect explanation of that phenomena I believe.
All right. Doctor, would you agree that as the fever breaks that one then experiences sweats as the temperature of the body starts coming down to the normal temperature?
Typically you will sweat as the temperature comes down as a means of evaporating so that you can lose that heat.
Did you ever, prior to June 15th, 1994, receive any information as to what temperatures Mr. Simpson had over the period of, let's say, June 10th, through June 15th?
No. He did not take his temperature to my knowledge at any of these times, so we had no information there.
He did not feel that he had a fever. On the other hand, people can have temperatures that are quite high and not know them and then you go, gee, your temperature is 102, and they go oh, really.
I think that is a couple of ticks higher, but I would have to call that a normal temperature.
Well, if there has been testimony received in this trial that people who have evaluated temperatures in bodies for the purposes of estimating time of death have given as a normal range of temperature temperatures that rise even a degree above 98.6, would you have any reason to disagree with that assessment?
No, I wouldn't, actually. There is a circadian pattern of temperature and your body temperature hits a nadir or low point usually at night and it may be a little bit warmer in the afternoon, so absolutely, it can vary quite a bit.
Now, doctor I want you to assume hypothetically that on June 12th, 1994, at between 10:15 and 10:30, Mr. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in a very brief and violent assault. He then hurried back to his house and arrived sometime about ten to 11:00 to eleven o'clock at night. He then rushed around to get his materials together to get into the limousine to rush to Los Angeles airport to catch an airplane to go to Chicago. Assuming such hypothetical circumstances, doctor, would that be a basis to cause sweating in a human being who is feeling perfectly healthy otherwise?
Doctor, assuming that Mr. Simpson had engaged in vigorous physical activity within an hour of being observed by the limousine driver to be sweating, to complain of being hot, would that be a basis for someone to be sweating?
There are many causes of sweating, one of which is athletic endeavors or the use of your muscles in a--over a certain threshold.
And would it be correct, doctor, that the more vigorous the physical activity, the more sweating one might expect?
Given the humidity, given the patient's level of hydration, I think that that is generally a pretty reasonable assumption.
And is it also correct, doctor, that when people are rushing around trying to meet a deadline, that they tend to perspire?
They may. On the other hand, some people that rush around that are extremely nervous or apprehensive may get cold hands and may have kind of an opposite effect, but I think in generalities I--I can't quibble with that.
And so doctor, if one were to evaluate Mr. Park's testimony that Mr. Simpson was sweating and complained of being hot, asked for the air conditioning to be turned on and so forth, that would not be consistent with your alternative definition of night sweats as being a circumstance other than the usual case of awakening in the middle of the night?
Doctor, you said initially that night sweats are typically associated with people waking up and sweating profusely, right?
Night sweats are. I wasn't sure what the heck he had. I was still searching for why he was sweating. I--I put down night sweats because that is what I got out of him under those trying situations. I had no idea what the cause was, and eventually, you know, when I came to my best guess as to the cause, that sort of sweating may occur during the day.
Well, doctor, what literature are you relying upon to support your conclusion that night sweats, which might be related to an infection which may be the cause for the enlarged lymph nodes, would lead to daytime night sweats, using the term loosely, rather than the traditionally understood definition of night sweats as awakening in the middle of the night dripping wet?
The current standard library book on rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatic disease lists that during episodes rheumatic disease, specifically rheumatoid arthritis, is beginning to kick up begin, some of the signs may include low grade temperature elevation, sweating and adenopathy lymph nodes. That is my best guess as to what was going on with him, but there are other explanations. And very frankly, you know, unlike what some people would try to insinuate, there aren't simple blood tests that can diagnose rheumatoid arthritis or other diseases, so that is my best guess, but I don't have absolute concrete evidence of what the cause was.
Doctor, at a recess would you please advise Defense counsel of what book it is and see if somebody can perhaps have it faxed over if you have it in your library or something?
So that we can have the page or pages you are referring to. But in the meantime, you told us on Friday that in your opinion Mr. Simpson was not in fact suffering from an acute onset of rheumatoid arthritis on June 15th, correct?
That is absolutely incorrect, because what I believe I said, and I may have been in some kind of a zone, was that he had some very--some atypical features. His C reactive protein was negative, his RA Quant was negative and his sedimentation rate at 24 was lower than I certainly would expect for an acute flare.
