ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND MANNY GARCIA
Two representatives of Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives on Tuesday
asked
reporters to investigate a damaging allegation about a prominent
doctor who
wants the boy removed from the family's home -- a claim that
records and
medical colleagues indicate is false.
Attorney Jose Garcia-Pedrosa and family spokesman Armando Gutierrez
contacted The Herald separately to say they had received a tip
from a
''source'' about Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician who has advised
Immigration
and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner on the
four-month
custody battle.
They said the source, whom they would not identify, alleged Redlener
had
been forced to leave Jackson Memorial Hospital in the 1970s for
drug use.
''You should look into it,'' said Garcia-Pedrosa, a former city
manager for
Miami and Miami Beach. He provided the name and phone number
of a
local doctor, Dr. James Alleyn, who might confirm the claim.
The physician and his wife, Dr. Cielo Rita Alleyn , who trained
at Jackson with
Redlener, had relayed rumors to a friend connected to the Cuban
American
National Foundation, but had no first-hand knowledge of them.
They say they
did not authorize their names to be used and are uncertain how
the allegations
reached Garcia-Pedrosa, whom they know.
The hospital said Redlener, who was chief of pediatrics at Jackson
and helped
found its child-abuse program, was not forced out and left in
1978 ''in good
standing.''
Two colleagues who worked with him in Miami, including Dr. Barry
Crown,
head of neuropsychology and the forensic services group at Miami
Children's
Hospital, described him as a consummate professional, teacher
and crusader
for children.
Redlener has since gone on to a career as a well-known fund-raiser
for programs
to provide medical care to poor and homeless children across
the country, and is
now spearheading construction of a new $100 million nonprofit
children's hospital
at Montefiori Medical Center in New York City. His campaigns
on behalf of
children have drawn support from Vice President Al Gore.
Gutierrez's and Garcia Pedrosa's phone calls came a day after
Redlener released
a strongly worded letter in which he called the Miami relatives'
household
psychologically ''abusive'' of Elian and urged U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno to
remove the boy immediately. The letter received wide media attention,
and led to
Redlener's appearance on several national TV news shows.
''We are not trying to discredit the doctor,'' Gutierrez, a political
consultant known
for digging up dirt on opponents, said after learning The Herald
was publishing an
article. ''We get a lot of tips and we were passing on an unsubstantiated
tip.''
Redlener called the allegations against him ''patently ridiculous.
''There has never been a shadow of a cloud on my career,'' Redlener
said in an
interview. ''The whole thing is a diversion from a critical issue
regarding this child.
We should all get back to the question of what is in this child's
best interest.''
Redlener, a Brooklyn native, graduated from the University of
Miami medical
school in 1969, then returned to Jackson in 1973 as chief resident,
running the
pediatric intensive care unit and staying on the faculty until
resigning in 1978. He
also worked as a VISTA volunteer in Arkansas, and was recently
inducted into
the UM medical school's hall of fame.
With singer Paul Simon, he founded the Children's Health Fund,
which has funded
rolling medical clinics that provide care to poor kids in places
such as New York
City, Florida and the Appalachian mountains in West Virginia
-- where the
program is run by Dr. Isabel Pino, a Cuban-born physician from
the same town as
Elian.
Crown, the Miami Children's hospital psychologist, said Redlener
has long been
friends with singers Paul Simon, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, who
have helped him
raise money for children's issues. Crown recalled that Redlener
persuaded Baez
to perform two benefit concerts in Miami for abused children.
Herald staff writers Jay Weaver and Karen Rafinski also contributed to this story.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald