Top Five Psychiatric Drugs Linked to Violence

To assert psychiatry is careless in prescribing drugs for its various diagnosed disorders is a monstrous trivialization of the problem.

Many of their drugs have been directly linked to suicide and violent behavior, sometimes resulting in murder on a grand scale. In a 2011 study based on data from the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System, 31 drugs were linked with violent behavior.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

• Varenicline (Chantix) – Some of the side effects listed for this smoking cessation drug, which is 18 times more likely to result in violence, includes:

• Seeing things that are not there
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Anger
• Behavior Changes
• Irritability
• Mood swings

An Oregon woman found her husband and son dead, both killed by her husband (who had been prescribed Chantix by his dentist.) There have been many other instances of homicide traced back to this drug. Why Chantix has not been withdrawn from the marketplace is hard to fathom.

• Prozac – This antidepressant is 10.9 more likely to be associated with violence than other medications. This drug has over 80 side effects, ranging from merely uncomfortable, to deadly. Here a few of the worst:

• Use of extreme physical or emotional force
• Suicidal thoughts
• Paranoia
• Violent behavior
• Mania
• Panic Attacks
• Abnormal thoughts

By the year 2000, Eli Lilly had paid $50 million dollars to settle 30 prozac lawsuits involving suicide and murder by those at the mercy of this drug.

• Paxil – This antidepressant is linked to birth defects and severe withdrawal symptoms. It has a 10.3 likelihood of violence associated with it. Some other Paxil side effects include:

• Auditory Hallucinations
• Suicide attempts
• Aggravated Nervousness
• Acting aggressive or violent
• Acting on dangerous impulses

Donald Schell had been on Paxil for only 48 hours when he shot and killed his wife, daughter, his granddaughter and himself. The case came to trial, and a jury found GlaxoSmithKline liable for the deaths, and ordered the drug company to pay 6.4 million dollars to the relatives of Schell.

• Amphetamines – This includes Adderall, used to treat ADHD in children. It has been linked to suicide and violent behavior. Just a few Adderall side effects include:

• Aggression
• Anger
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Tourette’s syndrome
• Suicidal thoughts

Kyle Craig’s parents are living with the horrendous loss of their son, a victim of this drug’s suicidal side effects. At the age of 21, while a college student at Vanderbilt University, he stepped in front of a passenger train and ended his life.

• Fluvoxamine (Luvox) – This drug is used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder, and has been linked to violent behavior. Here is a partial list of its side effects:

• Impulsive behavior
• Irritability
• Agitation
• Hostility
• Aggression
• Hyperactive
• Suicidal thoughts

Eric Harris, perpetrator of the 1999 Columbine school shooting tragedy in which 12 students were murdered and another 21 were injured was on Luvox.

Why are these drugs still on the market?

It seems a mystery, since the vast number of people would be happy to see these violent inducing drugs disappear forever.

But psychiatry maintains a fondness for these drugs and their unholy alliance with big pharmaceutical companies keep violent inducing drugs in production.

It is up to each of us to educate ourselves on the side effects of these drugs. There is often a medical reason behind a so-called mental disorder, and examination by a competent (not psychiatric) medical doctor can often trace back the problem to a physical cause.

Treatment with psychiatric drugs is very much playing Russian roulette with the lives of our loved ones.

SOURCES:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/07/top-ten-legal-drugs-linked-to-violence/

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/chantix-side-effects.html

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/prozac-side-effects.html

http://www.theroadback.org/paxilsideeffects.aspx

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm088676.pdf

http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/drug-injury-press-releases/paxil-maker-held-liable-in-murder-suicide.php

http://www.drugwatch.com/prozac/lawsuit.php

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-1089/luvox+oral/details/list-sideeffects

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/adderall-psychosis-suicide-college-students-abuse-study-drug/story?id=12066619

http://www.drugs.com/mtm/luvox.html

RX Dangers

Santa Cruz mental health specialist arrested on child sex assault charges

As reported by KSBW

A 56-year-old man who works as a mental health specialist for Santa Cruz County was arrested Thursday morning.

Christopher McCauley is a well-known mental health specialist and community liaison at the county's Health Services Agency. According to his Facebook page, he works with children for the Health Services Agency. He was booked into jail on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child who is younger than 11 years old. His bail was set at $100,000.

Sheriff's deputies said Child Protective Services agents alerted them about McCauley's inappropriate behavior. McCauley was arrested by sheriff's deputies at 1400 Emeline Ave., where he works in the county health department's building. McCauley is the first person who schools are instructed to call under the Santa Cruz County School Emergency Mental Heath Response Protocol.

