Hospital. Allegedly a linear left parietal fracture
of the skull was noted on x-ray.
Dr. Hale focused on Dr. Walter Camp's evaluation of
changes in Tommy's personality subsequent to the
accident. He felt these changes suggested a
neurological dysfunction, the nature of which could
induce uncontrollable seizures of rage accompanied,
potentially, by lapses in consciousness. As Dr. Lesse
notes: These reports [from Dr. Camp] then
went on to state that there were immediate changes in
Tommy's personality, in that became introspective and
did not appear to be as happy as be had been prior to
the accident. Allegedly he was subject to temper
tantrums. He was said to be impulsive and given to
precipitous outbursts of anger. "He would rant and
rave, be extremely noisy, and on one occasion, put
his fist through a door." On another occasion, be was
said to have pulled a telephone out of the
wall.
While Dr. Camp had been given direct access to young
Tommy Skakel, Dr. Hale reached his hypothesis without
examining the subject. Through the efforts of Rushton
Skakel and his advisors, then, Dr. Lesse was given an
opportunity to conduct the definitive evaluation of
Tommy Skakel, and conclude, for all intensive
purposes, whether or not Dr. Hale's theory was a
sound one. Rushton Skakel's personal attorney, Tom
Sheriden from a memo dated January 9, 1979, states:
"I have the distinct impression at this writing that
Dr. Hale was being used by the Greenwich police to
scare Mr. Skakel and entrap him into admissions which
might implicate one or more of his sons. In any
event, Mr. Skakel didn't fall for that trap and did
follow a very reasonable approach of consultation
with Dr. Lesse."
By all means, Dr. Lesse's report deserves to be
read in its entirety. The summation and analysis of
that report contained herein is not intended as an
alternative to reading the source material, and, in
fact, is useful primarily to those who have already
familiarized themselves, first hand, with Dr. Lesse's
evaluations and conclusions.
Dr. Lesse reports that Tommy was a problematic and
often unruly child affected by the death of his
mother and the frequent absence of his father. Tommy
functioned poorly in school, and lacked motivation
for his scholastic endeavors: On the other hand, he
distinguished himself as an athlete and was
considered to be "popular" among both his male and
female peers. Some degree of Tommy's disinterest in
academic achievement is attributed, by Dr. Lesse, to
a general lack of emphasis placed on scholastic
endeavors in the Skakel family.
For the purpose of establishing whether or not Tommy
may have experienced some organic neurological
injury, Dr. Lesse questioned Tommy about any possible
lapses in consciousness: On further
questioning, as noted above, I could not elicit any
specific evidences of aura, feelings of detachment,
lapses of memory, aberrant behavior, episodes where
he would have lapses of contact and become aware of
himself in other areas. There was a denial of any
recent memory loss, or that he had difficulty with
recollection or situations that occurred in the
past.
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