Doctor's conviction raises questions about methadone clinics

As reported in the Boston Globe from the Portland Press Herald

A state drug treatment official has concerns about the future of methadone clinics in Maine following the conviction of an addiction specialist for forging prescriptions at his Westbrook clinic.

Kim Johnson, director of the Office of Substance Abuse, said she is concerned about the future of CAP Quality Care Inc. and the effect that Dr. Marc Shinderman's convictions could have on the creation of new clinics in the state.

Shinderman, a psychiatrist, was found guilty of forging another doctor's name and prescription number on prescriptions, for drugs other than methadone, for patients at CAP Quality Care. The clinic now faces federal civil action.

"I'm worried about losing that clinic," Johnson said. "I'm worried that we will not be able to find physicians to serve as medical directors. I'm worried that doctors will feel targeted if they work with these clients."

Maine's methadone clinics now treat about 2,200 patients for addiction to opiates such as heroin and Oxycontin. The clinics are located in Calais, Bangor, Waterville and Greater Portland. [...]

Johnson and others believe that Shinderman came under scrutiny by law enforcement because of the large number of methadone overdose deaths in 2002, the first year of his clinic's operation.

Shinderman's clinic was searched under warrant in 2003. The search uncovered Shinderman's prescription writing practices, which led to his conviction.

Female Navy officer compensated

As seen in this report from Australia

The defence department has agreed to pay compensation to a female navy officer who claims to have been physically and mentally abused. Lieutenant-Commander Robyn Fahy was Australia's first female navy officer.

She says she suffered years of physical and mental abuse in the armed forces, claiming to have been "beaten up" on a daily basis.

She also says the navy tried to have her involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility.

The department said in a statement it had agreed to a compensation package with Lt Commander Fahy, but that the terms of the agreement would not be released.

The department also said it would help Lt Commander Fahy - who is still an officer - find civilian employment. She has been on paid leave since her grievances were aired during a report on ABC television in May this year.

In the program, Lt Commander Fahy lashed out at the service she joined as a young woman in 1986.

She said the abuse began when she was stationed at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in Canberra.

"On a daily basis I was beaten up ... I can't remember a day where I wasn't punched or kicked or spat on," she said.

Despite this, she topped her year.

"At the graduation parade I got punched, and in fact when I walked toward the Governor-General to receive my award I got spat on so by the time I reached him I had saliva on my uniform," she said, adding that it had also been a hard time for her family.

"They had seen the bruises over my body in the last two years and I think they knew that I would probably get beaten up."

Defence admitted in the statement that problems had existed at academy.

"Defence recognises that aspects of the environment at ADFA during its early formative years were less than desirable," the statement read.

Lt Commander Fahy was promoted in 2000 to executive officer of HMAS Stirling in Perth - but claimed that the abuse there only worsened.

The base's commanding officer took an instant dislike to her, she alleged.

"(It was) mostly verbal abuse and threats," Lt Commander Fahy told the ABC.

Following a severe headache, she visited the base's acting doctor.

The doctor wrote a letter to a consulting psychiatrist that allegedly implied she had attempted suicide, was borderline depressed and had a personality disorder.

The psychiatrist diagnosed her as having bipolar disorder and suggested she be hospitalised and sedated.

Defence admitted medical procedures had not been followed.

"Defence acknowledges that while Lt Commander Fahy was serving as executive officer HMAS Stirling there was a failure to comply with appropriate medical protocols, as found by the West Australian Medical Board," the department statement said.

"In bringing this matter to a mutually agreed resolution, both the Chief of the Defence Force and Chief of the Navy regret the distress that this has caused to Lt Commander Fahy and her family."

"A failure to follow procedures" - what a quaint way to say they tried to drive her insane, or worse.

An example of the use of psychiatry as a form of punishment, and as a tool of horrific social control. Once you are diagnosed, it's very hard to prove yourself sane.

Psychiatry Creating the Street Drug Culture -- Again

As reported on NowPublic.com

It is well-known that the 60's LSD street drug culture was largely created by people like CIA-mind control-funded Harvard psychologist, Timothy Leary of "Tune in, Turn on, Drop out" infamy. Psychiatry's act of legitimizing these drugs (pdf) may be the major reason for today's drug culture. Several psychiatrists are still behind legitimizing street drug use with studies promoting the use of drugs like cocaine and ecstasy.*

"David Murray, a policy analyst with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he was worried the Harvard experiment [ecstasy study on terminally ill cancer patients] could destigmatize ecstasy while failing to find any clear-cut medical use for the drug." Boston Globe, Feb 23, 2005, "Harvard seeks to test ecstasy on the dying"

Furthermore, "medical" studies on illicit drugs are the first step in getting them Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, produced by pharmaceutical companies, used for any possible ailment you can think of and more heavily onto the streets. Please read, Don't Be Fooled, Psychiatric Drug Testing, the First Step to Legalization at the bottom of this page for more information.

Another, of many psychiatrists responsible for creating the street drug culture, is Harvard's Dr. Lester Grinspoon. Grinspoon, a national advisory board member for NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) a regular marijuana user per his website marijuana-users.com , has also promoted the use of many other illicit drugs. He claims in an article in the Wellesley Townsman that many who people took LSD on the streets "were quite serious about their use of these drugs" and that regarding their experiences on this drug, "most of them were constructive." He's also written a book putting cocaine in a more positive light.

Almost all psychiatrists are guilty of lying that their amphetamines and other stimulants (like ritalin, adderall, dexedrine and concerta) and downers (such as valium, xanax and klonopin) are safe. This is a major reason why so many kids crush and snort psychiatry's addictive amphetamines and pop the downers (anti-anxiety drugs).

Most street drugs are current or former psychiatric drugs. Uppers, which include psychostimulants like methylphenidate (ritalin, concerta, etc.) and amphetamine (dexedrine, adderall), are often crushed and snorted for their high. Methlyphenidate is very similar to cocaine.

Anti-anxiety drugs (a.k.a. minor tranquilizers) like valium, xanax, librium, halcion and ativan are taken for their alcohol-like effects and are a menace on the streets for their very addictive nature.

Antidepressants and some major tranquilizers like thorazine are taken on the streets, but not as frequently as the drugs mentioned above.

LSD was created by Sandoz pharmaceutical company's chemist Albert Hoffman in 1938. It was used by psychiatry and the CIA for mind-control experimentation. Search MK-ULTRA on the internet if you want more informatin on this infamous psychiatric mind control program.

Ecstasy is currently being used and promoted by some psychiatrists for post traumatic stress. This tends to legitimize the use of the drug by street users.

Sedative-hypnotics (barbituates, sleeping pills) are a class of psychiatric drug that have been heavily used on the streets.

Methadone is a psychiatric drug that is far more addictive than the drug it is supposed to replace - heroin. The withdrawal effects are brutal and this drug is often sold on the streets and used in conjunction with heroin. It was originally created by German drug manufacturer I.G. Farben as Dolophine, reportedly named after Adolph Hitler. This same drug company created the Zyklon B gas used to exterminate people in Nazi Germany.

Don't Be Fooled. Psychiatric Drug Testing, the First Step to Legalization.

When a drug is tested, this is the first step to FDA approval for a certain condition. Once a drug is FDA-approved a certain condition like pain relief for the dying, the pharmaceutical manufacturer starts paying individual doctors, especially those at major universities, to test the drug for other conditions and then publishes how these drugs can be "safe and effective" for unapproved conditions.

The drug companies also pay for continuing medical education for doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. to convince them that these drugs can be used for other purposes than what the FDA approved them for -- and this is legal to do and happens all the time. This is how millions of US children get placed on antidepressants and antipsychotics that have never been FDA-approved for children under the age of 18.

This means that if the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FDA approves doctors or psychiatrists to do marijuana or ecstasy research for pain relief for certain groups of people, cocaine for alcoholics or LSD for severe headaches, etc., they later work with drug companies to get FDA approval for these specific conditions. Once approved, they can study the drugs for depression, ADHD, bi-polar, schizophrenia or whatever they wish and put out studies about how these are effective for these other conditions.

The drug companies start advertising these new drug uses and it also gets published in medical journals. Now psychiatrists and doctors are using these drugs for all kinds of non-FDA approved conditions. This is a standard drug company practice that occurs all the time to sell many types of drugs.

Now you will see hallucinogens, marijuana or cocaine being used for mental health conditions that almost anyone can fake since mental disorders are solely diagnosed by an opinion of a person's behavior. There has never been a real medical test for a mental disorder (see this "fraudulent marketing" video for more information).

Druggies will soon find out what doctors and psychiatrists are more likely to prescribe these hallucinogens for mental health conditions, making these drugs legal for these druggies/"patients" while the pharmaceutical industry and some unethical doctors make a tremendous profit. These drug prescriptions could also be sold on the street the same way people currently sell their valium, ritalin, xanax and oxycontin for street use.

Doctors and psychiatrists who claim to be studying hallucinogens know this true so please do what you can to ensure that the DEA and FDA don't allow this, especially when the FDA currently has many strong connections to drug companies.

*For all the documents to this article, please visit www.cchreus.org and click onto "Psychiatry Creating the Street Drug Culture - Again"

How do they get away with it?