However, were that it was so easy, these are tools that help you diagnose rheumatoid arthritis and you have to kind of evaluate the entire patient, and I think it is still a very difficult tough call. But given, you know, the entire, you know, American Rheumatism, you know, Association's criteria, there are 7 different criteria. C reactive protein is not on there, sedimentation is not there. They are just too insensitive and nonspecific to qualify for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis. So you have to rely on clinical symptoms of which he had some very striking x-ray evidence and the fact that he has had two biopsies, one of his left knee and one of his right axilla, that are consistent with rheumatoid arthritis. I am not a rheumatologist. I have never pretended to be. I am his doctor. I try to be the general that coordinates, but that is my best assumption based on what I've heard.
In fact, doctor, from all the records you have obtained, when was the last time Mr. Simpson saw any other doctor?
He last saw you--he never had a, quote-unquote, doctor. He had an orthopedic specialist, Dr. Frank Jobe, who he saw July, I believe, 13, 1993, and at that time Dr. Jobe, an orthopedic specialist, felt that OJ was in an acute rheumatoid arthritis flare and then immediately sent to him Dr. Maltz.
My question was when prior to June 15th, 1994, did Mr. Simpson last see a physician?
He saw a physician--he saw two different physicians; Frank Jobe, an orthopedist, and Dr. Maltz, a rheumatologist, on July 13, 1993.
And so your examination is taking place eleven months since his last examination by any physician, at least to your knowledge; is that correct?
Now, you said you had these blood tests ordered on June 15th, 1994, which included the RA Quant and the CRP--
You also said that you did not detect bilateral swelling, which would be the traditional thing to see an acute episode of rheumatoid arthritis, right?
Let me correct that. He did have bilateral elbow problems and he did have problems on both hands that were difficult to differentiate. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis can sometimes merge. It can be a very difficult call, what is a hard joint, what is a boggy joint. And to the best of my knowledge, when I saw him I did not believe he was having a flare. It was only in arrears that I came to that assumption.
I did not--I did not feel--I thought it was mostly or all osteoarthritis when I saw him. No. 1, he wasn't complaining of joint pain, he wasn't sent to me for joint pain, he didn't get sent to me--he didn't say he had a problem with his joint. I just detected it watching him limp and just seeing what is going on in this regard. He never complained of weak grip, of bad knees, of bad wrists. I picked that up. He--he kind of just shrugged everything off.
That is exactly right. I'm explaining that he wasn't complaining of joint problems. I found joint problems. He didn't come in saying, gee, I'm limping, I can't walk, make me--make the pain go away. He basically shrugged those problems off.
Let me invite your attention and counsel's attention--this is from the real time transcript, so I'm not sure how one finds it. It is from the disk printed out on page 397. And the question asked was: "Again this would suggest that Mr. Simpson did not have an acute episode of rheumatoid arthritis, correct"? And your answer was: "It would be on that side."
I do. This is why this yes/no stuff doesn't get information across. This is what I said. I said--
Excuse me, doctor. The question was do you recollect giving that answer to that question?
I consider myself Mr. Simpson's doctor. When someone comes into my office, I'm their doctor.
I would not in any way lie, but my job is to--to be his doctor and take care of his health. That is my duty.
Would you agree that your examination on the 15 was an unusual circumstance of seeing a patient for the first time?
And would it be accurate to say, doctor, that you had socialized with Mr. Shapiro, from what you said last Friday?
I think that that would be a stretch. He was at the Lyle Alzado benefit and I have seen him at probably two charity functions, so I have seen him very cursorily on three social occasions, basically had the same number half many times I've been at a social occasion with Gil Garcetti, so I mean, I don't really--I don't--
Well, you used the term "Socializing" in your direct examination, didn't you, doctor?
He asked had we socialized and I believe my answer was no, not really. I have seen you at a couple of, quote-unquote, events. He is the auctioneer for a charity both of our wives belong to and that is essentially the other two times I have seen him at functions. I have not sat with him, I have not talked with him, you know, we are acquaintances.
Let me see if I can find the examination. On page 317 if the printout. "Would you describe us as social friends?" Question. "Answer: We have seen each other at several outings, but I would say it is more professional than social."