Rayne Marr, Public Information Officer for Santa Cruz County, issued the following prepared statement to KSBW:

"This morning a county mental health client specialist in the Health Services Agency was arrested. The county is cooperating fully with law enforcement officials and remains steadfast in our commitment to providing a safe and secure environment for our clients. As you know, the employee does have a right to privacy and the county cannot comment on an ongoing law enforcement investigation," Marr said.

When asked if McCauley worked with children for the county, she declined to comment. Calls to McCauley's work phone number were not returned.

The Sheriff’s Office believes that there may be more victims. Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation is asked to contact the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office Sexual Assault Unit at 831-454-7630.

Are There Dangerous Side Effects Connected with Use of Suboxone?

If you’re not familiar with it, Suboxone is the brand name of a drug that is used in the treatment of opiate addiction. It was recently in the news because the young man who shot and killed several people in South Carolina had been recently arrested for possessing Suboxone that wasn’t prescribed for him. Could Suboxone have been involved in mental problems that contributed to his shooting these people? To determine this possibility, it’s necessary to take a closer look at this drug and its side effects.

What’s in Suboxone?

The primary drug in this formula is buprenorphine, a synthetic opioid (meaning “similar to opiate”). This drug prevents an opiate-addicted person from going into withdrawal but does not create as much euphoria as heroin or painkillers. So it is broadly used in the treatment of opiate addiction, enabling people to stop using heroin or painkillers without the sickness that would normally result. One report estimated that three million Americans have been treated with Suboxone.

Despite the high not being as potent as that of heroin, it’s still a popular drug of abuse, with many drug dealers offering their customers their choice of heroin or Suboxone. If there are any hazardous mental side effects to using or abusing Suboxone, all those people illicitly using this drug will not have the support of a doctor to cope with those effects.

Suboxone Side Effects

The website for the manufacturer, Reckitt Benckiser of the UK, notes these side effects of the drug: Nausea, vomiting, headache, numb mouth, constipation, intoxication, disturbance in attention, irregular heartbeat, decrease in sleep, back pain, fainting, and dizziness.

Pharmaceutical company Reckitt Benckiser lists no mental effects of this drug. Their website only states that there are “nervous system” effects such as: Anxiety, depression, dizziness, nervousness and insomnia.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration notes this side effect: Dysphoria, defined as a state of depression, restlessness, or unpleasant dissatisfaction with life.

But What Do Actual Users Say about Suboxone?

Some recent news reports have ventured into online forums that permit drug users to discuss the effects of the drugs to find out what these actual users say about side effects. While these are not authoritative sites by any means, it might be useful in this circumstance to sample their comments.

In 2011, a woman described her experience using buprenorphine in a patch as prescribed for pain: “I became extremely angry and irritable. I was having other problems with it and wound up taking the patch off. When I put a new one on last night, the same thing happened. Ten minutes and tears just started pouring. I couldn’t stop it! Half an hour after that I was high as a kite, not happy but talkative. Twenty minutes later I felt the need to punch someone in the face, and I’ve been irritable and bitchy ever since. I feel like gruesomely and meticulously dismembering every other person I come across, just because.”

This person stopped using Suboxone while he was taking 6 milligrams per day: “On the fourth day I wanted to kill myself. Whoever says Suboxone is easy to come off is a better person then I am.”

In 2013, a fellow who was trying to get clean after using 2 mg Suboxone for six months said: “I set a new world’s record, at least my personal best, 27 days with no sleep! On a 2 a.m. walk at night 26 I was seriously ready to jump out into traffic, I was hallucinating and could barely walk, and once you think you’re getting better, it comes back and kicks you in the ***!”

In 2014, a person who had been taking Suboxone for two years and then went off it said: “The INSANE anxiety has settled in to stay. I make myself sick obsessing over what I need to be doing and what is about to go wrong and how in the world I am going to make it through. I sit and think and in the middle of everything I do, chores, driving, watching TV, suddenly my heart sinks as I sit and entertain one of my negative thoughts in my head.”

A man with the forum name of “Dan Steely” described the effect of taking one to two mg of buprenorphine a day for eight months: “It took me months to figure out I had turned into a zombie. Like I said I could function pretty well but my life had become very flat. I no longer enjoyed or looked forward to the things that made my life fun.”

A person with the forum name “Shanellie” mentioned in 2012: “Subs are just not for everyone. I tried that route and basically spent an entire year feeling weird, sick and miserable.”

There’s no drug in the world that works for every single person which is why it’s vital for a patient to stay in touch with a doctor when starting treatment. When a person is abusing this drug or does not have a trusting relationship with his doctor, it’s possible for things to go very wrong, as these people have noted.

Was Suboxone Abuse Related to this Recent Tragedy?

