Prosecutors in the Florida Dental Board vs. Phillips case must of thought they’d struck a death blow to the Phillips’ defense strategy when they brought in an “expert witness” named Robert S. Baratz MD DDS PhD as a “surprise rebuttal witness” against Phillips’s superb defense witnesses. Baratz sounded great answering prosecutor questions.
Phillips’s defense witnesses had been a literal “who’s who” in North American leading edge health care. Baratz was there to counter them.
It worked exactly the opposite.
Opinion by Tim Bolen
At first appearance Baratz had “perfect” qualifications to counter defense claims. In his resume he claimed to be currently employed as an “Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, on staff at three Boston area hospitals, a consultant to two major television networks, a consultant to nine different state dental boards, a spokesperson for the American Dental Association, and a consultant for the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations.”
Impressive qualifications – except NONE OF IT is true. It looks as though Baratz is, in fact, UNEMPLOYED, and has been for about a year-and-a-half, ever since his former health employment was terminated, after he was involved in a physical altercation, over which there is now a court action.
The details of the Baratz employment termination are not yet fully revealed (we haven’t seen all of the court papers yet), but Baratz has apparently been UNABLE to get another job since then. His sole source of income seems to be in “testifying” in court cases. Baratz’s primary emphasis, when he first arrived in the Florida courtroom, was to demand to know when he was “going to get paid.”
It was obvious that Baratz had a “practiced testimony” in answering prosecutor questions. In fact, he kept guiding the questions with remarks like “you should ask me about…” It was the defense “cross examination” that undid Baratz. After only a few minutes of questions Baratz emotionally refused to answer defense queries.
Baratz, the day before, in court, had literally run into the courtroom, disturbed the proceeding with a shriek “My life is in danger, I need police protection.” He wanted the courtroom, and the courthouse, cleared of Phillips’ supporters while he testified. The judge refused.
The next day, when the actual deposition was to take place in the courtroom, Baratz arrived surrounded by a cordon of police, who then questioned amused Phillips supporters. Baratz had complained to police in an attempt to circumvent the orders of the judge. It didn’t work – Phillips supporters watched the whole “humiliation of Bobbie Baratz” play out.
QUACKBUSTER DESPERATION STRATEGIES…
Aging quackbuster propagandist de-licensed MD Stephen Barrett, who operates the dubious website www.quackwatch.com out of his basement in Allentown, Pennsylvania DELUDES HIMSELF into believing he sways the health industry towards a direction he wants them to go. Crackpots seldom recognize their own delusions.
Propagandist Barrett is having trouble maintaining a following in the new millenium. His minions are sparse, and any comparison within their ranks to “normal human behavior” is even sparser. Barrett’s minions (and there aren’t that many, anymore) are said to be broken into three groups: “the crazies, the obsessed, and the stupid.” It is hard to place Robert Baratz in one of these classifications – for in some ways his actions say he fits all three…
How do you define someone who FABRICATES A LIFE IN ORDER TO TESTIFY in a court of law, like Baratz did for the Phillips case? Is he crazy, obsessed, stupid, all three, or none of the above? What is Baratz?
To me the answer is simple. I believe that Baratz is a “typical quackbuster.” I believe that Baratz’s falsifications are simply a quackbuster operating technique. The lesson learned here is that one must expect that EVERY quackbuster lies. It’s their job.
But Baratz now has a VERY BIG PROBLEM. The Florida Judge has ordered Baratz back into cross examination – to answer questions about his false claims. Phillips’ attorney will ask those questions. The deposition will be OFFICIALLY recorded. The “resumed” deposition has been ordered for Friday, April 6th, 2001.
I’m told that PERJURY is a criminal act.
Stay tuned…
Tim Bolen