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Local Memphis psychiatrist Dr. William C. Wolters has an unusual specialty: he's also an attorney.

Born in the hometown of Annie Oakley —Greenville, Ohio — Wolters said he planned to practice medicine as long as he could remember.

But after spending a particularly brutal winter studying pre-med at Bowling Green State University, Wolters decided to practice law.

"It was the winter of 1978, and Ohio had the absolute worst blizzard ever recorded. I was sitting in the dorm with no electricity, no water and no heat for several days. The only thing that worked was the phone," recalled Wolters.

Wolters dialed a friend who was studying law in California and asked what he was doing. When his friend replied that he was enjoying warm weather and ready to have a barbecue for friends, Wolters knew which path he would choose.

"I had family in Memphis and decided that I was heading south to law school," said Wolters, who had earned a real estate license by the age of 18 and sold real estate every summer to defray college expenses.

In 1982, Wolters graduated from the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. He married a Memphis girl and they eventually moved to Nashville, where he worked with a large international law firm and specialized in corporate law.

"I helped prepare multimillion dollar lawsuits and traveled all over the country gathering information for the discovery process (of a case)," said Wolters.

Every time he focused on healthcare matters, Wolters's interest in medicine resurfaced. "Through all that work, it rekindled that original flame of (wanting to be) a doctor. I loved being a lawyer, but I also really wanted to be a doctor," he explained.

And so Wolters proved that it really never is too late to follow your heart.

Despite having young children at home, a wife and a robust law career, he packed his family and returned to Memphis when he was accepted into medical school at the University of Tennessee. He was 34.

"I just decided that if I didn't try, it would always be something I regretted," he said.

While he was busy studying medicine, his wife opened the day care program at Christ United Methodist Church, which she managed for several years. She is now an elementary school teacher.

Wolters's first idea was that he'd practice internal medicine, but once again, his experiences dictated another path when he interned at Memphis Mental Health Institute (MMHI).

"I learned a lot and became really interested in psychiatry," he said. "I finally decided that I'd make an average internist, but that I would make a really good psychiatrist."

So, after many twists and turns along the way, Wolters completed his residency in psychiatry in 1999. Two years later, he was named medical director for the Agency for Youth and Family Development.

Through his private practice, which he opened in 2000, he provides inpatient, outpatient and forensic psychiatric services. He devotes a lot of time to civil work on cases as diverse as child custody evaluations and work-injury related claims. Wolter's specialty, forensic psychiatry, seems to be the perfect blend of both his legal and medical backgrounds.

"The most interesting, stimulating thing I love to do is to piece together a picture from a box of records that a lawyer might bring me," he admitted. "I really enjoy doing it."

Besides practicing in Memphis, Wolters spends at least half of every week in Arkansas devoted to another cause. Since 2002, Wolters has been working with children across the state who are neglected, abandoned, and/or abused.

"I didn't start off doing this much work," he said. "I heard about the need, so I came to help out. Their stories are sad and these children are in such unfortunate social situations."

Wolters believes that our society in general has created high-stress lifestyles by filling up time with artificial things. And while the use of psychotropic drugs is pervasive and the deterioration of the family unit continues, Wolters says the silver lining is that where people used to suffer, physicians are now able to diagnose and treat physical and mental illness.

Wolters also believes the brain is one of the last frontiers of medicine and that there is still so much to learn in a world where many patients, such as in the homeless population, remain untreated.

"I decided to become a psychiatrist because I thought, if I can treat someone and help them, then I can positively affect two or three generations," he confided. "If untreated, that mental illness will impact several generations."

With his work, family and practice, Wolters has little time for other pursuits and readily admits that he doesn't have published works or many hobbies because he really only has one main interest. "I want to do a lot of good work and contribute. I want to see patients," he said.

Asked if he would choose this path again, Wolters answered without hesitation: "I liked being a lawyer, but I love being a doctor."




December 2006

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