Now, doctor, had you ever seen Mr. Shapiro in the absence of your partner as a patient?
Now, doctor would you agree that a lot of what you were trying to do on the 15th, besides taking a history, is to interpret these findings that you are observing?
Sure. I observe things and I try to interpret them and that is a fair statement.
I think that there is a degree of subjectiveness and blood tests don't tell all that much in many instances.
Well, for example, the grip test, for example, you said you didn't use any kind of objective measuring device, you didn't have one, so you had the test as you demonstrated with me, and you felt that he had normal grip strength. That is a subjective evaluation, is it not, doctor?
Now, doctor, would it be accurate to say that even if one consciously did not want to be influenced in how they evaluate a patient, there can be subconscious influences that cause a person to be biased?
If it is subconscious, I wouldn't be aware of it, so it is difficult for me to comment on that.
Well, doctor, would you agree that your relationship with Mr. Shapiro, at least on the surface, carries the possibility that in your subjective evaluations of the patient you may be subconsciously biased to make findings that will please Mr. Shapiro or help Mr. Shapiro's client?
When you see a patient, either you've got it or you don't. Either you are going to be an honest evaluator and try to use the experience you've had and try to use the proficiency you have demonstrated in your training, and hopefully you care about people and you are going to do the best job you can, and that is really all that I tried to do.
Well, doctor, did you consider the possibility that you should tell Mr. Shapiro, "Look it, you should get a doctor who does not know you as a patient, who has no relationship whatsoever with you as a patient, who has no relationship with Mr. Simpson, so that that doctor would be in the best position to be fair and objective in evaluating Mr. Simpson"? Did you ever say that to Mr. Shapiro?
And doctor, did you ever feel that it was part of your responsibility to try and prepare a Defense for Mr. Simpson to the charges?
Would it be accurate to say that the exam on the 15th was in fact an effort to start preparing a Defense to anticipated charges?
Doctor, did you believe--you said it was a somewhat unusual circumstance--did you believe that the focus of that examination on the 15th was in part to start preparing a possible Defense in the event Mr. Simpson was charged?
Two--two sub-answers to that. No. 1, if I would have thought that, obviously the first thing I should have done is documented any infirmity in terms of these orthopedic problems to the nth degree. That is not really not the tact I took. I took the tact to address his mental status problems and his insomnia and his difficulty handling this incredible, incredible stress that maybe no other human being short of job has endured. And no. 2, to address a problem that I felt was potentially life-threatening and that was what acute lymph node under his arm associated with night sweats and clubbing, and I went after that. That had nothing to do with this incident. And that is where all my attention and energy was focused during this initial several weeks and when he even he went into the jailhouse and the physician there initially said he didn't have a lymph node, all my efforts were aimed in that direction, which I think had nothing to do with the Defense. I think they probably wished I would go away. I just, you know, took pictures of the cuts, and you know obviously, I just wanted everything documented in that regard, but I did--really I followed the advice of somebody that gave me a long time ago, and that is that you treat all patients the same. The minute you start doing special stuff for special patients, you get yourself into a heap of trouble as a doctor.
I just want to be clear. In your answer is it your characterization that Mr. Simpson is in a situation which to your knowledge only job has suffered more?
I think the pressure that was on him, for whatever reason, was a tremendous weight, the change in his life status that very few, if any, people have experienced, in my opinion.
KEY QUOTEAnd if he had murdered two human beings, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, would that be the kind of thing that would cause a great weight to be on a man's shoulders?
If someone hypothetically killed someone, they certainly would have a great weight on their shoulders.
I'm asking--you have described Mr. Simpson. I'm asking you assuming he had done, that would that be, in your opinion, a great weight on Mr. Simpson's shoulder to bear, not a hypothetical to anyone but Mr. Simpson?
Do you have the note--for reference it is page 484 of the materials. Do you have this note in the original, doctor?
Your Honor, I would ask that that page 484 be marked as People's exhibit I think it is 511.
Excuse me. The question is do you have a copy of the letter that we are seeing on the screen, not the small what appears maybe to be a post-it sticker entry, but the actual letter?
Isn't it normal practice for a physician to keep a copy of any letter that they send to an attorney regarding a patient of the doctor's?
