You probably never heard of Barbara Battalino.

I hadn't either until Rich Burkett popped in with some information about her.

You may remember Burkett. The Warsaw resident ran for Congress against Tim Roemer a couple times. He lost.

Of all the politicians or would-be politicians I have known, Burkett has about the best grasp of the issues.

You may not agree with what Burkett says, but he can back it up. If you get into a political argument with Burkett, you will likely lose.

And he knows more about the workings of Congress than most congressmen.

So anyway, Burkett brings me this little ditty about this Battalino woman and I think it is worth sharing with our readers. So I surfed up an article on the Internet written by Nicole LeFavour for the Boise Weekly.

Here goes:

Barbara Battalino is a psychiatrist.

She worked in a Veterans Administration hospital in Boise, Idaho.

She had a patient whose name was Ed Arthur. Arthur is a Vietnam veteran. Over his long military and law enforcement career he earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, five Air Medals and many other awards.

In 1991, Arthur was living in Emmett, a town near Boise, doing undercover work for the local cops. He was also organizing the first Idaho chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

He visited the Boise V.A. weekly for treatment of injuries he received in combat. He also received counseling for the lingering emotional effects of combat.

He was treated by a psychologist, Hal Patterson, and a psychiatrist, Barbara Battalino.

Arthur says that on June 27, 1991, about a month after he started seeing Battalino, she revealed to him in her office that she had "feelings" for him and performed oral sex on him.

Three months after the alleged incident, Arthur told Patterson about it. He also said that he was having an ongoing sexual relationship with Battalino.

Patterson's written report on that exchange, gleaned from court records, states, "One of my patients informed me during a session that he was involved in an intimate relationship with Barbara Battalino. The veteran said he was becoming uncomfortable in the relationship, but felt obliged to continue, due to the fact that she had helped him with some financial and family problems."

Patterson told his superiors about Battalino's relationship with a patient, but they didn't formally report her to the Board of Psychiatry or fire her. Instead, Battalino resigned voluntarily in October 1991 and got to keep $16,000 in remaining salary.

Worse, Arthur claims the remaining people treating him at the V.A. broke his confidence, betrayed and abandoned him without proper referral to other sources of care.

In February 1992, Arthur sued Battalino and the V.A. alleging sexual abuse and medical malpractice.

Anybody got an idea yet where this is going?

In sworn testimony in federal court, Battalino denied that the incident in her office ever took place, but she did admit to having sexual relations with Arthur after she stopped being his doctor. She also admitted giving Arthur thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.

But guess what?

Her testimony is contradicted by 25 hours of phone conversations that Arthur recorded near the end of their relationship.

On one of the tapes, Battalino confronts Arthur after he tells her he confided in Patterson about the sex act in Battalino's office.

This would have grave consequences for Battalino professionally because it established the fact that she had sex with him while he was in her care. It also opened up the V.A. to liability in the case.

On the tape, Battalino responds to Arthur: "What? ... Oh, Ed! ... No, the thing was that we were supposed to not have had sex until after ... I can't believe you would divulge that."

Later in the conversation, Arthur says he's not sure he told Patterson. Battalino angrily tells him if he does she'll deny it.

Battalino's testimony in the civil case became the subject of FBI and grand jury investigations conducted by the Justice Department.

On April 10, 1998, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and the Justice Department filed an official "information" in federal district court in which Reno alleged that Battalino "did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impeded the due administration of justice in connection with a pending proceeding before a court of the United States."

Reno concluded that Battalino's denial under oath "was false and misleading in that the defendant in fact had performed oral sex on Arthur in her Boise office on June 27, 1991."

On April 14, 1998, the Justice Department issued a press release stating that Battalino pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and would be sentenced July 20, 1998. The violation is a felony under title 18, section 1503 of the U.S. code, punishable by 10 to 16 months in prison.

And all this because somebody had consensual sex in their office and lied about it under oath. [[In-content Ad]]