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	Doctors Dispute Cause of Victim's Stress By Brian Krans Quad-Cities Online September 16, 2006 http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=305962 A former Davenport altar boy suing the Davenport diocese suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because he didn't become a priest -- not from sexual abuse by clergy in the 1960s, a psychiatrist testified today. Michael Taylor, the Des Moines psychiatrist, said D. Michl Uhde, 56, was getting better from PTSD and depression after medication. He said it was caused by 'the fact that he didn't become a priest and all of the activity that happened at the seminary regarding that,' Mr. Taylor testified in Scott County District Court. At the St. Ambrose seminary, Mr. Uhde testified earlier this week, Bishop Lawrence Soens had inappropriate sexual contact with Mr. Uhde before he was kicked out for allegedly coming forward with the abuse. Closing arguments will begin this afternoon after jurors receive 30 pages of instructions before retiring. Though claiming to have been mentally unfit to sue the church until recently, Mr. Uhde has exercised his legal rights numerous times in the last two decades, according to testimony Thursday. Mr. Uhde claimed that until filing the lawsuit last year he was mentally unfit to sue the diocese regarding the sexual abuse. But he had signed legal papers for two divorces, mortgages and child custody disputes. That was how attorney Rand Wonio began defending the diocese Thursday in a $2.3 million lawsuit regarding sexual abuse allegedly at the hands of now-deceased Monsignor Thomas Feeney. The diocese contends that the statute of limitations has run out for a civil suit in connection with the alleged abuse. Attorneys on behalf of Mr. Uhde filed the suit claiming Monsignor Feeney sexually abused Mr. Uhde when he was an altar boy at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. His attorneys, Craig Levien and Patrick Noaker, rested their case Thursday morning with testimony from a psychologist who said Mr. Uhde suffered from depression most of his life because of the abuse. The diocese called Mr. Taylor today to dispute testimony from Wayne Sliwa, a Davenport psychologist. Mr. Sliwa said Thursday it could take up to 10 years of therapy to end the 'depersonalization' from which Mr. Uhde suffers. 'It started in his early childhood as a direct result from the sexual abuse by Monsignor Feeney,' he said. Recalled as a witness, Mr. Uhde said he had heard of the $9 million settlement in October 2004 between the diocese and 37 men who claimed they too were abused by priests. He said that had nothing to do with filing his claim or jogging his memory of his abuse. 'It didn't affect me one way or another at the time,' he said. Mr. Uhde said his memories came back when he was approached about an upcoming lawsuit regarding Bishop Lawrence Soens, who Mr. Uhde said was sexually inappropriate to him at St. Ambrose seminary. However, one of Mr. Uhde's ex-wives testified Mr. Uhde not only told her about the abuse when they were married in the early 1980s, but he wasn't upset when he told her. 'It was more matter-of-fact, like something that happened in his past,' said Julie Dubois. The lawsuit is the first the diocese has taken to court after more than $10 million to pay claims of sexual abuse by clergy. The diocese faces bankruptcy because insurance no longer will pay for settlements. Another trial on a separate lawsuit is scheduled for next month.
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