As seen here, an excellent examination on how evil spreads.

How do bad people prosper? By sticking together and convincing others that bad is good. Simple but effective. And evil.

I remember a nurse in Sydney at a well known psychiatric hospital. She was beautiful, well spoken, kind and a good nurse. She was a threat to the bad nurses, predominantly male. They 'knew' her type. They saw through her to her innate goodness.

They knew that if she saw them bashing patients, or giving unwarranted drugs, drinking alcohol at work or any other 'male nurse thing', that she would report them. Not that reporting them would do any good. She would only have reported them to their mates. Anyway, they got her.

She had a lovely, sporty, expensive car. One night when she was on night shift, they poured paint all over it. The last time I saw her, she looked stunned. She could not look at me. She knew that no matter how good she was, she would go nowhere because she was a good person.

You have to make some choices and she made a very painful one. She left the hospital. Wherever she went, they were lucky to get her. The male nurses (baggy pants, they are called) all stayed there. Getting unwarranted overtime. Bullying, bashing lying and getting promoted.

A psychiatrist told me that when he was training, he saw a male nurse bashing patients. He could not do anything about it because it would have been a career ender. False accusations would have been brought against him and by the time he cleared his name, his future would be over. Many years later he saw the male nurse again.

He said that the nurse is now near the top of Mental Health in this state. Crooks prosper in this system of things.

I have chosen to stay on the narrow path. So, what choices will you make.

And you wonder why we criticise psychiatrists.

Psychologists' Group Under Fire

As reported by Forbes and elsewhere

The American Psychological Association is under fire from some of its members and other professionals for declaring that it is permissible for psychologists to assist in military interrogations. An online petition against the group's policy has garnered more than 1,300 signatures from members and other psychologists. Protest forums are being planned for the APA's convention next month in New Orleans. And some members have threatened to withhold dues or quit.

The unrest stems from an APA policy, issued last year, that says that while psychologists should not get involved in torture or other degrading treatment, it is ethical for them to act as consultants to interrogation and information-gathering for national security purposes.

That stand troubles some members of the organization in light of the reported abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

"The issue is being couched as psychologists helping out with national security at the same time that psychologists are opposed to the issue of torture," said Chicago psychologist William Gorman, an APA member who signed the petition and works with refugee survivors of torture. "That stance in the present context appears to me incongruous."

News reports have said that mental health specialists who are helping U.S. military interrogators have helped create coercive techniques, including sleep deprivation and playing on detainees' phobias, to extract information.

The American Medical Association last month adopted what many view as a stronger stand against physician involvement in prisoner interrogation, echoing a position held by the American Psychiatric Association, whose members are medical doctors. The U.S. military has indicated it will therefore favor using psychologists, who are not medical doctors and are not bound by the other groups' policies.

The Physicians for Human Rights, a Cambridge, Mass.-based advocacy group, issued a statement Wednesday urging APA leaders to "explicitly prohibit psychologists from participating in interrogations."

Salon.com reported Wednesday that six of the 10 people on the APA task force that drafted the psychologists' policy have close military ties, including four who have worked at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib or Afghanistan.

New York psychologist Steven Reisner, an APA member and vocal opponent of the policy, said those ties make the group's stance even more troubling.

Gerald Koocher, APA's president, said that none of the task force members was involved in torture and that their military ties were not a conflict of interest.

Some professionals, including Reisner, a faculty member at Columbia University's International Trauma Studies program and at New York University's medical school, want the 150,000-member organization to rewrite the group's ethics code to bar psychologists from any involvement in detainee interrogation.

Reisner said fliers and forums are being prepared for the group's Aug. 10-13 convention "to generate a momentum of embarrassment and outrage that the APA has thus far been facilitating these interrogations rather than stopping the violations of human rights."

Responding to member concerns, the APA's ethics committee is drawing up guidance on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior by psychologists involved in interrogations, Koocher said.

The APA also said that its governing council is expected to vote on a resolution on Aug. 9, a day before the convention, reaffirming the group's opposition to torture and other inhumane treatment.

The group also has invited Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, the Army's surgeon general, to attend the convention and answer questions about military use of psychologists.

I suppose it depends on if they enjoy their work, or if they are being forced into this line of work.

I am glad to see that at least some folks are considering the idea of torture as ethically troublesome.

Russia Releases European Psychiatrist Wanted for Sexual Abuse

As Reported by RIA Novosti, via Moscow News

Psychiatrist Dr. Jean Andres Hoareau has been released from custody in Moscow, his lawyer told RIA Novosti. He was earlier arrested by Interpol on sexual abuse charges, but was set free by the Prosecutor’s Office.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office has refused to extradite Hoareau to France,” defense lawyer Igor Trunov said.

He said the decision had been taken because Hoareau was never officially declared missing, and because under Russian law, the statute of limitation had expired.

In May 2005, a French court sentenced Dr. Jean Andres Hoareau, a specialist in forensic psychiatry and sexual disorders and deputy chairman of the Association of European Psychiatrists, to 15 years in jail for raping a client while she was under hypnosis. The verdict was passed in Hoareau’s absence.

“My client has been detained by the international department of Interpol, which acted on the decision of the French court,” Igor Trunov said, adding that Hoareau was being kept in a detention center for foreigners.

Trunov said the detention of his client in Moscow was “politically motivated.”

He said Hoareau, also the founder of the European Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Moscow, had been living in the Russian capital for 15 years. He also said his client was married with three children.

“We are going to appeal the detention decision, most likely with the Moscow City Court,” Trunov said.

Psychiatrist may be sued in patient death

As reported in the Asbury Park Press

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled a New Jersey statute that gives mental health practitioners immunity from civil liability for patients' violent acts does not prevent a Marlboro resident from suing his wife's psychiatrist, alleging improper treatment in the weeks leading up to her suicide.

The court ruled 5-1 that the psychiatrist, with offices in Old Bridge and Brooklyn, cannot be sued for violating that state statute, which says doctors are immune unless they fail to warn someone when patients are at imminent risk of taking their own life or harming others.

In this case, the woman's close family members had not suspected her suicide was imminent and the doctor had not treated the woman recently enough to make such a determination, the court said.

But Craig S. Marshall can argue that Dr. Vladimir Klebanov deviated from the standard of care in his treatment of Ellen Marshall. With its ruling the court sent the case back to state Superior Court in Middlesex County.

Marshall's attorney, Alex Lyubarsky, said both he and his client are pleased with the decision, which will allow them to argue the doctor failed to properly monitor Ellen Marshall's condition. After the first visit, the doctor had no contact with her, even though she had been prescribed medication and diagnosed with major depression, he said. But the doctor's attorney, Alan Baratz, said he will ask the lower court to throw out the case because there is no evidence that the doctor, an educated, experienced psychiatrist, abandoned his patient.

In January 2000, Ellen Marshall saw Klebanov at his office in Old Bridge, then returned seven days later for her next appointment, but was not seen by the doctor.

Her husband says it was because she did not have the money to pay for the visit and the doctor did not accept credit cards. Klebanov said she was encouraged to stay, but she decided to leave to straighten out her medical insurance.

Ellen Marshall, 36, a mother of two, hung herself two days before her scheduled appointment on Feb. 4, 2000.

You just got to know that there is more to this story. Isn't it wonderful that shrinks can't be sued?

Psychiatry: Force of Law

As seen on the Psych Rights website. An extended discussion about the effect of Psychiatry on the law.

The purpose of this article is to set forth just the basic legal principles, underpinnings and practices employed in the widespread use of legal force to compel unwilling patients into locked psychiatric hospitals and, most importantly, force brain damaging drugs and other brain damaging treatments such as Electroshock upon them over their desperate, but hopeless objections. The companion article, Unwarranted Court Ordered Medication: A Call to Action, describes what might be done about it and this article is really background for that one. In addition, there are a number of excellent law review articles on the subject, a small sampling of which are listed at the end of this article.

One interesting tidbit:

The psychiatric profession explicitly acknowledges psychiatrists regularly lie to the courts in order to obtain forced treatment orders. E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., probably the most prominent proponent of involuntary psychiatric treatment says:

It would probably be difficult to find any American Psychiatrist working with the mentally ill who has not, at a minimum, exaggerated the dangerousness of a mentally ill person's behavior to obtain a judicial order for commitment.

Torrey, E. Fuller. 1997. Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 152.

Dr. Torrey goes on to say this lying to the courts is a good thing. Dr. Torrey also quotes Psychiatrist Paul Applebaum as saying when "confronted with psychotic persons who might well benefit from treatment, and who would certainly suffer without it, mental health professionals and judges alike were reluctant to comply with the law," noting that in "'the dominance of the commonsense model,' the laws are sometimes simply disregarded."

Yates: Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

As seen here, and around the world

A jury in Houston, Texas has found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity.

This is her second trial. The 42-year old woman was convicted in 2002 of drowning her kids in the bathtub at her surburban Houston Home. The verdict was overturned on appeal last year after it was found that a pathologist provided false testimony in her first trial.

Yates will be placed in a mental health facility, possibly for the rest of her life.

Jurors reached a verdict after three days of deliberations. Wednesday morning, they reviewed the state’s definition of insanity and then asked to see a family photo and candid pictures of the five smiling youngsters.

