Court Opinion

ID: 9616868
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:50:36.806186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:05:45.372772
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I would affirm the judgment of the trial court as I find no error in allowing the pediatrician to express her opinion concerning the sexual molestation of the child. Medical opinions concerning a patient’s physical condition are admissible in evidence even when they are based, at least in part, upon the history elicited from the patient. State v. Beeson, 434 P2d 460, 461 (Or. 1967). See also Petty v. Folsom, 229 Ga. 477 (192 SE2d 246). Why? Because “[w]hat a physician hears from a patient is not hearsay as to the fact of the conversation, and is part of his observation, as distinguished from the truth of the content, or as distinguished from what he hears of the patient from others.” Petty v. Folsom, 229 Ga. 477, 480, supra. See also Fields v. State, 221 Ga. 307, 309 (2) (144 SE2d 339). The key to admissibility is whether the statements elicited from the patient are of a kind normally relied upon by the physician in his particular field of expertise, State v. Steelman, 585 P2d 1213, 1230 (Ariz. 1978), and whether the statements are of help to the physician in his diagnosis. State v. Contreras, 253 A2d 612, 619 (R.I. 1969).
In the case sub judice, the pediatrician expressed her opinion as to whether the child had been sexually molested. Her opinion was based upon her physical findings and the statements elicited from the child during the examination. The child’s statements aided the pediatrician in her diagnosis; they were of a kind normally relied upon by pediatricians; and they were consistent with the pediatrician’s physical findings. Accordingly, I think the trial court properly permitted the pediatrician to testify that in her opinion the child had been sexu*114ally molested. The weight of the pediatrician’s opinion was a matter to be determined by the jury. Petty v. Folsom, 229 Ga. 477, supra at p. 481; Redfield v. State, 240 Ga. 460 (1) (241 SE2d 217).
I am authorized to state that Judge Beasley joins in this dissent.