By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
BRENTWOOD – A medical expert called to testify for David Meehan in his trailblazing lawsuit against the state testified Thursday he will need life-long Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment costing up to $1.5 million.
Meehan claims he was subjected to hundreds of rapes, beatings, and extended solitary confinement at the hands of Sununu Youth Services Center, then called YDC, staff while he was a teen. His lawsuit is the first of at least 1,000 against the state brought by YDC survivors who say they were abused while in state care, and that the state administrators covered up decades of abuse.
Meehan’s legal team brought four mental health experts to testify in the case so far, all saying he suffers PTSD stemming from his years of nightmarish treatment by YDC staffers like Jeff Buskey and Stephen Murphy.
On Thursday, jurors heard from Dr. Daphne Glindmeyer, a forensic psychiatrist, and psychiatric nurse practitioner Mary Salerno, a PTSD and brain trauma specialist. Glindmeyer, like previous medical experts called by Meehan’s team, blames YDC for his condition.
“When Mr. Meehan went into YDC he did not have PTSD,” Glindmeyer said. “(I) don’t think Mr. Meehan has a lot of good days.”
Countering a narrative defense attorney for the state, Martha Gaythwaite, suggested this week that Meehan is making up his mental illness to win money in the lawsuit, Glindmeyer said Meehan “exhibited physiological symptoms that were impossible to fake.”
Gaythwaite is trying to get jurors to believe Meehan’s real mental health diagnosis is a bipolar disorder with delusional thinking, and not PTSD induced by the horrific abuse. But Glindmeyer, like Dr. Dylan Gee and Dr. Terry Allen Kupers, testified Meehan suffers from PTSD and not a bipolar disorder.
Meehan is a recovering addict who’s been in and out of trouble with the law since getting released from YDC after four years. His adult behavior problems all stem from his overriding PTSD, according to the experts. Meehan’s also struggled with ADHD and depression since he got away from YDC. Salerno testified Meehan will need treatment for the rest of his life, estimating he will live to be 77.
The $1.5 million for treatment is just part of the total Meehan is seeking from the state. If successful, New Hampshire could be on the hook for an astronomical amount of money in damages when all 1,300 survivors get their days in court. The state approved a $100 million settlement fund for all the survivors, which Meehan’s lawyers, Rus Rilee and David Vicinanzo, called inadequate. Rilee and Vicinanzo also represent the majority of the other survivors.
Hanging over Meehan’s civil trial are the pending criminal cases against Buskey, Murphy, and nine other men indicted for abusing teens at YDC. State lawyers defending the YDC in Meehan’s case have sought to question his credibility and downplay the abuse allegations. At the same time, other state lawyers are preparing to prosecute the alleged abusers based on witnesses like Meehan.
The civil trial is set to resume Friday in Rockingham Superior Court.