No. My, question, doctor isn't it the usual practice to keep a copy of any such letter?
I don't deal with legal matters, so I think that we try to keep all of our letters.
Well, doctor, in your training as a physician, haven't you been trained that you save basically any correspondence regarding the patient?
And what, if any, explanation do you have for not having the February 5th, 1995, letter to Mr. Douglas?
This is my best remembrance of that. I was told right around January that there was some kind of flap about my records, so I was called by Carl Douglas and he said we are not going to release your medical records. We want a statement. We want a one or two or three-page--we want a one-page statement that summarizes your findings. So I typed up a one-page statement summarizing my findings and then put a little sticker on the top and said "Is this the kind of thing that you are looking for?" Is this thorough enough? Obviously, you know, you can't say much in one page. Do you want more detail? That is basically the gist of that and that is--that was something that was requested of me by Mr. Douglas on the phone.
So doctor, in your opinion, this doesn't reflect that you were an advocate for Mr. Simpson in asking one of his lawyers whether this represented the kind of statement he sought?
No, absolutely not. Basically in my mind it was he wanted me to summarize my entire findings and I didn't know if that was too much or too little detail. I knew that it was all truthful. I just didn't know if he wanted me to expand or contract because he had some problems with some of my charts apparently.
Doctor, showing you, first of all, what is marked as page 465, these are the materials that we received from the Defense.
Show you page 466 of the material, July 28, 1994, letter. Did you send this letter to a colleague of Mr. Shapiro's, Ms. Kaplan?
Doctor, would you explain why you kept a copy these of these two letters and did not keep a copy of the letter of February 5, 1995, that is up on the board, exhibit 511?
I probably have it somewhere in my office. This chart as you can see is getting pretty unwieldy, so I bet if I really dug around and looked I could find it, but I--I don't believe--I just went through it last Friday and I don't believe I have it. I may. I would have any reason to dispose of it, that is for sure.
The doctor is referring to what appears to be about a four or five-inch stack of papers.
I was first told, I don't know, I think the beginning of June, something like that.
In your practice, is it your practice to keep a patient's file altogether so that you have access at any convenient time to review the entire file?
So it wouldn't be your practice to have documents not in this patient's file, right?
Well, that may have happened. There actually may be--there may be--there may be other things that are in, you know, the--the medical papers that were Xeroxed off about his particular case and there may be stuff floating there. I would have to go back and check.
Most of these records that compile your file are not your own personal records, are they?
They are the records you have acquired from other physicians had who have seen Mr. Simpson?
And about how many pages would you estimate your own reports constitute of that file that is presently sitting in front of you, resting in front of you?
So if we set aside the other pages that are due to other doctor's records, Mr. Simpson's file in your possession of your materials, is a relatively modest file, is it not?
Let me ask also Fairtlough--and your Honor, I would ask then that page 465 be marked as People's exhibit 512.
Now, doctor you said that you didn't consider yourself that you were an advocate for Mr. Simpson; is that correct?
I considered that as his doctor that I certainly would be an advocate to get his health situation in as best as shape as I could.
Did you consider that as part of that responsibility it was to try and get him acquitted of these charges?
Would you look, if you would, please, the last paragraph of that letter directed to "Dear Bob" Mr. Shapiro.
And for the record: "The night sweats Mr. Simpson complained of may be pertinent to the Court testimony of the chauffeur who implied OJ was quite warm when he got in the limo. We need to follow up on this from a medical standpoint." You wrote that, didn't you, doctor?
The first sentence of that paragraph is not pertinent to your role as a physician trying to identify a medical condition, is it, doctor?
Night sweats are--I think that the answer is--is yes and no. The problem was he was in jail, I couldn't get to him. They would not let me in because I didn't have clearance. He had these night sweats. The jail people were saying he didn't have a lymph node, and I felt that his medical condition needed evaluation.
Doctor, my question was--and maybe you can explain how that answer indicates that your first sentence of that last paragraph: "The night sweats Mr. Simpson complained of may be pertinent to the Court testimony of the chauffeur who implied OJ was quite warm when he got in the limo."
It may be a sign of something--he really wasn't complaining of a whole lot. As I said, he wasn't complaining of the joint problems and all of that added to my worry that he had some sort of infection, cancer or some other etiology of not only night sweats, but possibly fevers during the day.
