Editor’s note: All sexual assault charges against former Concord psychologist Foad Afshar, who was accused of molesting a patient, were dropped by the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office in October 2018.
What do you do when you swear a solemn oath in superior court in front of your peers and God to tell the whole truth and you are not allowed to?
What do you do when you see something that is so wrong you can’t believe it’s happening in front of you and by the grace of God could be you?
What do you do when you see a change so significant and dramatic to your profession, your career, your passion and you can’t stop it? To ignore it would be foolish and dangerous and it goes against every fiber of your body?
What do you do when you’ve sworn an oath as a professional to do nothing other than help children, and you put your time, your money and your experience and your faith in the system and it fails you?
What do you do when a comedy of errors results in the unjust imprisonment of a just and righteous man?
How do you untangle a political, tender issue in the common press that is emotionally laden without pointing fingers of blame at the victim?
Do you blame the bomb squad for the bomb? Do you accuse, convict and imprison the horribly wounded bomb technician who tried to defuse a complicated explosive emotional package who out of the goodness of their heart was asked to do a friend a favor?
We as providers of medical care and psychiatric support in this community have been bombarded in the press, and in our professional journals and chat rooms we’ve become masters of paranoid CYA services. The next generation doesn’t have the wisdom or skill or gumption to help these young people who were in need most. Will they say let the other guy do it? What happens when you’re the other guy? What happens when you’re the only one and you see a comrade, a colleague of decades putting his education, his experience and now his family’s safety, security and financial resources into what I can describe only as the largest travesty of justice I have ever seen?
If you know Dr. Foad Afshar, clinical psychologist, who has practiced in Concord for years and if you have a personal story or letter of support about how he helped you improve your quality of life or that of a family member; if you followed this case in the press and it doesn’t sound right to you; or if you think that this is a travesty of justice and you want to help, write a letter to the editor.
It is now time to speak up and speak out.
Do something – change this world and this community for the better. We cannot stand by passively, quietly and let the other guy do it.
A letter of support, personal testimony of his benefit to your family from his brilliant mind, practical wisdom and cut-to-the-chase would help.
(Roger H. Wicksman of Holderness is a pediatrician at Concord Pediatrics and a staff member at Concord Hospital.)