Two Expert Witnesses Testify for Dr. Thomas Tyma in Indecent Assault Cases

Two rheumatologists testifying Wednesday as expert witnesses said Dr. Thomas Tyma's exams of female patients were appropriate, but one of the experts based that opinion only on the Wexford doctor's clinical notes.

When Dr. Chester Oddis was asked about descriptions in who said Tyma touched their breasts and buttocks inappropriately, he said those exams were not appropriate.

Tyma faces 17 indecent assault charges and 16 harassment charges, based on reports from women who Tyma examined at Allegheny North Arthritis Center in Wexford and Jameson South in New Castle.

Tyma will take the stand Monday when the non-jury trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Donna Jo McDaniel resumes.

Oddis, a professor of medicine in the division of rheumatology at UPMC in Oakland, described a routine exam as including listening to the patient's heart with a stethoscope.

When defense attorney Stanton Levenson asked if Tyma's exams were proper, Oddis said they were.

"Based on the clinical notes from Dr. Tyma, I didn't see anything inappropriate," Oddis said.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Digiovanni asked if he based his opinion on the women's testimony, and Oddis said that information was not included in the charts.

Oddis had access to the testimony, however, and Digiovanni asked if the touching the former patients described was inappropriate.

"Those would be inappropriate," Oddis testified.

Oddis and another expert witness, Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, explained that heart exams are a vital part of rheumatologists' medical examinations because the types of illnesses they treat are systemic and can affect the heart, lungs and other parts of the body.

"Rheumatologists treat arthritis, certain autoimmune diseases, musculoskeletalpain disorders and osteoporosis," according to the American College of Rheumatology website."There are more than 100 types of these diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout, lupus, back pain, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia and tendonitis."

Many of the women who testified said it seemed inappropriate for Tyma to touch their breasts when the pain was in their joints.

Four more women testified Wednesday that Tyma touched them inappropriately.

One said he gave her a breast exam every time she saw him, describing it as skin-to-skin contact in which he rotated his hand on each breast just as a gynecologist does during a breast exam.

"I thought he had incorporated a little wellness perk," she said. "I thought he did it to alert me to a lump. Obviously, I knew I did not have arthritis in my breast."

After a physician's assistant and a different rheumatologist conducted subsequent medical exams, the woman said she realized she had been touched inappropriately because they were not interested in examining her breasts.

Dr. Gonzalez, who is the chief of rheumatology at the University of Texas, explained the importance of giving a thorough heart exam that includes touching the patient's chest.

"You have to touch the breast to examine the heart," he said.

Gonzalez, who taught Tyma in the early 1990s, said he read testimony and Tyma's notes and records in reviewing all the cases.

He said all the exams were medically appropriate.

Digiovanni asked if he was aware some of the women testified that Tyma" grabbed" or "caressed" their breasts, and Gonzalez testified that he recalled they all had their heart listened to.

As for the terms used to describe the encounter, Gonzalez said it goes back to the perception of the patient.

Defense attorney Levenson ended the day with 11 character witnesses, including doctors and patients, who testified that Tyma has an excellent reputation in the community.