After about an hour of deliberations, they said they had reached a verdict.

There are many controversial elements to the matter of the insanity plea. I do not like the pervasive influece of psychiatry in the court room. A discusssion of the ethical concerns can be seen here (PDF)

I would likely be more happy with a system where the fact of "Did they do the crime?" is determinely separately from "Are they responsible?" and other extenuating circumstances. In other words, you could have a verdict where a person is found both guilty and crazy.

Queen Victoria was incensed that caught assassins were found ''not guilty.'' She prevailed on the English Parliament to pass a statute, in effect until 1964, that read ''guilty but insane.''

I would also have a separate factor for determining if a person is a continuing threat to society, to cover situations such as child molesters, and other repeat offenders. It is hard to say that Yates will continue to be a threat to society, although there are many factors involved.

See also this article for a discussion of the flaws in the Insanity defense, entitled Yates case exposes holes in insanity-plea laws. As it notes:

Experts on mental illness say that regardless of her trial's outcome, Andrea Pia Yates will be imprisoned in a personal hell for the rest of her life.

The anorexic model, the celebrity psychiatrist and a £1.5m bequest

As reported in the Times of London

A Prominent psychiatrist was accused yesterday of persuading a wealthy patient to change her will and leave him £1.5 million.

The inquest into the death of Patricia May, 66, was told that she had become infatuated with Peter Rowan, who had treated her for 16 years. He worked at the exclusive Priory Hospital in Roehampton, West London, which is known for treating celebrity patients including the socialite Lady Isabella Hervey. Miss May gave Dr Rowan cash gifts of £150,000 during her life and paid for him to take his two daughters skiing.

The psychiatrist was found to be the main beneficiary of Miss May’s will after her death in March 2003. Dr Rowan, 58, denied asking Miss May to rewrite her will and rejected suggestions that the large quantities of drugs that he prescribed for Miss May without the knowledge of her GP might have contributed to her death.

A drawer in Miss May’s bedside table was found to be full of sleeping tablets. The former model, who suffered severe anorexia nervosa and was increasingly frail in the last months of her life, died in the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital after falling in the bathroom of her Mayfair flat and breaking a rib.

No post-mortem examination was held at the time and her body was cremated. A police investigation into her death was begun two years later after concerns were raised with Scotland Yard by the General Medical Council.

A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service but no charges were brought. The case was, however, referred to the Westminster Coroner.

The inquest was told that three doctors who treated Miss May in hospital, including a Dr Lindsay, who signed her death certificate, had not been traced.

Milagros Golding, a close friend of Miss May, said that she had become “totally infatuated” with Dr Rowan, that she spoke about him constantly and had a picture of him with his daughters on her mantlepiece. Ms Golding told Westminster Coroner’s Court: “Shortly before Patricia died she told me that she was thinking about her will and that Dr Rowan had suggested writing a new one, leaving everything to him and some money to friends.

“He would then ensure the friends were taken care of and that would save her a lot of time and lawyers’ fees. He used to visit Patricia once a week and we were aware that he would prescribe various medication.”

Kathy Ashun, who cared for Miss May, told the court: “She was absolutely infatuated with him [Dr Rowan]. I asked her what the situation was, if she was having a relationship with the doctor and if they were lovers or what. She said, ‘Oh no not that, just some kissing and cuddling’. I said, ‘Do you think he would be interested in you if you didn’t have any money?’ She said, ‘That’s what I’m worried about’.”

Dr Rowan said that he was “happily married” and denied any romance with Miss May. “I personally had no reason to believe infatuation was there,” he said. “I knew she was fond of me and a close relationship developed over the 16 years that I listened, counselled and supported her . . . Often the target of infatuation can be the last person to know.”

During the last five months of her life, Miss May had been “seriously unwell” and he had treated her at her home. Dr Rowan prescribed temazepam to help Miss May to sleep, lorazepam for her anxiety and an antidepressant called clomipramine.

Dr Rowan said that Miss May had a secretive nature and had asked him not to tell her family doctor about his prescriptions. He said: “I asked her to write in the notes that these were her decisions and we discussed it. She wrote, ‘I confirm I have specifically asked Dr Rowan not to have any contact with any other doctors.”

Dr Rowan was adamant that he had not discussed Miss May’s will with his patient. He said: “I had absolutely no conversation with Patricia which could have been interpreted in that way. We discussed her financial affairs, but I did not give her advice.”

Paul Knapman, the coroner, said that Dr Rowan could be subject to a GMC inquiry after the inquest, which was adjourned until next month.

Why are we so skeptical of his protestations of innocence?

Five people plead guilty in health care scheme

As reported in the Miami Herald

Five persons have pleaded guilty in a scheme to defraud private health insurers of almost $10 million, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The fraud involved The Medicine Shoppe, a pharmacy in Palm Beach Gardens run by Joseph Sutera. Agustin Castellanos, a licensed physician specializing in neurology; Robert Catanese, a chiropractor; Eric Ressner, a psychiatrist; and Stephanie Mirante, a pharmacy technician, all pleaded guilty to assorted charges.

According to the allegations, Ressner and Castellanos permitted Sutera to use their names to substantiate fraudulent prescriptions. Ressner received weekly envelopes of cash in return; Castellanos received Hydrocodone, a powerful painkiller.

Carolyn Bell, Lynn Rosenthal and Antonia Barnes prosecuted the case for U.S. Attonrey R. Alexander Acosta.

More Psychiatrist jokes

How can you differentiate the patient from the psychiatrist on a Psych ward?

With luck, the patient gets better.

---

How can you tell the psychiatrists from the patients on the psych ward?

The psychiatrists take their meds.

---

Patient: "I can't decide whether to slash my wrists, or blow my brains out."

Psychiatrist: "You have difficulty making decisions."

---

A man walked into a therapist's office looking very depressed.
- "Doc, you've got to help me. I can't go on like this."
- "What's the problem?" the docotor inquired.
- "Well, I'm 35 years old and I still have no luck with the ladies. No matter how hard I try, I just seem to scare them away."
- "My friend, this is not a serious problem. You just need to work on your self-esteem. Each morning, I want you to get up and run to the bathroom mirror. Tell yourself that you are a good person, a fun person, and an attractive person. But say it with real conviction. Within a week you'll have women buzzing all around you."
The man seemed content with this advice and walked out of the office a bit excited. Three weeks later he returned with the same downtrodden expression on his face.
- "Did my advice not work?" asked the doctor.
- "It worked alright. For the past several weeks I've enjoyed some of the best moments in my life with the most fabulous looking women."
- "So, what's your problem?"
- "I don't have a problem," the man replied. "My wife does."

---

A guy had been feeling down for so long that he finally decided to seek the aid of a psychiatrist. He went there, lay on the couch, spilled his guts then waited for the profound wisdom of the psychiatrist to make him feel better. The psychiatrist asked me a few questions, took some notes then sat thinking in silence for a few minutes with a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly, he looked up with an expression of delight and said,
- "Um, I think your problem is low self-esteem. It is very common among losers."

---

Dr. Jones, a young psychiatrist begins his practice in an office building. After several weeks, he realizes that the older man he usually sees in the elevator each morning and evening is Dr. Smith, also a psychiatrist.

Finally, after a month or two of frequently sharing the elevator, Dr. Jones pulls his skewed tie, rakes his fingers through his disarrayed hair and approaches his colleague: "Dr. Smith," he says. "Every day I step into this elevator in the evening, exhausted and frazzled by the gut-wrenching stories of my patients, and you appear as calm and cool as you do each morning. Tell me, tell me please how to do it? How do you maintain your equanimity after listening to the woes of your patients."

"My dear Dr. Jones," replied the older man. "Who listens?"

Student sues parents over involuntary psychiatric ward lockup. It seems he told them that he is gay, and it was downhill from there.

From the PlanetOut Network Via Yahoo

A Taipei student accuses his parents of drugging his coffee, then committing him to a locked psychiatric ward after learning he was gay.

Su Ming-che, 22, was kept against his will in Shin Kong Memorial Hospital's psychiatric ward for 56 days, state the lawsuits against Su's parents and the hospital.

Su told reporters Monday in Taipei that he had breakfast with his parents April 29 -- soon after they learned he was gay. He got up to use the bathroom and on his return noticed some white powder on the rim of his coffee cup but, thinking nothing of it, drank his coffee. He quickly became drowsy. On his way to the hospital, feeling faint, he heard a doctor telling him: "Your father put drugs in your coffee, but it is all for your own good."

Earlier, he said, they had asked Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital, where he had consulted a doctor for depression, to force him to undergo treatment.

The doctors refused, saying they did not believe Su needed inpatient care.

During the 56 days he was in Shin Kong Hospital, the doctor examined him but didn't make any diagnosis, Su said, adding that he refused to take medications while there.

"I pretended to take pills at 9 p.m. every night but then spit them out after the nurse left. I wanted to prove that I was not ill," he told reporters.

Huang Wei-cher, a lawmaker in Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party who has taken up Su's case, called for the government to reflect on whether the process for hospitalizing psychiatric patients was flawed.

