9.Jhilam Biswas — Direct/Cross/Redirect/Recross
309 linesTHE COURT: All right, and with that, you ready for the jury?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jury's entering.
BAILIFF: This court's now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, we return back to the trial, Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All parties are present, including the defendant and including the 18 jurors.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Commonwealth, you ready to call your next witness?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes, Your Honor. The Commonwealth calls Dr. Biswas.
JHILAM BISWAS: I do.
COURT CLERK: Thank you. You may have a seat, ma'am.
JHILAM BISWAS: Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Good afternoon, Doctor.
JHILAM BISWAS: Good afternoon.
THE COURT: All right. Commonwealth, please.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you, Your Honor. Good afternoon. Can you please state and spell your first and last name?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. My name is Jhilam Biswas. My first name is spelled J-H-I-L-A-M, last name spelled B-I-S-W-A-S.
MS. SPRAGUE: And your date of birth?
JHILAM BISWAS: Date of birth is 9/12/1982.
MS. SPRAGUE: What do you do for a living?
JHILAM BISWAS: I'm a forensic psychiatrist, and I work at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what is a forensic psychologist—or psychiatrist? Pardon.
JHILAM BISWAS: Well, I'm a forensic psychiatrist by specialty training, and we work in the courts often doing forensic evaluations of individuals. But I'm also an adult psychiatrist, and I work at Brigham and Women's Hospital as an adult psychiatrist on the consult-liaison unit.
MS. SPRAGUE: And can you just briefly describe your education and training background that qualifies you for this work?
JHILAM BISWAS: Sure. I grew up in the South Shore. I went to Dartmouth College, and then I went to medical school at UMass Chan Medical School. I then did my psychiatry residency at Harvard Longwood, which consists of Brigham and Women's, Beth Israel, Boston Children's, at the time. And after that, I did subspecialty training after my psychiatry residency in forensic psychiatry again at UMass Chan Medical School.
MS. SPRAGUE: And focusing in on January of 2023, were you working at the Brigham and Women's Hospital?
JHILAM BISWAS: I was.
MS. SPRAGUE: And specifically on January 25th, 2023, did you interact with a woman, a patient there named Lindsay Clancy?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did on January 26th.
MS. SPRAGUE: 26th, okay. And in what capacity did you interact with her? As a forensic psychiatrist or as a member of the staff at Brigham and Women's?
JHILAM BISWAS: I interacted with her as a member of the staff, the psychiatry staff, at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
MS. SPRAGUE: And did you have a particular role that day on January 26th, 2023?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes, I was on the consult-liaison service, which is the psychiatry service that's called by medical and surgical specialties to help evaluate and provide psychiatric recommendations.
MS. SPRAGUE: And when you... Did you meet with Ms. Clancy on that day, on the 26th?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: And was that around 2:14 PM that you had that interaction?
JHILAM BISWAS: I think it was somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00. Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And when you met with Lindsay Clancy, was that in her hospital room in the ICU?
JHILAM BISWAS: It was.
MS. SPRAGUE: And was she intubated at the time?
JHILAM BISWAS: She was.
MS. SPRAGUE: And was she awake?
JHILAM BISWAS: She was awake.
MS. SPRAGUE: And was she oriented?
JHILAM BISWAS: So she was intubated, so it was difficult for her to really answer a lot, a range of questions. And so she gestured to me to be able to write. And so we knew that she was really exhausted and anxious from the entire experience and the evaluation, and so we didn't ask her all of the questions around orientation.
MS. SPRAGUE: When she gestured that she wanted to write, did you give her something to write with or something to write on?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what did you give her?
JHILAM BISWAS: Paper.
MS. SPRAGUE: And did you also give her a pen or something like that?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And when you asked her certain questions, was she able to answer those questions by writing the answers on the paper?
JHILAM BISWAS: She was.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And did you ask her about her mood that day?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did ask her her mood.
MS. SPRAGUE: And what did she write?
