Court Opinion

ID: 9577753
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:37:39.397362+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:21:11.097838
License: Public Domain

Justice Martin
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I find that the testimony of Dr. Joseph Ponzi is competent within the meaning of Rule 803(4) of the North Carolina Rules of Evidence. The only assignment of error addressed by the Court of Appeals was whether Dr. Ponzi’s testimony concerning “rape trauma syndrome” was admissible. Dr. Ponzi’s testimony concerning this issue was based in part upon the testimony of Tammy Ingram and her mother concerning Tammy’s symptoms. The majority holds the admission of this testimony to be prejudicial error. Tammy and her mother went to Dr. Ponzi for examination on 12 January 1984, one month and three days after the rape occurred. Under Rule 803(4), statements made for the purpose of medical diagnosis and past or present symptoms, pain or sensations, are admissible. The reason for their admissibility is based upon their reliability because of the motivation of the declarant to assist the physician in diagnosis or treatment. Not only are statements by the patient admissible, but statements made to the physician by a third person as to the patient’s symptoms are also admissible when made for that purpose if the court determines that such statement is likely to be reliable. 4 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence ¶ 803(4) [01], at 145 (1985). It is not necessary that the physician actually make a diagnosis or actually treat the patient in order for the rule to apply. The majority seems to indicate that unless the physician makes the diagnosis, then the exception to the hearsay rule is not applicable. Such a restrictive interpretation obviously *577could exclude statements reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment of other medical conditions.
I also see no reason to exclude statements given to a medical doctor for the purpose of diagnosis and in preparation for trial. If the statements were made for a medical purpose, the incidental fact that the statements would be used as evidence should not make them inadmissible. To do so would likely eliminate statements made to medical doctors in the examination of claimants by doctors appointed by the Industrial Commission for that purpose. In such situations, the sole purpose often is to determine the amount of disability that a claimant has, without any purpose of making a diagnosis or giving treatment to the claimant. Rule 803(4) of the Federal Rules of Evidence is identical to the North Carolina rule. The Advisory Committee’s comment to the federal rule states:
Conventional doctrine has excluded from the hearsay exception, as not within its guarantee of truthfulness, statements to a physician consulted only for the purpose of enabling him to testify. While these statements were not admissible as substantive evidence, the expert was allowed to state the basis of his opinion, including statements of this kind. The distinction thus called for was one most unlikely to be made by juries. The rule accordingly rejects the limitation. This position is consistent with the provision of Rule 703 that the facts on which expert testimony is based need not be admissible in evidence if of a kind ordinarily relied upon by experts in the field.
(Emphasis added.) Thus it appears that the challenged testimony would be admissible under the federal rule. The majority has not demonstrated to me why our rule should be construed to the contrary.
Dr. Ponzi testified that when Tammy was at his office on 12 January 1984 she was very upset and cried at two points. He further testified what Tammy told him as to the facts of the incident with her uncle. Dr. Ponzi made a physical examination of Tammy on 12 January 1984 and diagnosed her condition, including her vaginal area, as normal. Dr. Ponzi then testified that he saw her on 13 July 1984, a few days before the trial. At that time he asked her and her mother if any unusual symptoms had devel*578oped since the incident. Tammy and her mother told him that she had a fifteen-pound weight loss between December and February, and she had been vomiting, was crying a lot, and was emotionally labile. Tammy had markedly decreased school performance, had nightmares and dreams about the event, and was depressed.
The majority relies upon State v. Bock, 288 N.C. 145, 217 S.E. 2d 513 (1975). This case was decided before the effective date of the new evidence code. Moreover, later cases permit this type testimony from court-appointed physicians even though the medical examination was solely for the purpose of preparing the doctor to testify. E.g., State v. Allison, 307 N.C. 411, 298 S.E. 2d 365 (1983) (error to exclude psychiatrist’s testimony concerning substance of his conversation with defendant which provided basis of his opinion as to defendant’s sanity); State v. Wade, 296 N.C. 454, 251 S.E. 2d 407 (1979).
The answers to the questions propounded by Dr. Ponzi to Tammy and her mother provided him with information as to Tammy’s physical, emotional, and mental condition, such information being useful to the doctor as a basis for a diagnosis and treatment of her condition. As such I find that the statements are within the scope of admissible hearsay permitted by N.C.R. Evid. 803(4). See United States v. Iron Thunder, 714 F. 2d 765 (8th Cir. 1983); State v. Hebert, 480 A. 2d 742 (Me. 1984).
Dr. Ponzi’s testimony also largely corroborated the testimony of Tammy and her mother. The trial judge instructed the jury as to corroborating evidence with respect to Dr. Ponzi’s testimony. Although Dr. Ponzi’s testimony was not precisely the same as the testimony of Tammy and her mother, the discrepancies were not so significant as to render the use of the testimony reversible error. State v. Higginbottom, 312 N.C. 760, 324 S.E. 2d 834 (1985). Even if the testimony in question was incompetent for one purpose, that would not prevent its admission for another proper purpose. 1 Brandis on North Carolina Evidence § 79 (1982).
Justice Mitchell joins in this dissenting opinion.