Huang told the News that Taipei health officials have promised to investigate whether Shin Kong Hospital violated the the Mental Health Act, which states that patients suffering from mental illness can be forced to undergo treatment only when there is a risk assessed by at least two psychiatrists that they might injure themselves or others.

Su's father told the Chinese-language Apple Daily that his son had mental problems and needed to be hospitalized, the Taiwan Times reported.

"I can't forgive him for suing a family member. Can he say that he is not sick after he has accused his family?" the Times quoted Su's father as saying.

This is very much tied up with the conflict between traditional and modern value systems and moral codes

The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)

The original movie documenting this horrific psychology experiment has been made available on Google Video

Suitable for viewing only if you have a strong stomach.

Anger as child-shock doctor avoids scrutiny

As seen in this report, people are not please that this psychiatrist got off, essentially scot-free.

Child psychiatrist Selwyn Leeks, who used a bizarre form of electric-shock therapy to punish young children, has escaped scrutiny by promising never to practise again, a day before the start of a long-awaited investigation into his work.

Dr Leeks, 77, agreed to stop practising this Tuesday — the eve of hearings by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria into his use of "aversion therapy" on young children in New Zealand in the 1970s.

The board has been investigating Dr Leeks, who has been practising in Cheltenham since 1984, for seven years. Last week it wrote to the complainants, saying that after receiving Dr Leeks' undertaking, it had decided not to proceed with a formal hearing into his professional conduct.

Earlier, it had decided to formally investigate complaints from 16 of the 50 people who had provided statements about the psychiatrist.

The move has outraged his victims, many of whom have waited years for their day in court. Most were children aged between eight and 16 when they were given the shock treatment.

They were dumped in New Zealand's notorious Lake Alice Hospital, near Wanganui, where Dr Leeks ran the child and adolescent unit, after welfare authorities decided they were too difficult to manage.

They say they were punished for minor breaches of discipline by electroconvulsive therapy, administered by Dr Leeks, and with pain-inducing injections.

Yesterday, Kevin Banks, whose experiences at the hands of Dr Leeks were detailed in The Age in 1999, said of the medical board's decision: "He has stuffed up so many lives. This is just terrible and very upsetting."

Sharyn Collis, who was in Lake Alice Hospital in 1973 and 1974, said: "This is a kick in the teeth. We just want someone to be accountable for this."

NZ police are reviewing complaints from 34 of Dr Leeks' former "patients" to determine whether criminal charges can be considered.

Dr Leeks' decision to stop practising also casts doubt on a second medical board inquiry into alleged sexual misconduct.

The complainant, who does not wish to be identified, claims that Dr Leeks fondled her and requested sexual acts in 1979 and 1980. After a preliminary examination, the medical board determined to conduct a formal inquiry into the claims, but this is unlikely to proceed.

The woman said: "The cowardice and arrogance of the man is unbelievable."

In the County Court in February, Judge Graham Anderson found it was "just and reasonable" for the normal time limit on legal action to be extended so that the woman could pursue damages against Dr Leeks.

Indictment of Psychiatrist Tests Drug Marketing Rules.

As reported in the New York Times, part of a much longer story. The Psych in question was promoting theraputic uses of a known date rape drug.

In the early afternoon of Monday, March 6, half a dozen men in suits surrounded Dr. Gleason, a Maryland psychiatrist, at a train station on Long Island and handcuffed him.

“I said, ‘Well, this is a gag,’ ” Dr. Gleason recalled in a recent interview. “They said, ‘No, this isn’t.’ ”

Dr. Gleason, 53, was taken aback because he was arrested, and later charged, for doing something that has become common among doctors: promoting a drug for purposes other than those approved by the federal government.

But prosecutors say that Dr. Gleason went too far. At hundreds of speeches and seminars where he was rewarded with generous fees, Dr. Gleason advised other physicians that a powerful drug for narcolepsy could be prescribed for depression and pain relief. In doing so, he conspired with the drug’s manufacturer to recommend it for potentially dangerous uses, the prosecutors claim.

The case has put the spotlight on the murky financial relationships between drug companies and the physicians they use to promote their medicines. Companies cannot directly advertise drugs for purposes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. But getting drugs prescribed for unapproved uses can increase a drug’s sales, so companies often skirt the rules by sponsoring seminars where doctors are paid to make presentations promoting their drugs, including the “off label” uses.

For doctors, these and other payments they receive for discussing drugs can be very lucrative. Dr. Gleason acknowledges that he received more than $100,000 last year alone from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which makes Xyrem, the narcolepsy drug he has promoted.

His case could establish limits on what doctors can do to help companies sell their drugs. But any precedent could be complicated by the history of Xyrem, which differs in one important way from other drugs. Because the active ingredient in Xyrem is gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, an illegal street drug with a history of use in date rape and of overdose hazards, Xyrem is listed as a federally controlled substance, with distribution tightly monitored. [...]

F.D.A. rules allow doctors to prescribe federally approved drugs for any purpose, even if it is not indicated on the medicine’s label. But drug companies are tightly constrained in what they can say about their medicines. Companies can promote drugs only for their federally approved purposes — their so-called “on label” use. [...]

In 2000, after highly publicized cases in which young women died or were raped after GHB was slipped into their drinks, Congress designated the drug a Schedule I controlled substance, in the same class as heroin. [...]

The indictment also charges that Dr. Gleason committed fraud against insurance companies by advising doctors to leave blank an area on the Xyrem prescription form that asked for a disease diagnosis. Dr. Gleason acknowledges that he told doctors not to offer a diagnosis but says he never told them to lie if they were asked for one.

The Case of Roger Mason Levin, MD

As seen in this report, which has links to news stories, etc.

At least one woman reportedly filed a report around 1975, but Palo Alto police discouraged her from pursuing the complaint "because Levin was a respected physician."

In 1987, Levin was arrested on suspicion of felony child molestation, including charges that he inserted his finger in boys' rectums. His attorneys negotiated a plea bargain that reduced the charges to a single misdemeanor. He served a work-furlough sentence, and the medical board took no action.

1993 over at 20 alleged victims came forward with stories of sexual abuse by Levin that go back more than 20 years. Levin was also accused of possessing child pornography.

Psychiatrist convicted of 59 counts of prescription fraud and forgery

As seen here

A psychiatrist who founded a methadone clinic in Maine has been convicted of 59 of the 68 counts against him in his prescription fraud trial.

Doctor Marc Shinderman was accused of writing prescriptions using the name and federal Drug Enforcement Agency number of the clinic's medical director. Shinderman testified that he thought the arrangement was perfectly acceptable.

Federal prosecutors, however, argued that Shinderman was violating the law and deceiving pharmacies. Shinderman remains free while awaiting sentencing.

Shinderman and two other psychiatrists founded the Center for Addiction Problems in Chicago before he came to Maine, where he started CAP Quality Care in Westbrook in 2001. It was the second methadone clinic in the Portland area.

See also this report

A federal jury on Thursday convicted addiction treatment specialist Dr. Mark Shinderman of forging prescriptions for patients at a Westbrook methadone clinic.

Shinderman, a well-known Illinois psychiatrist who is considered an expert in addiction medicine, faces prison time and fines for his convictions on 58 of the 68 charges against him.

He was found guilty in U.S. District Court of writing another doctor's name and federal registration number on 25 prescriptions for controlled substances. The prescriptions were written during 2001 and 2002, when Shinderman was seeing patients at CAP Quality Care, the for-profit methadone clinic owned by his wife, Noa.

Shinderman also was convicted of 24 counts of aiding and abetting the acquisition of controlled substances by deception, and two counts of falsifying records kept by a pharmacy. The jury split on 15 counts of making false statements on medical records, convicting him of seven and finding him not guilty on the rest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark said the convictions showed the jury rejected the defense claim that Shinderman committed only minor offenses while providing legitimate medical services to his patients and causing no harm to them.

"The harm is to the system of regulation," Clark said. "Every step in the closed system of distribution requires a Drug Enforcement Administration number, and the people expect accountability."

Clark said the verdict upheld the principle that Shinderman's disregard for the law is serious.

"The people of Maine expect their doctors to follow the rules," he said.

Although it was not part of the charges against him, Shinderman's 30-year history as a provider of methadone to treat people addicted to opiates such as heroin was a recurrent theme among the witnesses in the trial.

Shinderman owns and operates two methadone clinics in Chicago, Ill. But he testified that since coming to Maine in 2001, he had been the subject of a "witch hunt" by federal authorities, who denied him a DEA registration number to write prescriptions here.

[...]

The government contended that Shinderman wrote prescriptions for controlled substances that included benzodiazepine drugs, which are known as "benzos" and are popular with some methadone patients because they enhance the euphoric effect of the drug.

Shinderman was also known for his published opinion that for years, doctors had under-prescribed methadone to some patients, causing them to relapse into using street drugs.

Although the normal therapeutic dose of methadone is 80 to 100 milligrams a day and never exceeds 150 milligrams at the only other Greater Portland clinic, according to trial testimony, some CAP patients received much more.

Sharon Pratt, who came to the clinic when it opened after becoming addicted to pain medication she received during cancer treatment, ended up receiving 1,050 milligrams a day. She said Shinderman also prescribed other medications for her.