JHILAM BISWAS: She wrote, "Horrified."
MS. SPRAGUE: And what was her affect during this interaction?
JHILAM BISWAS: At the time that I saw her, she was intubated, and that in and of itself is very uncomfortable. And so she seemed very anxious.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And did she write anything else on that paper that you saw?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. The entire evaluation was done through writing because she couldn't speak.
MS. SPRAGUE: So what types of questions were you asking her, and what was she responding with?
JHILAM BISWAS: So we asked her, you know, "How are you feeling?" "Horrified." And then she wrote down, "Do I have an attorney?" And I said with my team that, "At this time we're just getting to know you and getting to know the case, and we're not sure exactly, you know, what is happening." And we asked her, "Do you have questions for us?" And she asked, "Is my body broken? Are my legs straight?" And she then asked about, can she have visitors and, you know, where her family is.
MS. SPRAGUE: And when you are, you know, asking her questions, what is the goal of the questions that you're asking her? What are you trying to address or assess?
JHILAM BISWAS: It depends. Psychiatrists are called for all kinds of issues that happen in the hospital. In this situation, we were asked around, you know, diagnostic clarity, that there was a likely suicide event that occurred, "Can you evaluate her for safety at this time before she goes into surgery?"
MS. SPRAGUE: And I know that she was intubated, so she's writing her answers. But based on the answers she wrote on the paper, did she seem to understand the questions you were asking?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And her responses, did you understand those?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. She was anxious, and she needed breaks. And I said, "Any time you need a break, we can leave." But she did write to us those particular answers.
MS. SPRAGUE: So what she was writing, even when she asked if she had a lawyer, those were things, what she was writing made sense given the situation. She wasn't writing, "Is there a unicorn in the corner," right?
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Like that.
THE COURT: What? I'm sorry. I didn't hear that. What?
MS. SPRAGUE: If there was a unicorn in the corner. So what she's asking, "Do I have an attorney? Are my legs straight? Is my body broken?" Those all made sense given the situation she was in, correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: They were relevant answers and questions she was asking.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And are you familiar with the characteristics of psychosis?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And what are the typical signs or symptoms of someone who is in psychosis?
JHILAM BISWAS: It really depends, and it ranges across a spectrum of symptoms. So we have a whole category of different types of symptoms that we look at for psychosis, and they are different for everyone. But, you know, they can be what we call negative symptoms, which are more internal, isolating, not responding, not reacting very much. And then we have symptoms like positive symptoms that... That's what we call them in psychiatry. But they're a little bit more outward-focused, where objectively you can see what those symptoms are, like being paranoid, darting your eyes around, responding to internal stimuli, which means you're responding to voices, and, you know, being within a delusion. So there's all kinds of symptoms, and they look different for each and every person.
MS. SPRAGUE: In your conversation with Ms. Clancy, did you notice any internal or external signs of psychosis?
JHILAM BISWAS: At the time, I documented that I did not note those.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And did you also note that, you know, her thinking was linear, goal-oriented, thoughtful, and she didn't appear to be responding to internal stimuli?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. That is typical language in psychiatric mental statuses, and I did document that.
MS. SPRAGUE: What is internal stimuli?
JHILAM BISWAS: Oftentimes it's very difficult for our patients to be able to articulate what they're hearing. They may have perceptual disturbances like hallucinations or auditory hallucinations and maybe hearing voices. When it's really active, we often see those individuals interacting with those voices. I didn't see that in that particular moment.
MS. SPRAGUE: So for example, you could see someone engaging in a conver—looks like they're engaging in a conversation with someone, or it looks like they're looking over at something, thinking something i— or someone is there when they're not? Is that—
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct. That's what responding to internal stimuli is. Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And you didn't see any of that present with Ms. Clancy?
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And...
MS. SPRAGUE: Would it be fair that some of the obvious signs of psychosis would be someone whose thoughts are disorganized, that their thinking isn't linear, that they're not making sense? Things like word salad, where word— they're just throwing in words, making sentences that don't make sense?
