The Miami Herald
April 19, 2000
 
 
Claim about doctor in Elian case false

 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