As a result of her high dose, she said she fell asleep while driving her car and then had a heart attack she attributes to the methadone. She filed a complaint with the state medical licensing board and has a pending civil case against Shinderman.

Pratt testified against Shinderman at his criminal trial and waited at the court all day Thursday for the verdict.

She said patients at CAP liked to see Shinderman because he would write prescriptions without arguing.

"This sounds weird, but I think he did it because he wanted to be popular," Pratt said. "I think he liked the attention he got, with everybody thinking he was awesome."

She said she was grateful for the verdict "on behalf of everyone who was victimized by this man."

Shinderman's methadone practice will be the focus of a pending civil case against CAP by the U.S. government. It is expected to go to trial early next year.

Lake Alice psychiatrist hands in licence to escape public hearing

As seen in this New Zealand Report

Dr Selwyn Leeks, the psychiatrist accused of mistreating young patients at Lake Alice Hospital in Manawatu in the 1970s, has handed in his medical licence in Australia, on the eve of a disciplinary hearing against him.

Dr Leeks was due to have appeared before Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria panel on Wednesday to answer charges of professional misconduct, the New Zealand Herald reported today.

But on Tuesday Dr Leeks, who is in his mid-70s, gave the board an undertaking that he would stop practising any form of medicine.

If he had been found guilty his medical registration could have been revoked.

Board spokeswoman Nicole Newton said last night this was effectively an international ban because to be registered elsewhere Dr Leeks would need a certificate of good standing from the Victorian board.

If he tried to resume practising, the hearing would be re-activated.

Dr Leeks headed Lake Alice Hospital's child and adolescent unit, which closed in the late 1970s. In 2001, the Government gave apologies and compensation to a group of former patients of the unit. It later extended these to a second group, bringing to $10.7 million the total paid to 183 people.

Sex misconduct doctor fails to overturn ban

From the Lancashire Evening Post Edited for length and content

A Preston-based psychiatrist has failed to overturn a ruling which bans him from seeing female patients without a chaperone.

Joseph Meagher, 47, who lives in Avenham, was barred by the General Medical Council last year after it heard he had sex with a vulnerable female patient when he was working in Canada 13 years ago.

He had attempted to challenge the ruling, arguing it was too restrictive.

But a high court judge has dismissed the case.

Dr Meagher, a qualified medic, is now reading health policy and recently moved to Preston with his wife Iracema and their two young children.

Last November a GMC fitness to practise panel was told that while practising in Canada in 1993, he had sex with a young female patient who had previously suffered sexual abuse.

He was later found guilty of misconduct by Canadian medical officials.

The doctor, originally from Ireland, worked in Cork before moving to Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

The panel said he had been "economical with the truth" with his NHS employers and ruled Dr Meagher should not see female patients without a chaperone present and must make employers aware of his past.

He had disputed the original medical hearing into the incident in British Colombia, on which the GMC case rested.

His lawyers had also argued that his ability to practise was not currently impaired because of the length of time that had expired since the incident.

They claimed the ruling amounted to an effective ban, as it severely restricted the type of jobs Dr Meagher could do.

Jury asked to ponder Paxil's role in slaying

A report from Vacaville, California

Jury deliberations are expected to begin today in the murder trial of Simon Faeed Ranteesi, a former Vacaville welder arrested in 2002 after his estranged wife, Milia, was bludgeoned to death during an argument outside Ranteesi's Topaz Circle home.

Following five days of testimony in the Vallejo branch of Solano County Superior Court, prosecution and defense attorneys on Tuesday called their last witnesses and prepared to deliver closing arguments this morning. After that, the case will be in the hands of the 9-man, 3-woman jury.

On Tuesday, Ranteesi's defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Nancy Dillon, called a psychiatrist to the witness stand to answer questions about the prescription anti-depressant Paxil, a drug that Ranteesi reportedly was taking for roughly a month before his estranged wife was clubbed to death with an 8-pound welding jack.

Questioned by Dillon, Dr. Stewart Shipco said he specialized in panic disorders as well as adverse side effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, including Paxil.

Shipco, who previously had studied police and mental health reports relating to Ranteesi, testified that Paxil is most commonly used to treat anxiety disorders and, in some cases, patients using Paxil can become agitated, more depressed, hostile and enter into a state of hypomania.

The latter condition, Shipco testified, is characterized by euphoria and increased energy, but also can lead to "highly irritable, very impulsive, self-destructive behavior."

"Suicide is a big problem, and addiction," Shipco said.

Further questioned by Dillon, Shipco said hostility, impulsivity and aggression were all potential side effects. "Suicide is aggression to one's self and aggression can be directed outward to other people," he said.

Ranteesi, he testified, could have been adversely affected by the anti-depressant.

"In my opinion, he was suffering from the side effects of Paxil ... a substance-induced mood disorder," Shipco said.

Cross-examined by Chief Deputy District Attorney George Williamson, Shipco said he had not previously interviewed anyone who had committed homicide while using Paxil.

'None of my patients killed anyone while they were on Paxil," Shipco stated.

Further questioned by Williamson, Shipco said there's always an element of doubt in a case like Ranteesi's.

"You can't make a statement with absolute certainty about the cause of his behavior," Shipco said.

At one point Williamson directed his questioning to a domestic violence incident that occurred with Ranteesi and his family several months before he began taking the drug.

At the mention of the incident, Ranteesi began shouting and jurors had to be taken briefly from the courtroom.

"That was a whole lie! That was a lie!" Ranteesi shouted while his attorney tried to quiet him. "That was a lie! She lied ... ."

Jurors were taken from the courtroom while Judge Allan P. Carter explained trial procedures to Ranteesi. They returned a few minutes later and testimony proceeded without further incident.

Closing arguments are expected to begin at 9 a.m. today in Carter's Vallejo courtroom.

Another U.S. medical journal ethics case

A report from UPI, Via Daily India, PhysOrg, and elsewhere

Another U.S. medical journal ethics case arose this week, this time involving Dr. Charles Nemeroff, the editor of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Nemeroff, a well known psychiatrist, favorably reviewed a controversial new treatment for depression, only to later announce a correction will be published.

The Nashville, Tennessee based journal failed to cite the ties of the article's eight academic authors to the company that makes the treatment -- including the article's lead author -- Nemeroff, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

It was just the latest incident in which several medical journals neglected to identify relationships between researchers and companies that might benefit from positive research reports. As a result, journals are being urged to ban offending authors from publication and medical schools urged to more closely watch relationships between their researchers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Last week, the Chicago-published Journal of the American Medical Association announced seven authors of a February paper on pregnancy depression neglected to reveal they were paid by the makers of antidepressants -- the third such incident at JAMA this year, The Wall Street Journal said.

Of course, studies by authors paid for by the drug companies report the most favorable results.

Survivors of Psychiatrist William Ayres are looking for other victims

As first seen here:

The following note was posted to The Awareness Center's Daily Newsletter
From: jsomerville5@yahoo.com

Dr.William Ayres, a child psychiatrist in San Mateo, California is currently the subject of a criminal investigation because of allegations the he molested his young male patients.

A group of Ayres' survivors in California would like to hear from and connect with others who had similar experiences. We are particularly interested in anyone who was a patient from 1988 to 2005, which is within statute for a criminal prosecution. We do want to hear from any victim from any time period. We know of at least two survivors who are Jewish.

Dr. Ayres practiced in San Mateo from 1963 to December 2005. He also treated children in Boston at the Judge Baker Guidance Center from 1959-63.

Stories on Ayres have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Mateo County Times. Here is a story that appeared on the front page of the San Mateo County Times on April 26, 2005 (seen at the above link)

We need other survivors to come forward.

Anyone with information please E-mail : jsomerville5@yahoo.com

Stories on the police investigation have appeared on April 26,2006 in the San Jose Mercury News:"Police Seize Doctor's Files and the San Mateo County Times:"Police Probe Child Doctor."

Report: U.S. May Have Been Abused During Formative Years

A Satirical report on the Onion regarding the history of the United States as viewed by psychiatrists:

WASHINGTON, DC—A team of leading historians and psychiatrists issued a report Wednesday claiming that the United States was likely the victim of abuse by its founding fathers and motherland when it was a young colony.

"In its adulthood, the U.S. displays all the classic tendencies of a nation that was repeatedly mistreated in its infancy—difficulty forming lasting foreign relationships, viewing everyone as a potential enemy, and employing a pattern of assault and intimidation to assert its power," said Dr. Howard Drexel, the report's lead author. "Because of trust issues stemming from the abuse, America has become withdrawn, has not made an ally in years, and often resents the few nations that are willing to lend support—most countries outgrow this kind of behavior after 230 years."

According to Drexel, nations that act out in selfish, self-destructive ways in statehood were usually granted too much independence at an early age, especially if the motherland had other newly annexed lands to care for.

According to Yale University psychology professor John Bauffman, while some rebellious behavior in a nation's adolescence is common, and sometimes healthy, America's historically stormy relationship with mother country Great Britain points to a deep need for acceptance.