JHILAM BISWAS: So you describe symptoms that we can see in people with serious mental illness who have a psychotic disorder with active symptoms.
MS. SPRAGUE: And you didn't see any of that with Ms. Clancy, is that correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: Not in that snapshot moment of time.
MS. SPRAGUE: Right. And to be clear, you only saw her for a limited amount of time on that one day, correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: That is correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And this is January 26th, 2023, about a day and a half or so after she's admitted to Brigham and Women's?
JHILAM BISWAS: That is correct, yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And she's still intubated?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And one of the first questions she asks is, "Do I have a lawyer?"
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: And did you have any—based on your training and experience, did you have any thoughts about her awareness or thoughtfulness about the questions she asked or the answers she gave?
MR. REDDINGTON: I don't know what that means. Objection.
THE COURT: Okay, if you could rephrase that.
MS. SPRAGUE: Did you have any assessment professionally of the responses and awareness that she had?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. At that time I was trying to assess, you know, is she confused or oriented? Is she completely disorganized? Is she so anxious that she won't be able to sleep? I was assessing suicidality mostly. I was being called into the room for that. And so I—there were a lot of things that I was assessing all at the same time before the surgical intervention that was going to happen. And did I answer your question?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes.
JHILAM BISWAS: Okay.
MS. SPRAGUE: All right. And so, in doing that, in evaluating all of those things, did you have any concerns at that point in time that she couldn't make a decision to have the surgery or that there was some cause for concern there in her behavior?
JHILAM BISWAS: I felt she had the capability to make the decision for surgery at that time.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. I have no further questions. Thank you.
JHILAM BISWAS: Thank you.
THE COURT: Mr. Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: Afternoon.
JHILAM BISWAS: Good afternoon.
MR. REDDINGTON: So just a couple questions. When counsel was asking you about psychosis, apparently you've dealt with people, some of your patients while you're working in the hospital, that in fact were florid. They had psychosis and symptoms of psychosis?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: So you've dealt with people—is it a fair amount of people that would actually hear voices?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. I've seen many patients that are hearing voices.
MR. REDDINGTON: And were they, to your knowledge, were they involved with command hallucinations, things of that nature?
JHILAM BISWAS: My patients in the past?
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah, yeah.
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah. A fair, large amount of people that you've treated over the years that have suffered from command hallucinations, hearing voices, delusions, things of that nature, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: In my career, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah. And do you know whether or not there had been any indication from Lindsay as to, while in the hospital, having any delusions or psychosis, symptoms of that nature? If you know.
JHILAM BISWAS: So I saw her, she had only been in the hospital for a day and a half.
MR. REDDINGTON: Right.
JHILAM BISWAS: And I hadn't heard about any psychotic delusions from anybody.
MR. REDDINGTON: But that's what you saw, though. I mean, as far as you—like, how often would you see her?
JHILAM BISWAS: I see. I saw her one time.
MR. REDDINGTON: Once. Okay. How long were you evaluating her?
JHILAM BISWAS: Probably, because she was intubated, it was very—
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah, just asking how long.
JHILAM BISWAS: …about 20 to 30 minutes.
MR. REDDINGTON: 20 minutes, 30 minutes. And a psychosis—is a psychosis, to your knowledge, something that has to continue or does it stop?
JHILAM BISWAS: It absolutely depends on the patient. It depends on their age, how many episodes of psychosis they have had. It depends on the type of psychosis we're seeing. For some people, they can have moments of clarity, absolutely, and for some it can be more continuous. It really depends on the patient and their illness.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So basically you're saying that it would be case specific?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: All right. And in the 20 minutes or so that you had when you were dealing with Lindsay, were you aware of her prior medical and psychiatric history?
JHILAM BISWAS: When we get consulted on a case, we—
MR. REDDINGTON: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'm asking, were you aware of her medical and psychiatric history?
