Court hearings have begun in the case of a California radiologist who drove his family off a cliff in 2023, according to an article published by SFist.
Attorneys for Dharmesh Patel, MD, who drove his family off a Northern California cliff in a Tesla in January 2023, are seeking a mental health diversion to avoid prison time and instead seek psychological treatment. The four passengers of the vehicle, which included the parents and two children, survived the 250-ft fall.
A psychologist testified that in jailhouse interviews with Patel, he deemed that Patel had depressive disorder with psychotic features, the SFist article states. Patel's attorneys argue that Patel was "obsessed with conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein, fentanyl, and Ukraine," the report noted.
In June 2023, the Medical Board of California received a ruling that Patel cannot practice medicine in California while his case is ongoing.
The full report can be found here.
