Wife of radiologist who drove family off a cliff asks for his charges to be dismissed

The wife of the radiologist who drove a Tesla carrying his family off a cliff in January 2023 is pleading for a judge to dismiss the charges against her husband, asking instead that he be sent to a mental health diversion program. 

Dharmesh Patel is on trial for three counts of attempted murder—one for each of the passengers in his vehicle when he plunged it down a 250-foot cliff. At the time of the accident, Patel’s wife, who was not named during Thursday’s hearing, told authorities that her husband “purposely” drove the car off the road, that he said he was going to do so and that he had been experiencing a depressive episode prior to the accident. 

But on Thursday, Patel’s wife came to his defense, telling prosecutors that “a mental health episode beyond any of our understanding or control” was to blame for the accident. She said that their family is not complete without her husband at home, and that the couple’s children have been in emotional pain without their father, multiple local news outlets have reported. 

Patel’s defense has largely centered on the state of his mental health at the time of the accident. In an April hearing, it was revealed that Patel had been suffering from delusions and hearing voices, both triggered by a chaotic landscape of stressful news events across the world and here at home. 

The defense called on the expertise of clinical and forensic psychologist Mark Patterson, who has conducted more than 20 different exams on Patel, to plead their case that the radiologist is not a danger to society, but rather that his poor mental state at the time was the driving factor behind the accident. Patterson told the court that he believed Patel is “very motivated and amenable to treatment,” and recommended the charges against him be dismissed in favor of a mental health diversion program. 

Thursday, Yan Chan, a psychologist who the prosecution has consulted with regarding the state of Patel’s mental health, expressed concern about the possibility of the radiologist’s release, especially in the absence of antipsychotic medication, which Patel was taken off of some time ago. 

Chan cautioned that Patel’s delusions could come back if he is allowed to re-enter "a ripe environment for these kind of brewing thoughts.” 

If the defense’s request is granted, Patel would undergo intensive outpatient treatment under the direction of Stanford psychiatric clinician James Armontrout. After treatment completion, there is the possibility that Patel’s case could be dismissed.