"The U.S. is characteristic of an abused nation in that, even decades after noisily pushing away from Britain, it still maintained close contact with the motherland, took care of it, even giving it financial aid—all the while fearing disapproval even though the parent country is now old, decrepit, and powerless," said Bauffman, a prominent contributor to the fourth edition of the Democratic Symptoms Of Maltreatment handbook, or DSM-IV. "On the other hand, Canada, which was raised in the very same continent by the same mother country, only exercised small-scale resistance, remaining loyal well into its maturity. Though some see Canada as cold and remote, it has, unlike the U.S., managed to lead a peaceful, reasonably healthy existence."

The report recommended that the United Nations Security Council once again renew its efforts to organize an international intervention to help the U.S. get the counseling it needs. Prior attempts have failed to move beyond the planning stage, however, with many countries saying they are afraid that the U.S. may lash out.

Hick-Farmer Sigmund Freud Psych Wannabes – BUSTED

As seen here:

A First-person account of a Confidential Informant working for the New York State Attorney General's Office - Medicaid Fraud Control Unit - New York City, who turned in and busted psychiatrists who were counseling "sex-offenders" and billing Medicaid for treatment for alcohol and substance abuse.

Hick-Farmer Sigmund Freud Wannabes – BUSTED
© Copyright 2006 – C.I. “Phoenix” – released to the public domain (you may post or link to this article at will)

Metropolitan Corporation For Life Skills
90 Maiden Lane, 4 th Floor,
New York, NY
212-571-1180

posted on http://ciphoenix,blogspot.com

The style of writting is decent, althpough the occasional religious quote tends to be off-putting to thoie who do not depend on the Bible for moral guidance. With that said, and the public domain notice, here it is:

An ongoing investigation utilizing several Confidential Informants working with the New York State Attorney General’s Office – Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), has uncovered a “multi-million dollar fraud” [1] involving Metropolitan Corporation For Life Skills, Ltd., according to a reliable source within the Attorney General’s office in New York City – that “reliable source” is this writer. Before I get into the exposé of these Hick-Farmer Sigmund Freud Wannabes, I must qualify what you are about to read here with the following caveat:

What I affirm herein to be true and factual, may be ascertained as such by a Freedom of Information Act request to the NY State Attorney General’s Office – Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at 120 Broadway, NY City. While the investigation(s) are ongoing, don’t be surprised if your inquiry is denied on those grounds. However, denial on those grounds will at least establish my credibility; that I am not just making all this stuff up. And as for those things that I have alleged herein, I believe them to be true. Telling the truth is neither libel nor slander; it is merely stating facts that anyone doing anything other than a cursory investigation can determine for him or herself to be factual as alleged. I have no motive to lie; in fact, by not posting this exposé sub nom [2], I am probably damaging my good reputation with people who do not know me personally. Be that as it may; the reason you don’t see many of these exposés on the Internet, is for precisely this reason – the clients (victims) of these psychiatric abuses do not want to reveal their criminal records (even if they are false accusations and wrongful convictions) publicly. I have nothing to hide, and people who know me, know better than to believe lies. I could care less about what those people who don’t know me think – I walk with the Lord, and His grace is sufficient. I seek not to please men, but to have favor with God. The “thorn in my side” [3] as-it-were, keeps me honest, and keeps me from engaging in frivolous vendettas, which in all honesty, would be extremely tempting, and so easy to do completely anonymously using this medium (the Internet).

It seems that Metro FLS has been providing “treatment” to registered sex-offenders while they are on parole, and billing the Medicaid system using falsified medical records citing “treatment for alcohol and substance abuse”. Metro – FLS is licensed by OASAS, [4] the State certification program for alcohol and substance abuse treatment providers. Medicaid is authorized to pay for alcoholism and substance abuse counseling by OASAS-certified providers, but is NOT authorized to pay for psychiatric “care” related to sex-offenses, or any other violent crimes as far as I am aware. I DO know that according to Prisoner’s Legal Services (PLS) in Buffalo, New York, there is no license or certification required in New York State to conduct “sex-offender therapy”. Prisoners, who served time for a sex-offense newly released from prison on parole, are mandated as a condition of their release, to attend “group therapy sessions” once per week. The fees for these “services” range from $40 to $100 per hour – an amount that an “ex-con” is ill equipped to pay – unless he wants to re-enter a life of crime. Usually what happens is that the parolee goes on “Public Assistance”, and the firm providing these “services” bills the Medicaid system. In the case of “sex-offenders”, Medicaid cannot be legally billed for services, forcing the parolee to lie, come up with the money, or have his parole violated and be put back in prison. As a “work-around” for this State-created dilemma, firms like Metro-FLS are very eager to accept the clients if they “admit” that they have “a substance abuse problem” – or “a history of substance abuse”; in the latter case, the “history” could be ancient history.

This writer knows from first-hand experience, that a majority of people in prison – whatever the charges were – certainly do not belong behind bars. This country has 6 to 19 times the per-capita incarceration rate of any Western European nation. [5] Moreover, the “criminologists” are failing miserably to rehabilitate prisoners – probably because most of them are innocent of the crimes they’ve been convicted of. It has been said by the former director of the Texas State prison system, “Prisons are criminalogenic”; i.e.: They create criminals. The exposé here is only the tip of a very large iceberg. This writer has also exposed similar corruption in a New York State prison [6] which was investigated (and covered up) by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs Inspector General – Case # 2001-HL-0066, report # 02-00290-22 October 30, 2000 (see text below). In short, this writer alleges that many of the criminal cases brought against people are entirely fabricated so that the victims of the false allegations – and their alleged “victims” can be “treated” by shrinks who would otherwise be avoided like the plague.

This writer became involved with Metro-FLS on / around November 2004, as a referral by NYS Division of Parole. Up until the time that Metro-FLS was NOT licensed by OASAS, I attended group “therapy” sessions once per week – for one hour in the morning. As a personal precaution against ANOTHER false allegation being made against me by these (kinds of) devils, I purchased a Sony digital pocket recorder, and covertly digitally (audio) recorded and archived to CD, every word spoken – from the moment I walked in the door, until the doors closed on the elevator on the way out. In this way, these people could not falsely allege that I EVER admitted to the commission of any crime, and if they did, I would sue them in court, and post the entire album of “therapy” sessions and one-on-one interviews (over 8 Gigabytes) on the Internet.

Formerly located on the 10th floor at 190 Broadway, [7] in downtown Manhattan, Metro FLS moved into their completely renovated office space at 90 Maiden Lane, 4th floor, around the winter of 2005. This company is allegedly [8] associated with a similar company, which also operated out of the same office on Broadway, and that company is presently under investigation for similar abuses. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the Metro-FLS move to Maiden Lane coincided with their certification by OASAS. After the move, everyone else and I were required to attend these sessions EVERY MORNING during weekdays, and shortly thereafter, I attended only FOUR days a week, for an hour each morning.

Also unbeknownst to me at the time, Metro-FLS had been billing Medicaid for my “substance abuse counseling”, since I was honest and told them in the “intake interview” that I had used “Thai Stick” [9] in Vietnam – 35 years ago – but that I hadn’t used ANY drugs since (I have a digital audio recording of the interview). The (later) requirement to attend “therapy” sessions more than one day per week was not based on my “need” for treatment, or by mandate of Parole, but instead on the fact that Medicaid would pay for it (I couldn’t, and I wouldn’t – even if I had the money). In effect, I later learned, I was made a party to the crime of Medicaid fraud without even knowing it. There had been speculation amongst the participants that this was the case, but we had no empirical proof for our allegations. If the clients complained to the authorities, they would be thrown out of the program, be violated on their parole, and be sent back to prison. This was what is called in the law, “A classic penalty situation”, [10] and commonly called “Catch-22”. Of course, 99.99% of the participants said nothing, and Metro-FLS continued to defraud the system, until I exposed them. The discussion of the facts here is closely parallel to several seemingly unrelated cases. The similarity of the separate case examples I will cite in this discussion, shows that there is widespread abuse and overwhelming corruption in “the system”; corruption that rivals and indeed exceeds the alleged criminality of the “clients” of these self-appointed Hick-Farmer Sigmund Freud Wannabes.

It is perhaps ironic that Metro-FLS was now located right next door to the Agency for Children’s Services [11] (ACS) – formerly known as Child Protective Services (CPS)[12]. These are the same people whose neglect and gross incompetence allowed actual physical abuse to go unreported and innocent children to die as a result, while they concentrated their efforts on the allegation of non-existent “sexual abuse”. They prosecute parents for demanding control over their child’s medical treatment when they insist that children be given dangerous drugs such as Ritalin™, Adderall™, Prozak™, or any number of other dangerous drugs to treat fictitious diseases such as ADD / AHDD[13]. When one rises up in defense of such a child, the powers-that-be, fearful of being exposed, will retaliate against a whistle-blower by filing false allegations against him. I know – they certainly did it to me, and to several dozen others I personally know of. The abuses of CPS / ACS and their counterparts in the “therapy” business, is not confined to New York City. This writer had also uncovered a case of violation of parental rights involving alleged medical malpractice in Clinton County, in upstate New York. ACS in Clinton County had taken a young boy from his mother because she insisted that her child be properly treated for an ear infection. According to his mother in a recorded interview, after the child was taken from her and placed in foster care, his ear infection progressed to the point that he required an adenoid operation that severely damaged his hearing. This writer had posted a podcast[14] interview with the victim (the boy’s mother) on my web site (see: www.Net4TruthUSA.com/ACSAbuse.htm). I read the actual court document taking the child from his mother verbatim into the podcast. Shortly after speaking with her – she was homeless and staying at a women’s shelter in New York City at the time [15] – and the interview was posted, she traveled back upstate and attempted to see her son – to determine if he was okay – and was subsequently arrested and sent to prison for violating a ridiculous “order of protection”.

