Item Num 15: The Affidavit Of James Leslie Karagianis; dated 30 March 2015; 9 paragraphs

Item Num 15:

(15) Item Num 15: The Affidavit Of James Leslie Karagianis; dated 30 March 2015; 9 paragraphs

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Between

Her Majesty The Queen

- v. -

Rene Helmerichs

AFFIDAVIT OF JAMES LESLIE KARAGIANIS (sworn March 30, 2015)

I, James Leslie Karagianis, of the Town of Port Severn, in the province of Ontario MAKE OATH AND STATE AS FOLLOWS:

1.      I am a psychiatrist licensed either by general or specialist license in the provinces of Ontario and Newfoundland. I have also previously been granted specialist licenses in the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. I concluded my psychiatric residence at Memorial University in Newfoundland in 1990. I am an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Memorial University.

2.      I am currently the Psychiatrist in Chief at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene (“Waypoint”) and have held that position since July 1, 2012. Among my responsibilities are medical affairs; physician leadership; and medical quality assurance. I also maintain a private practice in psychiatry.

3.      Waypoint is a public hospital under the Public Hospitals Act, a Schedule 1 psychiatric facility under the Mental Health Act and a designated hospital under Part XX.I of the Criminal Code, that part of the Code dealing with mentally disordered offenders.

4.      I have conducted over 100 court-ordered assessments during my professional practice and I have been previously recognized as an expert witness for the purpose of testifying at all three levels of court in Newfoundland and Labrador.

5.      The Applicant, Rene Helmerichs, has been ordered to have an assessment with respect to his criminal responsibility in connection with outstanding charges of breach of probation, criminal harassment and fail to appear in court.

6.      Mr. Helmerichs is applying for a court order “... requiring spoken statements of Rene Helmerichs given for the purposes of mental assessment to be audio recorded and a digital copy provided Mr. Helmerichs if the assessment, or reporting thereof, can reasonably affect a detention or further detention of Rene Helmerichs...” The stated grounds for the application include the allegation that “... the current charge for which I am being mentally assessed stems directly from false statements psychiatrists [names omitted] made...” He further asserts that “... testimony cannot be honestly challenged without a first-hand recording...”

7.      It is not usual medical practice for a court-ordered assessment to be audiotaped. As noted in Bloom and Schneider’s 2013 text “Mental Disorder – A Comprehensive and Practical Approach”, in the chapter entitled “The Psycholegal Assessment”, under the heading “Audio and Videotaping the interview”: “Videotaping interviews is not at this point part of the recommended practice of forensic psychiatry in Canada or the United States. There are no policies or practical guidelines from any regulatory body or professional association that direct, or even invite, psychiatric experts to record their interviews in that manner”. To my knowledge, this remains an accurate statement.

8.      In my opinion, there are serious privacy concerns raised in the Application, despite it being the patient who wishes the audiotaping to occur because such recording necessarily captures the words of the psychiatrist as well as the person being assessed. I am very concerned that the fact of being recorded can and will cause a restricting effect on the psychiatrist conducting the interview. In my opinion such a process is not conducive to a psychiatrist being able to conduct the best, most thorough and most comprehensive interview necessary to underpin the most accurate assessment required by the Court. It would be extremely difficult for a psychiatrist to remain objective and not be compromised where there is a risk of the recording being released, as I understand to be a real concern in the within case.

9.      A good court ordered assessment is a broad range inquiry. In the criminal context the assessment almost inevitably involves the patient discussing third parties – be they witnesses, victims or co-accused in the outstanding criminal charges. The privacy interests of these persons are also at risk if the assessment is recorded and particularly if the recording is released to the patient, as is being sought herein.

SWORN BEFORE ME at the Town of Penetanguishene, on March 30th, 2015.

Michele Alice Condren, a Commisioner, etc., Province of Ontario, for Waypoint CENTRE for MENTAL HEALTH CARE. Expires June 4, 2016.