JHILAM BISWAS: I was aware of the portion that was in the medical record before I saw her.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So that would deal with, as far as postpartum psychosis?
JHILAM BISWAS: I—can—could you ask that question again?
MR. REDDINGTON: Yeah. When you looked at the medical record—
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: …and when you were involved evaluating her on behalf of the hospital. 'Cause you weren't, you weren't a psychiatrist that her mother or father had retained and asked to go see her, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: You were working for the hospital.
JHILAM BISWAS: I was working for Brigham and Women's Hospital.
MR. REDDINGTON: And you had spoken to a number of people before you interacted with her for the 20 minutes that you saw her while she was there for a month, right?
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Now, were you aware of her history of documented, documented postpartum depression?
JHILAM BISWAS: I was aware of mostly the postpartum anxiety that was in the record, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And postpartum anxiety. The symptomology would be insomnia?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes, can be.
MR. REDDINGTON: And did she have insomnia prior to seeing you for 20 minutes?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: And do you recall the length of time that she would be suffering from insomnia? Was it like a week, a day, a month or what?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall the timing exactly.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you recall that at one point, that she was on medication and actually went for 48 hours without sleep?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall that exactly from the record, that number.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you recall, in addition to the insomnia, that she was concerned as asking you if in fact her brain was broken?
JHILAM BISWAS: She asked me, "Are my... Is my body broken?"
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Did you see in the records that she was concerned about the effect of the drugs and whether or not her brain was broken, quote, unquote?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did not see that language in the records.
MR. REDDINGTON: How about acting on command hallucinations, conversations or statements to the effect that she was having thoughts of suicidal ideation? You knew that, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did know about the suicidal ideation, yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: How many times did she express to people that she would tell people that she had been concentrating on committing suicide, if you know?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall the number of times.
MR. REDDINGTON: So in any event, you know that she was insomnia, you know that there was a significant period of time that she was suffering from insomnia. You knew that she was expressing suicidal ideation. How about homicidal ideation? Did she express that?
JHILAM BISWAS: Not from my review of the records.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Would that be indicative of a person that could be in psychosis expressing concerns about homicidal ideation?
MS. SPRAGUE: Objection.
THE COURT: No. Overrule. Allow it.
JHILAM BISWAS: Sorry, I don't know that quest- Could you repeat that question?
MR. REDDINGTON: Sure. Is that one of the factors that one would be concerned about as a psychiatrist if a person was expressing homicidal ideation?
JHILAM BISWAS: I would be concerned about that as a psychiatrist.
MR. REDDINGTON: And in fact, in this case, you knew at least about the suicidal ideation that she had been expressing, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: But you didn't know about any homicidal ideation she was expressing, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: From the records or from-
MR. REDDINGTON: Prior to coming to see you for 20 minutes.
JHILAM BISWAS: I knew that there was an event that had occurred and that-
MR. REDDINGTON: Three children died. That's the event you're referring to, right?
MS. SPRAGUE: Objection.
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay.
THE COURT: All right. Next question.
MR. REDDINGTON: Now, as far as the period of time that she was involved with... By the way, what's hypomania?
JHILAM BISWAS: Hypomania is sort of the gradual increase towards mania, the symptoms that we see in somebody who might have bipolar disorder. And with bipolar disorder, we see mixed depression, and we see mania, and we see symptoms that kind of gradually increase to mania, and we call that period hypomania.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did she exhibit, to your knowledge from the medical records, any periods of hypomania? Excessive cleaning, exercise or activities, being awake at night, things of that nature.
JHILAM BISWAS: At that moment, on January 26th, I don't remember reading about that.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Do you have any memory of reading about it at all, other than that moment, as a treating physician, a doctor, psychiatrist?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't remember.
MR. REDDINGTON: So what is your purpose at the hospital? I mean, you're not treating the person for any illness that they have as far as their mental condition, right? You're not treating them.
JHILAM BISWAS: We are, we are.
