Another Psychiatrist Gives up His License

As reported in the Bangor Daily News. Looks like the doctor has taken an attitude similar to Alfred E Neuman of Mad Magazine fame: "What? Me worry?" Surely the complaint heard in some quarters of the decline of psychiatry cannot be helped by some many giving up their license.

After complaints about his professional conduct, longtime Bangor psychiatrist Takeo Kawamura has voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine in Maine, according to the state’s Board of Licensure in Medicine. Kawamura’s loss of licensure took effect on Jan. 8 and is permanent.

The complaints include an allegation that Kawamura mismanaged one patient’s medications and failed to competently treat another patient who ultimately committed suicide.

In a public document obtained from the medical licensing board, Kawamura neither admitted nor denied allegations of incompetence and professional misconduct. But he conceded that the board had sufficient evidence to "reasonably conclude" he failed to adequately monitor the medical care and medications of two patients, behavior that "could amount to incompetence and unprofessional conduct, and constitutes grounds for discipline of his Maine license."

In a complaint received by the board in March 2006, a female patient alleged she suffered side effects from her medication because of Kawamura’s failure to adequately monitor the amount of medication in her blood. According to the public document, Kawamura asserted he had treated the patient appropriately.

In March 2007, the board received information about another patient who had committed suicide while under Kawamura’s care. After its review of the case, the board initiated a complaint alleging incompetence. Kawamura denied providing incompetent care to the patient, according to the public document.

In the consent agreement signed Jan. 8, Kawamura agreed to surrender his license permanently in order to resolve the complaints without further board proceedings.

In 2006, Kawamura signed another consent decree that required him to take a board-approved course in medical ethics each calendar year and to obtain ongoing therapeutic counseling himself. He also was required to discontinue treating family members unless they were in joint therapy.

Kawamura is a 1958 graduate of Chiba University in Japan and had been licensed in Maine since 1962. He served as the chief of psychiatry at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and as the head of outpatient services at Acadia Hospital in Bangor.

Kawamura’s office was closed Monday because of the snowstorm. An answering service operator said Kawamura had "resigned" but had no further information. The call was not immediately returned. Kawamura’s home phone number is unpublished.