Doctor, were you aware of the preliminary hearing that involved Mr. Simpson initially in a court like this, but without a jury where testimony was presented? Were you aware of it as it was ongoing?
In fact, this letter was written during the course of that preliminary hearing, isn't it?
I would assume so, right, if it mentioned that episode where he testified--that someone testified he was sweating during the day, because I obviously picked up on that.
And that is why you wanted to make sure Mr. Shapiro was aware of it so that he may be able to use your medical finding for his legal purposes in defending Mr. Simpson? Isn't that why you included it, sir?
Let me ask if I could, your Honor, for page 466, which is dated July 28 of `94, be marked as exhibit--I think we are at 513.
And this time if we could again just so we can see the heading. Mr. Fairtlough, could we--thanks.
This is a letter you sent on July 28, 1994, to Mr. Shapiro to the attention of his colleague, Ms. Kaplan; is that correct?
Now, if I could ask Mr. Fairtlough--let's drop down to the end of that, if we could, please.
Item no. 5 under the summary: "As I previously discussed with Dr. M. Baden"--that is Dr. Michael Baden, correct?
"OJ's severe left wrist arthritis and resultant marked decreased mobility of that joint may have implications for the forensic pathologist." You said that in the letter, doctor?
KEY QUOTENow, that has nothing to do with your role as a physician taking care of Mr. Simpson's medical problems, does it, sir?
That's an advocate trying to suggest a possible avenue of Defense to be used by another physician, Dr. Baden, the forensic pathologist, correct?
Your Honor, if possible, I know I speak quickly and I don't want to ask the reporter, if it is too difficult, I will reask it if it is, but if possible I would ask that it be reread.
The question is doctor, referring to item 5: "That is an advocate trying to suggest a possible avenue of Defense to be used by another physician, Dr. Baden, the forensic pathologist, correct?"
Dr. Baden and I were discussing various things when we were at Robert Kardashian's house on the 17th. In those discussions those issues were asked of me and those are the way that I replied.
Doctor, my question, though, is that has nothing to do with treating his medical condition as a physician, does it?
Excuse me, doctor. You said you were with Dr. Baden on July--on June 17th, 1994, correct?
Dr. Baden hadn't suddenly called you up before you sent this letter and said "I need some more information on this," right? He hadn't done that?
No, there wasn't. They were basically questions about could I run, could I draw blood tests from various people in our office.
Of those calls, in addition to my discussing his arthritis problems which they saw since we were all at the house together on the 17th and we took photos together, retook photos of his cuts, and those questions were asked of me. I was there. They asked me these various questions and I responded and followed through on some of the questions they asked me in these letters.
But you hadn't been specifically requested, had you, doctor, before sending the July 28th letter, to put it in writing to remind Dr. Baden that there may be significance to this? You did this on your own accord; isn't that correct?
This is basically the note taking that I did, right, to--to commiserate what had happened on that earlier conversation, absolutely.
And you may have misspoke unintentionally, but your definition of "Commiserate," doctor?
Well, my question to you is, sir, what is your definition of the word "Commiserate"?
Yeah. That is not--basically he was asking me questions. He was working on the case. And obviously they were calling me and asking me various medical questions about their particular areas of expertise, and I tried to respond as honestly as I could and I certainly wasn't withholding or not mentioning them in letters or any other, you know, typewritten records that I kept.
I think we are done with this document right now, if Mr. Fairtlough will remove that.
Doctor, briefly again on the grip test, did do you any test to see the maximum grip strength of Mr. Simpson?
We asked if it was normal, but I didn't ask whether he did something to assess the maximum grip strength.
Now, doctor, you told Mr. Shapiro on direct that in your opinion Mr. Simpson could hold a knife, right?
Would he also be able, in your opinion, to grab the hair of Nicole Brown Simpson and yank her head back to hyperextend her neck prior to taking a knife and slashing at her throat area? Did he have the strength in his left hand to do that, sir.
Doctor, did Mr. Simpson have--have sufficient strength, in your opinion, to grab the hair of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and yank her head back to fully expose her neck?