MR. REDDINGTON: Oh, you are?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: So you're concerned about, obviously, their symptomology, if any, that they present at the time that you're looking at them and talking to them, or in this case, she couldn't talk, but using what-
JHILAM BISWAS: She couldn't talk, and she was going into surgery, and we had recommended suicidal precautions. We had recommended trauma-informed care so that she was getting the care that she needed. She was gonna go into surgery, and then after that, we were gonna continue to follow her and assess her and make sure that we were evaluating her appropriately and making recommendations to the surgical team for the care that she needed.
MR. REDDINGTON: All set.
MS. SPRAGUE: Objection.
THE COURT: Yeah. Next.
MR. REDDINGTON: So when you're dealing with this person that's going into surgery, did you know what type of surgery she was going in for?
JHILAM BISWAS: At the time, we knew that she was going into surgery for her spine.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did you know what happened to her spine?
JHILAM BISWAS: I knew that she had injuries to her spine.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did you know that there was a transection injury, that her spine was basically exploded into T- T5, T6, other thoracic vertebrae fractured, including the cervical vertebrae up by her throat? You knew all that?
JHILAM BISWAS: We were reading about it. It was all actively happening at that time.
MR. REDDINGTON: Was she in pain?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes. I'm sure she was.
MR. REDDINGTON: Yes. Was she on medication?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yeah. She was on a few medications related to pain and blood pressure.
MR. REDDINGTON: So she's brought into the hospital. You knew from reviewing her records as a psychiatrist that, in fact, she coded the day before, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall her coding the day before I saw her. I do recall from the records that she had a coding event after, on, I think, on the 27th or 28th.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So you were not involved with her when she coded. Did you know that she had any events of that nature right after she was brought from the South Shore Hospital?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't know what you're referring to.
MR. REDDINGTON: You know what a code is, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did she almost die before you saw her?
JHILAM BISWAS: I think it was after.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. How about perfusion, blood in the body, and tubes being inserted into her chest? Did you know that from looking at the records?
JHILAM BISWAS: I think that happened after.
MR. REDDINGTON: That was after-
JHILAM BISWAS: But I don't recall 'cause I don't have the records on me.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So did you know that she had massive transfusions?
JHILAM BISWAS: Not at the-
MR. REDDINGTON: You told this jury that it was after she saw you that she coded, had transfusions, had double tubes put into both sides of her lungs. It's your testimony that it was after she saw you? You don't know, do you?
JHILAM BISWAS: My understanding is the surgery happened after I saw her.
MR. REDDINGTON: Oh, the surgery did. I'm asking you about the massive transfusions. I'm asking you about the tubes being inserted so that the 300 milligrams or whatever it is of blood can be perfused and taken out of her chest cavity. I'm asking about whether or not you knew that she had coded. I'm not asking about the surgery. Obviously, that took place after you saw her, right?
MS. SPRAGUE: Objection. Asked and answered.
THE COURT: Overruled.
MR. REDDINGTON: 'Cause that's why you were talking to her, right? To see if she could make an informed consent to a surgery, I guess.
JHILAM BISWAS: No. I was called for the suicidal ideation.
MR. REDDINGTON: Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I thought you said that you wanted to talk to her about the surgery as well.
MR. REDDINGTON: ... The suicidal ideation continues to this day, does it not?
MS. SPRAGUE: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did the suicidal ideation that you were concerned about continue the time that she was in Brigham and Women's Hospital for a month?
JHILAM BISWAS: I saw her one time.
MR. REDDINGTON: Right. I know that. 20 minutes, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. So you know nothing about suicidal ideation after you saw her intubated, and then laying in the bed, and then you talked to her as you've discussed with the jury, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: That's correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: That's it.
JHILAM BISWAS: That's correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: How about the cops? How many cops were there?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall.
MR. REDDINGTON: There were some, right? There were armed men in that room, were there not?
