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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > October > 23 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: Twin pediatricians case sets mind to whirring
All by itself, the story of Dr. Mark Blankenburg of Hamilton is a stunner, at least to his community.
Now in his early 50s, he has spent his career serving Hamilton as a pediatrician, only to be discovered to be an abuser of boys. He was convicted this month on 16 charges relating to having sex with underage male patients and paying them with money and drugs to keep them quiet.
It was a heck of a trial. The handful of alleged victims nearly all had credibility problems. One is in prison, perhaps for the rest of his life, for almost killing a police officer. Others admitted to getting illicit drugs from the doctor and to having sustained a relationship with him after the first sex act.
But the jury apparently had difficulty giving credence to defense arguments, including that the reason Blankenburg gave out money ($250,000 in one case) and drugs was that he was being extorted with the threat of exposure for things he had never done.
The trial — which I didn’t personally attend — was a lesson in how certain young psyches disintegrate. A boy might be shaken to his core by the first unwanted sexual experience, but he’d become hooked on the money and the drugs, and come back to the doctor for more. Disturbing stuff.
And yet, we haven’t gotten to the real stunner yet: The doctor has a twin, also a doctor, also a pediatrician, but in Fairfield, rather than Hamilton. They apparently shared the hobby of photographing high school sporting events. And the brother is charged with the same kinds of crimes, minus the drug angle. Specifically, he faces 22 counts and a trial in April.
The prosecutors had wanted to try the brothers in the same trial, because the charges overlap, involving some of the same victims. But the courts decided that jurors could be confused by the similar appearance of the two defendants and other factors.
The case raises fascinating questions about the origins of evil deeds, if the second brother is convicted. If two men with the same genes can live eerily similar lives, even to the point of a pattern of committing eerily similar sexual crimes, the notion that they are under the control of an awfully strong compulsion is stronger than if there’s just one perp. One has to wonder if they weren’t somehow destined to do what they did.
That point is not made here with an eye on punishment in these cases. Obviously, the accused have to be judged and punished according to the law.
But, with an eye on the future and how to avoid these kinds of horrors, the role of compulsion — of an internal force driving a person — has to be understood.
Of course, one pair of cases doesn’t prove much. In truth, if two people with the same genes act the same way, that doesn’t mean that genes are the reason, if they’ve also had the same experiences. Maybe the experiences are driving the situation. (Even in that case, though, the compulsions might be just as strong.)
Stephen T. Holmes, co-author of “Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior,” a 2008 textbook, says he suspects that experience is the crucial factor uniting the brothers, not biology, if, indeed, they’re guilty of very similar crimes. He says he can’t say what experiences they had, or where.
Studies show that if one identical twin has a pattern of criminal behavior, there’s a 60 percent chance the other will, too. For fraternal twins, the figure is 30 percent. (Holmes is quick to point out that these numbers don’t suggest for a second that twins are particularly given to crime. They certainly aren’t.)
Twins who commit crimes don’t necessarily commit the same crimes. Holmes says he has never seen anything remotely like the Blankenburg case, as charged.
There’s a new book called “Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How they Shape Our Lives,” by Nicholas A Christakis and James H. Fowler. You might have heard about its point: if the people in your circle are overweight, for example, you are more likely to be overweight. People reinforce each other.
In the same way, two brothers going in the same direction might reinforce each other. Soon, one has to guess, there’ll be a book about the Blankenburg case itself.
Pending whatever enlightenment that might offer, here’s an exercise that has set a lot of minds whirring over the years:
Imagine that you were separated at birth from your identical twin and grew up in a different environment. Then ponder which of your characteristics seem to you so ingrained in your makeup that you suspect your twin would share them.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Columns, Health Care, Martin Gottlieb, Suburban Communities
Comments
By Language
October 23, 2009 9:29 AM | Link to this
A victim is not “alleged” once the defendant has been convicted.
By Quentin
October 23, 2009 1:19 PM | Link to this
So why is it when boys are molested by women we think there is no damage somehow? The destruction of the lives of these boys is typical of someone molested no matter the gender of the victim or the gender of the offender but our society would just wink and smile if the doctors were women molesting boys or girls. Until we talk ALL cases seriously and also go after those who make false allegations for thier crimes then there really is no point in looking at any issues like genetics or upbringing. After all, plenty of studies show most male rapists were molested as kids and usually by women but we don’t take seriously the crimes those women commit or what the end results are likely to be for others as a result.
By I Quit
October 23, 2009 3:55 PM | Link to this
Very good point in this article. The power of social networks is extremly powerful. I began associating with pople who do not smoke which made quitting so much easier.