After Metro-FLS learned that a web site and had posted this interview, they had NYS Parole order the entire web site taken offline. The PO would not specify who was behind the order, at first leading me to believe it was ACS in Clinton County, and he knew from day one that I had a web site, and had given me his “blessing” to run it. Indeed, the web site was (voluntarily) temporarily taken offline, and I prepared the paperwork and was contemplating a civil lawsuit for violation of 1st Amendment rights, which I easily could have won Pro Se’,16] but upon prayerful contemplation, I decided that I would concentrate on exposing the abuses, instead.

A large section that follows has been omitted, although you can read it at the original website.

Peace and Godspeed.

C.I. (Confidential Informant) Codename: “Phoenix”

See:
www.Net4TruthUSA.com/RestorativeJustice.htm www.Net4TruthUSA.com/PrisonerAbuse.htmhttp://www.Net4TruthUSA.com/TrueConfessions-01.htm www.Net4TruthUSA.com/TorturePhotos.htm


[1] Quote from a letter by the NYS Attorney General to NY State Division of Parole, requesting permission to use a parolee as a Confidential Informant.
[2] Sub nom – (Latin, legal term) – Under another name.
[3] 2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV
[4] OASAS – Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services.
[5] US Department of Justice statistics a/o 2002.
[6] Groveland Correctional Facility, SONYEA, New York.
[7] Above the Burger King
[8] Allegedly – according to the AG’s office Medicaid Fraud investigator.
[9] Thai Stick – a potent form of marihuana cured in liquid opium.
[10] See: Mace vs. Amestoy, 765 F. Supp 847 (D. Vt., 1991)
[11] ACS is located at 80 maiden Lane, NYC
[12] CPS had to change their name after a scandal involving their incompetence caused the death of a child in the early 1990s
[13] ADD / AHDD – Attention Deficit Disorder / Attention deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
[14] Podcast – an audio or video archive that can be downloaded and played on an iPod or MP-3 player.
[15] I met her while she was crying and inconsolable on 34th Street & Madison Avenue in front of the SIBL Library.
[16] Pro Se’ – (legal term) – on one’s own behalf.

Child Abuse Experts Applaud Legal Community for Rejecting False Diagnosis of Parental Alienation Syndrome

As seen in this press release, from the Leadership Council

July 12, 2006   Bala Cynwyd, Pa.   People who care about abused children finally have something to celebrate. Two recent high profile legal publications have rejected “Parental Alienation Syndrome” (PAS), a controversial label often used to discredit allegations of child abuse or domestic violence in family courts. According to PAS theory, children's disclosures of abuse by one parent are reinterpreted as evidence of “brainwashing” by the other parent. The solution proposed by PAS theory is to immediately award custody to the alleged child abuser.

The newly revised, 2006 edition of "Navigating Custody and Visitation Evaluations in Cases with Domestic Violence: A Judge's Guide,” published by The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, includes a strong statement condemning the use of PAS which it calls a “discredited” syndrome that favors child abusers in custody determinations. [see excerpt ]

At the same time the Spring 2006 issue of the American Bar Association's Children's Legal Rights Journal provides a comprehensive analysis of all legal case involving allegations of PAS. This definitive review concludes that science, law, and policy all oppose the admissibility of PAS in the courtroom. [Download PDF of article].

“PAS is junk science at its worst,” says Dr. Paul Fink, President of the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence, and a former President of the American Psychiatric Association [see bio]. Dr. Fink explains, “Science tells us that the most likely reason that a child becomes estranged from a parent is that parent's own behavior. Labels, such as PAS, serve to deflect attention away from those behaviors.”

Judge Sol Gothard is glad to see that the legal community has joined other professionals in recognizing the harm that PAS can cause. Recently retired from Louisiana's 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, Judge Gothard has been involved in over 2000 cases of allegations of child sexual abuse. He states, “PAS has caused emotional harm, physical harm and in some cases, even death to children.” [read
about Nathan's death; see also Jana Bommersbach. Parental Alienation. Phoenix Magazine, May 2006]

Joyanna Silberg, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist and Executive Vice President of the Council [see bio], has also seen first hand the long-term emotional damage this so-called syndrome has caused. “How do you explain to young children forced to live with abusers why the courts have considered them liars and ignored their cries for help?” Silberg has found that it can take years for these children to get past their feelings of betrayal by the system that was supposed to protect them. [see article about Tiffany; more children's stories]

Dr. Silberg views PAS allegations as part of a larger strategy in which abusive parents try to fool the courts, attorneys, child custody evaluators, and mental health professionals into believing that their children and ex-spouses are crazy when they raise concerns about safety. She notes the recent case of Darren Mack, accused of shooting his custody judge and stabbing his wife to death. Mack successfully convinced a custody evaluator that he was a loving parent with no violent tendencies, notes Silberg.

Stephanie Dallam, MS, a researcher with the Leadership Council, has spent the last 10 years researching PAS [see bio]. She traces the syndrome to a controversial psychiatrist, Richard Gardner, who described sex between fathers and their offspring as normal and natural. In his voluminous self-published writings, Gardner blamed abused children's suffering on our society's “overreaction” to sexual abuse, notes Dallam. [more on Gardner's views on pedophilia]

Dr. Paul Fink concludes, "Children suffer when law embraces a 'syndrome' just because a so-called 'expert' coined a snappy phrase. Increasingly, courts are seeing through the PAS charade and refusing to allow the courtroom to be used as theater for the promotion of junk science."

The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence is composed of national leaders in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, law, and public policy who are committed to the ethical application of psychological science and countering its misuse by special interest groups. Members of the Council are dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of children and other vulnerable populations. More information can be found at: www.leadershipcouncil.org

Wonder Drug Inspires Deep, Unwavering Love Of Pharmaceutical Companies

As seen in the Onion satire news site

The Food and Drug Administration today approved the sale of the drug PharmAmorin, a prescription tablet developed by Pfizer to treat chronic distrust of large prescription-drug manufacturers.

Pfizer executives characterized the FDA's approval as a "godsend" for sufferers of independent-thinking-related mental-health disorders.

Many individuals today lack the deep, abiding affection for drug makers that is found in healthy people, such as myself," Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell said. "These tragic disorders are reaching epidemic levels, and as a company dedicated to promoting the health, well-being, and long life of our company's public image, it was imperative that we did something to combat them.

Although many psychotropic drugs impart a generalized feeling of well-being, PharmAmorin is the first to induce and focus intense feelings of affection externally, toward for-profit drug makers. Pfizer representatives say that, if taken regularly, PharmAmorin can increase affection for and trust in its developers by as much as 96.5 percent.

"Out of a test group of 180, 172 study participants reported a dramatic rise in their passion for pharmaceutical companies," said Pfizer director of clinical research Suzanne Frost. "And 167 asked their doctors about a variety of prescription medications they had seen on TV."

Frost said a small percentage of test subjects showed an interest in becoming lobbyists for one of the top five pharmaceutical companies, and several browsed eBay for drug-company apparel.

PharmAmorin, available in 100-, 200-, and 400-mg tablets, is classified as a critical-thinking inhibitor, a family of drugs that holds great promise for the estimated 20 million Americans who suffer from Free-Thinking Disorder.

Pfizer will also promote PharmAmorin in an aggressive, $34.6 million print and televised ad campaign.

One TV ad, set to debut during next Sunday's 60 Minutes telecast, shows a woman relaxing in her living room and reading a newspaper headlined "Newest Drug Company Scandal Undermines Public Trust." The camera zooms into the tangled neural matter of her brain, revealing a sticky black substance and a purplish gas.

The narrator says, "She may show no symptoms, but in her brain, irrational fear and dislike of global pharmaceutical manufacturers is overwhelming her very peace of mind."

After a brief summary of PharmAmorin's benefits, the commercial concludes with the woman flying a kite across a sunny green meadow, the Pfizer headquarters gleaming in the background. [...]

PharmAmorin's side effects include nausea, upset stomach, and ignoring the side effects of prescription drug medication.

FBI agents holed up in a psychiatric hospital during a raid on the place attempt to order pizzas from an incredulous delivery man.

As reported and verified as true by the Snopes website.

FBI agents conducted a raid of a psychiatric hospital in San Diego that was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of reviewing thousands of medical records, the dozens of agents had worked up quite an appetite. The agent in charge of the investigation called a nearby pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.

The following telephone conversation took place and was recorded by the FBI because they were taping all conversations at the hospital.

Agent: Hello. I would like to order 19 large pizzas and 67 cans of soda.

Pizza Man: And where would you like them delivered?

Agent: We're over at the psychiatric hospital.

Pizza Man: The psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.

Pizza Man: You're an FBI agent?

Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.

Pizza Man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?

Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You will have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.

Pizza Man: And you say you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?