JHILAM BISWAS: I don't recall. I think they were outside the room, if I remember correctly from three years ago.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. I know it's been a while. Do you recall armed police officers being outside the room?
JHILAM BISWAS: I think I rec— I don't recall.
MR. REDDINGTON: Do you have any memory of any police officers being outside the room where she was laying in that bed?
JHILAM BISWAS: I knew she was in custody, and generally in custody—
MR. REDDINGTON: No, no, not generally. Let's talk about Lindsay Clancy. She was—
JHILAM BISWAS: I can't recall.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Did you know that she couldn't even have visitors, in the sense that the police would not even let her mother or father visit with her?
JHILAM BISWAS: I can't recall.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did you know that, when you were dealing with her, was she handcuffed to the side of the gurney or the stretcher?
JHILAM BISWAS: She had a soft restraint according to my documentation.
MR. REDDINGTON: Soft restraints. Okay.
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MR. REDDINGTON: Did you have any conversation with the police at all?
MR. REDDINGTON: And after you spoke to her for 20 minutes, that really ended your involvement with Lindsay Clancy until today, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: That is correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: Okay. Thank you.
JHILAM BISWAS: Thank you.
THE COURT: Redirect.
MS. SPRAGUE: Doctor, when you were being asked about these records that you reviewed, what records did you review?
JHILAM BISWAS: I reviewed the records in Epic, which is our medical record at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
MS. SPRAGUE: And so you didn't do a deep dive into Ms. Clancy's entire psychiatric history prior to coming to Brigham and Women's, correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: I did, as you do, as is protocol for a consult, you look at the records, and you make sure you have an understanding of what's been happening with the patient.
MS. SPRAGUE: But did you have access at that time to all the records for all the treatment providers Ms. Clancy had seen regarding her mental health for the last six months?
JHILAM BISWAS: You know, I don't even know. You get... I had some of the records. I don't know if I had all of the records.
MS. SPRAGUE: Okay. And so you reviewed what you had, correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And then you met with the patient, correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: Correct.
MS. SPRAGUE: And in meeting with her, where she's, you know, she's had these events happen. She's had the tubes in her chest. She's about to go into surgery. One of the first things on her mind is, "Do I have a lawyer?" Correct?
MR. REDDINGTON: I'm gonna object to that. Move to strike that. First of all, it wasn't part of cross. Secondly, this is the fourth time the counsel has tried to accentuate that.
THE COURT: Overruled. I'll allow that question. Go ahead.
MS. SPRAGUE: Well, it... That was one of her first thoughts, was, "Do I have a lawyer?" Correct?
JHILAM BISWAS: She wasn't able... She was exhausted. She was intubated. She could barely talk. She was writing, and she was getting ready for surgery, and so those were the few questions that came up.
MS. SPRAGUE: Right. She's exhausted. She's anxious. She's in pain. She's about to go in for surgery, and she wants to know, "Do I have a lawyer?"
MR. REDDINGTON: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
MS. SPRAGUE: So given the condition she was in at that time, you know, the defense counsel asked you about the pain she was in. Defense counsel asked you about the surgery—
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: ...she was about to go into. Those are the issues that she was focused on—
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: ...in your conversation with her. "Am I broken?" "Are my legs straight?"
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: "Do I have a lawyer?"
JHILAM BISWAS: Yes.
MS. SPRAGUE: Thank you.
MR. REDDINGTON: She wasn't focused on much while she was exhausted, in pain, anxious, and concerned about the future surgery that she was, was imminent, was she?
THE COURT: If you could speak up, ask that question.
MR. REDDINGTON: Sorry. She wasn't focused on much of anything while she was exhausted, in pain, unable to talk, and anticipating imminent surgery, right?
JHILAM BISWAS: That's correct.
MR. REDDINGTON: Thank you. That's all.
THE COURT: Anything, Commonwealth?
MS. SPRAGUE: No.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, doctor.
JHILAM BISWAS: Thank you. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Commonwealth?