If he had his left hand and didn't have to hyperflex back his wrist, he did have motion and strength that was within normal, as I put on my exam, with the exception of he was unable to fully extend the elbow, but his flexion was normal on my exam and his strength was normal on my exam.
So my question still, which has not been answered, doctor, is could he with his left hand have grabbed the hair of his ex-wife and pulled her hair back?
And when stationary I want to you assume she has collapsed on the walkway in front of her condominium. That's the kind of condition you are talking about, right?
And not only could he do that, doctor, in your opinion could he then with his right hand holding a knife slit her throat? Did he have the strength in his hand to do that?
Given a stationary hypothetical as you have said, yes, I believe that that would be possible.
KEY QUOTEDoctor, that would be a pretty significant aspect to find out, wouldn't it, when you are trying to at least evaluate the limitations Mr. Simpson may have due to his arthritic condition that you found?
Yeah. I know he is right-handed, and no. 2, it is readily accessible information, so it is not a nuclear secret, so I'm not sure that it is a vital piece to put down, but it would have been helpful, yes.
Well, for example, you found, did you not, that the limitation in dorsiflexion, that is flexing the wrist back, was the left wrist, correct?
Would you agree that if Mr. Simpson were right-handed that normally would he have at least somewhat greater strengthen, if he were healthy, between the left and the right hands? He would have greater strength in the right hand than in the left hand?
That is true for most people. Sometimes athletes can be pretty ambidextrous, but I think that is a fair statement.
Doctor, if I told you he played eleven years, would that sound pretty reasonable to you?
And doctor, he was playing football after he had surgery to that left wrist, correct?
If I told you he gained over 11,000 yards rushing, would you accept that as a reasonable interpretation of his skills as a football player?
And that he received, that is, he caught passes for over 2000 yards, does that sound reasonable to you?
Now, doctor, given that status, is it your--did do you anything to test the relative strengths between the left hand and the right hand? We have talked about normal grip strength, we talked about maximum grip strength. Now I'm talking about relative grip strength?
And on what basis did you form that opinion? Was that a subjective evaluation from how he gripped your hands?
That's correct. That is why I explained when we did that demonstration last Friday, why you do the--the grip simultaneously so that you access one side compared with the other.
So given that he was right-handed and given that he did not have surgery to his right wrist and given that you did not find significant limitation of motion of the right wrist, vis-à-vis the left wrist, you found that nevertheless he had the same grip strength in his left hand as his right hand? Is that a correct statement?
Doctor, before we get into the photographs on the injuries, I wanted to be clear on something. Mr. Shapiro asked you about your background to evaluate knife wounds--knife cuts and so forth, and you mentioned your tour, if you will, moonlighting in emergency rooms. Do you recall that testimony?
That, plus working emergency rooms in my training at Harvard Med school, as well as during my internship and residency, as well as seeing cuts during my private practice years subsequent to that.
I would say it is very small now, but still probably see one or two cuts a week.
Wouldn't it be accurate to say that most people who have a cut that they think might require medical attention run to the local emergency room, not to the Beverly Hills doctor?
You don't moonlight in medical school, but basically you do rotations in an emergency room and basically there at Massachusetts General Hospital when you see the people getting out after the Boston Bruin games with all sorts of cuts and slashes, that is basically the foundation of my medical school years.
Okay. And as a medical student you are basically relegated to do doing, I will use the term, scut work in the ER?
I would say at a county hospital, it is see one, do one, teach one, so basically even as a third year medical student I was stitching up wounds there.
And doctor your moonlighting days, during your internship and residency period; is that correct?
Moonlighting is basically a way for doctors to make some extra money because residency programs are not notoriously well-paying; is that a fair statement?
Now, doctor, again during this period of time that you are moonlighting, you are still a doctor in training, though, aren't you?
That is shortly after you completed your chief residency in internal medicine at cedars; is that correct?
Now, doctor, did you ever take any examination to become board certified in emergency room medicine?
No, I did not. I was board eligible, but I did not take the test since I wasn't planning to go into emergency room medicine.
And board eligible merely means that you have completed the necessary requirements?
There is a certain number of hours. Unfortunately the exact number I can't give you, but I was substantially over the number of hours you need to then be able to go down to Chicago and take the emergency room boards which is something that anyone planning to stay in emergency room medicine, you know, does.