Pizza Man: And everyone at the psychiatric hospital is an FBI agent?

Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.

Pizza Man: How are you going to pay for all of this?

Agent: I have my checkbook right here.

Pizza Man: And you're all FBI agents?

Agent: That's right. Everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.

Pizza Man: I don't think so.

Click.

Additional details

In 1993, the FBI was assisting the Department of Health and Human Services in investigating health care fraud. A medical organization that operated psychiatric hospitals in nine different cities had come under suspicion, and coordinated raids on all nine of its facilities were all scheduled to take place on the same day (so that none of the hospitals could alert the others).

The unexpected bulk of the records seized in a morning raid of the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Chula Vista meant that the investigation turned into an all-day affair, and when the agent in charge of the operation realized his men were running on empty after long hours with no food, he attempted to order pizza from a local delivery outfit, placing the call now immortalized in this piece.

(Contrary to what is stated in most versions of this piece, the FBI was not taping all of the hospital's calls that day: the conversation reproduced above was reconstructed from the memories of the agents present at the time.)

And yes, the FBI men did get their pizzas, but not delivered — several agents had to drive over and pick them up.

Bush’s mental illness screening squad on the move

As reported here. Long time readers of this weblog will also be familiar with this item, which reports on the connections of the Bush Family to companies like Eli Lily

The tax dollar funded mental health screening programs popping up in every corner of the nation represent an enormous gift to Big Pharma from the Bush administration. After all, drug companies can't push drugs without a lucrative customer base, so the screening programs are a great solution for that little problem.

On April 29, 2002, Bush kicked off the whole mental health screening scheme, when he announced the establishment of the New Freedom Commission (NFC), during a speech in New Mexico where he told the audience that mental health centers and hospitals, homeless shelters, and the justice and school systems, have contact with individuals suffering from mental disorders, but that too many Americans are falling through the cracks, and so he created the NFC to ensure “that the cracks are closed.” [...]

According to the results of a 2002 survey of recently trained child psychiatrists, in the Journal of American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, nine out of 10 pediatric patients under their care were treated with prescription drugs.

[...]

The fact is, when Bush took office, he owed Big Pharma a lot favors in return for all the money he raked in from the industry and the mental health screening scheme represents a major part of his efforts to cover those debts.

The financial backing that Bush received from Big Pharma is legend and it's safe to say that he would not be sitting in the White House today without it.

An extensive detailed report

The satirical wit will say that this is means to ensure that liberalism as a mental disease is cured in our lifetime.

Your milage may vary.

Trying to prevent yet another scandal

As seen in the Northern Echo, from the UK

Proposals for the biggest shake-up in the medical professional in a generation will see doctors undergoing regular "fit to practise" check-ups.

Campaigners last night welcomed the plans, put forward by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, after a number of medical scandals, including the case of disgraced gynaecologist Richard Neale.

They said the shake-up, which devolves power from the General Medical Council (GMC), in London, to local watchdogs, could prevent a repeat of scandals that have shaken public confidence in the medical profession.
continued...

Under the recommendations, which go out for consultation until November, doctors would have to renew their licences in order to stay on the medical register and have the right to work.

Specialist doctors or GPs would have to re-certify via their relevant royal colleges.

The aim is to proactively ensure the doctor is safe to work and not just to identify there are no current concerns.

The 44 recommendations aimed at bolstering public confidence also propose setting up an independent tribunal to judge when serious complaints are made against doctors.

The amount of proof needed in fitness to practise disciplinary cases would drop from that of beyond reasonable doubt to that of on the balance of probabilities.

It is hoped this will close loopholes where a doctors work can be viewed as so bad they may have committed a criminal offence but not bad enough for them to be struck off the medical register.

The General Medical Council, the doctors' watchdog, would be stripped of some of its powers, with a network of trained and accredited GMC affiliates appointed to act as the eyes and ears for patient safety at a local level.

The most serious cases would be passed to the GMC to investigate.

The investigation was ordered in the wake of the Harold Shipman scandal and a number of other notorious cases, including that of Richard Neale.

The consultant gynaecologist, who worked at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was struck off after botching operations, lying to patients and altering medical records.

Other scandals examined by Prof Donaldson included that of William Kerr, a former North Yorkshire psychiatrist who was convicted of indecent assault after a string of complaints from female patients.

Michael Haslam, also a former North Yorkshire psychiatrist, was jailed for four counts of indecent assault following complaints from female patients.

In all three cases, patients believe their complaints were not taken seriously by the medical and health authorities because of a culture that put doctors before patients.

Last night, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt announced that the proposals will now be subject to widespread consultation before any further action is taken.

Prof Donaldson has spent the last couple of years working through the recommendations of the Shipman, Ayling, Neale, Kerr and Haslam inquiries to devise his own recipe for reform.

Kent GP Clifford Ayling was jailed for indecently assaulting female patients.

The main trigger for reform were the recommendations contained in the fifth report into the Shipman Inquiry, which was critical of the GMC and medical regulation arrangements.

Shipman, who hanged himself in prison, is believed to have killed more than 250 of his patients. He was convicted in 2000 of murdering 15 of them.

The Shipman inquiry made more than 100 recommendations in areas including disciplinary procedures, whistle-blowing and the monitoring of GPs.

More recommendations were made by the Neale, Kerr and Haslam inquiries, including a call for better checks before doctors were recruited and extra supervisory powers.

Prof Donaldson said while standards of care provided by doctors were "very high" there was a need to bolster patients' trust in the system.

Last night, Graham Maloney, advisor to the support group set up by some of Neale's former patients, said: "These proposals will go a long way to prevent someone like Richard Neale operating again in our hospitals."

Kathy Haq, a victim of William Kerr and a spokeswoman for former patients of Kerr and Haslam, said: "I am pleased that they are finally doing something to sort this out.

"The change to the standard of proof will make it easier to take action against doctors who abuse or harm their patients."

Yes, we definitely want to make sure that doctors, especially psychiatrists, our pet peeve, are held responsible for their criminal actions.

Paging Dr. Quack

As seen here about this news item

A psychiatrist, Dr. Mohammad A. Saeed, who treated Andrea Yates about three months before she drowned her five children told a jury Tuesday that she never appeared psychotic, not even at an office appointment two days before the killings.

Huh...

In other unrelated cases, Saeed report that he did not believe Jeffrey Dahmer suffered from any eating disorders or that Charles Manson suffered from anything more severe than Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.

The Devil Made Me Do It!

As seen in this blog post

Under the Texas insanity-defense law, a delusional person acting under "orders from God" should be judged NOT guilty by reason of insanity, but a delusional person acting under "orders from Satan" be considered sane, according to prominent forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz (according to a June USA Today story).

Dietz believes that Andrea Yates knew that drowning her kids upon command of someone "without moral authority" (such as Satan) was wrong and thus that she did not qualify for insanity-law protection.

Dietz later concluded the opposite in another Texas child-killing case because God had supposedly assured that mother that her kids would be better off dead.

To Review:

"The Devil Made Me Do It"
(You are NOT insane in Texas)

"God Made Me Do It"
(You ARE insane in Texas!)

San Jose Mercury News Examines Ties Between Universities, Rx Industry

As reported here. Conflict of Interest? in a psychiatrist? say it isn't so. But he protests his innocence. Should we be cynical?

The San Jose Mercury News recently published a series of articles that examined the financial ties between universities and pharmaceutical companies. The series includes the results of a six-month Mercury News investigation into the research practices of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Summaries of the articles appear below.

*"Federal Rules Often Unenforced: Schools Are Left To Police Themselves": NIH rules require universities to monitor and report conflicts of interests, but the agency "does little to enforce those rules," the Mercury News reports.

NIH does not "maintain reliable statistics on the number of conflicts reported by universities that receive its grants" and "does not routinely ask schools to explain how they resolve the financial conflicts they do report," according to the Mercury News. NIH officials maintain that the agency does not have the ability to monitor the thousands of universities and not-for-profit organizations that receive federal research grants (Jacobs [1], San Jose Mercury News, 7/9).

* "How Profits, Research Mix at Stanford": Financial Ties researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry have "enriched the school and fattened the personal bank account of many of its prestigious faculty members," the Mercury News reports.

According to the Mercury News, during the 2004-2005 academic year, the medical school received $38 million in royalties for research discoveries. Philip Pizzo, dean of the medical school, said that funds from the pharmaceutical industry are necessary to finance research into new treatments for patients, adding that the school has the "most rigorous" conflict-of-interest rules in the nation (Jacobs [2], San Jose Mercury News, 7/9).

* "Science Critics Make Issue of Financial Ties": The article profiles Stanford University psychiatrist Alan Schatzberg, who has conducted research into the use of mifepristone as a treatment for depression.

According to the Mercury News, some scientists have criticized the research because Schatzberg co-founded Corcept Therapeutics, a publicly traded company that seeks to market mifepristone as a treatment for depression. Schatzberg said he has complied with conflict-of-interest rules, adding, "We're trying to do something to help very badly ill patients, and if it's successful, the field will be advanced" (Jacobs [1], San Jose Mercury News, 7/10). In addition, the Mercury News published an interview with Schatzberg (Jacobs, San Jose Mercury News, 7/10).