Does the board require, at the time you were moonlighting, that you be a chief resident in the emergency room?
Umm, I think things are a little bit--little bit changed from back when I did it. I don't know what the exact regulations to be able to take the boards in emergency room medicine are currently.
Since I believe the Court is going to take a break shortly, let me just finish with the curriculum vitae and then we will start in with the other materials later. Doctor, let me ask Mr. Fairtlough from Defense exhibit 1238 to put on the third page of where you are curriculum vitae. This is heading of "National television interviews"; is that correct?
And if Mr. Fairtlough will just pan this page so that you will see it in its entirety. May I move on, your Honor?
Doctor, is this kind of data that one normally finds in a physician's curriculum vitae?
Now, doctor, with respect to publications--let me ask Mr. Fairtlough to put on page 2 of your curriculum vitae. And let me start in the--I think you might turn you head to your right and you will see it--the last entry. That is a book that you authored; is that correct?
And if nothing else, doctor, you sold one more copy since you took the stand and I have had a chance to read it. You are okay, it is just a bruise," that is the book, correct?
Doctor, would it be accurate to say that this book is, in the parlance of today's language, kind of a tell-all book of your period of time as a physician with the Los Angeles Raiders?
I would say it is an expose of some of the behind the scenes things that go on where players are pretty much crumpled up like an old can of soda and disregarded, yes.
Well, you are very critical of management Mr. Davis and the Raider's management, are you thought?
I had a lot of problems with his approach to the game of football and I felt that he put winning football games over the health of players and that is essentially the reason why I came out, with the agreement of over forty of the players who gave me medical consent to reveal their particular medical history, so that we could try to change the way things are done in professional football and hopefully in other professional sports as well.
You were a patient advocate, weren't you--you were a player advocate as a physician?
I think the players have a lot of things that they have to learn, but I think that management, and certainly in the instances that I demonstrated, is really taking advantage of the commodity of the, quote-unquote, player and seeing the sequelae, seeing the end result of what the players end up at, seeing them with amputations, seeing them, you know, being described by their wives as, you know, very difficult getting out of bed in the morning, you know, hearing them say that they have no money and less cartilage, it was something that really moved me. And given the whole situation that no one else had ever talked about it, I felt that I should step out, and obviously I knew I was going to take a hit for doing it.
Now, doctor, you said, and this is on page 326 of the real time transcript, this was the question from MR. SHAPIRO: "And what is your experience in dealing with athletes in a professional capacity?" And your answer is: "I was the team physician for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1993 until 1990." You gave that absence?
Doctor, in fact you were not the team physician for the Los Angeles Raiders; isn't that correct?
That is incorrect. There is a team physician and there is a team orthopedist. I was the team physician and there is a team orthopedist. That is how it is typically set in every team.
Well, doctor, Dr. Robert Rosenfeld, R-O-S-E-N-F-E-L-D, was the orthopedic surgeon for the Raiders, correct?
And in the hierarchy of authority in the medical side, he had authority over you; isn't that correct?
No one really had authority over me, but he was closer to the owner, and that is where the whole trauma, the whole tragedy really occurred, yes.
How long had Mr.--Dr. Rosenfeld been with the team before you joined it, if you know?
He had been with the team since, I believe--umm, they used to fly him up from Los Angeles when they were with the Oakland team, so he had been the team doctor from the sixties for the Raiders.
And he would have the primary responsibility, would he not, for evaluating orthopedic injuries that players on the team had? You would not have that responsibility, correct?
Yes, it is. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to take our mid-morning break at this time. Please remember my admonitions to you. Doctor, you can step down, and please come back in 15 minutes and we will try to finish you up this morning. All right. We will take 15.
In a stationary situation, yes.
Given a stationary hypothetical as you have said, yes, I believe that that would be possible.
The night sweats Mr. Simpson complained of may be pertinent to the Court testimony of the chauffeur who implied OJ was quite warm when he got in the limo. We need to follow up on this from a medical standpoint.
OJ's severe left wrist arthritis and resultant marked decreased mobility of that joint may have implications for the forensic pathologist.
I think the pressure that was on him, for whatever reason, was a tremendous weight, the change in his life status that very few, if any, people have experienced, in my opinion.