This is a question that doctors and other qualified experts will need to answer. What does seem clear is that Suboxone and buprenorphine don’t work for every patient and have some serious mental side effects for some. When these drugs are being used without medical supervision, there’s no telling what could happen.

A Queensbury psychiatrist had his medical license suspended for 6 months for allegations of “gross incompetence” and “moral unfitness.”

As seen in the Post Star oif Warren County in Australia

A Queensbury psychiatrist had his medical license suspended for 6 months last week after the state Department of Health brought a disciplinary case against him for allegations of “gross incompetence” and “moral unfitness.”

Dr. Koock E. Jung, who operates Psychotherapy Center on Bay Road in Queensbury, will also spend 3 years on probation after the suspension is lifted, according to the Department of Health. The suspension takes effect June 29.

The Department of Health website showed Jung admitted he “could not successfully defend against” at least one of a group of charges that included allegations he committed “gross negligence gross incompetence negligence on more than one occasion incompetence; on more than one occasion harassing, abusing or intimidating a patient physically or verbally; engaging in moral unfitness; failing to maintain accurate patient records; and revealing personally identifiable facts, data or information without the prior consent of the patient.”

Among the allegations was inappropriate physical contact with female patients and prescription of medications that were beyond his licensing ability, according to one woman who made a complaint against Jung. Jung denied the accusations Tuesday and said he did not admit any wrongdoing related to sexual contact. He said any physical contact he had with patients was for legitimate medical or examination purposes. He blamed the case on a group of disgruntled former employees, one of whom he had remove her shirt so he could examine her for pneumonia. He said some of them told “lies” because they were angry about a “pay scale” dispute.

Other patients wrongly interpreted examinations he did to check their hearts for problems related to medication they were prescribed, he said. “Some of these women sexualize anything,” he said.

The prescription charge related to prescribing Xanax to a person with “serious anxiety,” Jung said.

He said he suffers from Lyme disease that has limited the use of his hands, so he may decide to retire instead of getting his medical license reinstated. Jung accepted the state’s disciplinary action instead of facing an evidentiary hearing that could have led to him losing his medical license. The hearing was scheduled for last week, and the notice of discipline was posted Monday.

A Queensbury woman was among the dozen or so women, many of them victims of sexual abuse, who sought help from Jung. She said they were prepared to testify at the disciplinary hearing last week. She spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of the allegations. She said Jung engaged in “inappropriate touching” and inappropriate conversations with her and others with whom she discussed the case.

How prescription drug abuse is helping to fuel violence in America

Local Column by "Dr Manny" on violence in America

My heart aches and my soul is full of sadness for the nine innocent lives lost in Charleston, South Carolina, and the community left reeling due to yet another senseless crime. This horrific mass murder will no doubt be remembered in American history, just like the many others that have come before it, and unfortunately the probable ones yet to come.

While we know that accused killer Dylann Roof was fueled by hatred and racism, I wonder if there is a pattern in some of these tragedies. In conjunction with what other experts will tell us, I believe that an epidemic of drug abuse in this country is helping to fuel the violence. I am not talking about marijuana, cocaine or heroin – I am specifically singling out prescription drug abuse.

It is alleged that Roof was taking Xanax and Soboxone. A high school classmate even referred to him as a “pill popper.” The Wall Street Journal reported that in a police incident report from February, Roof was found to have strips of Suboxone -- a pain drug used to treat opiate addiction -- on him, but did not have a prescription for the drug. From what we know thus far, Roof was not under any kind of psychiatric care, either.

Now, I don’t know for sure whether or not Roof had a prescription for Xanax, or if he purchased it off the street like his former classmate inferred, but the drug has been linked to many potential dangerous side effects without careful monitoring. Xanax may cause a person to become depressed, irritable, an insomniac, to have difficulty concentrating, and to act in an aggressive manner. When psychiatrists and physicians prescribe Xanax, they are aware of these side effects, and determine the proper dosage to prescribe to patients based on any underlying mental illnesses. However, when the drug is purchased off the street, there could be undiagnosed disorders like bipolar disorder or another mental illnesses that could cause the above-mentioned side effects to come to life, often in tragic ways.

Suboxone is another powerful drug that requires a degree of professional monitoring. This is typically prescribed for narcotic addiction because it contains both a narcotic element, along with an anti-narcotic ingredient. The combination of this drug and Xanax could create a poisonous cocktail that may spell trouble for the user.

Many of these drugs are sold on the streets by people who have obtained them illegally. A National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicated that an estimated 36 million U.S. residents aged 12 and older abused prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime. In breaking that number down, it found that 2.7 million of those individuals were aged 12 to 17, and 6.9 million were aged 18 to 25. Those purchasing the drugs are unaware of potential side effects or the dangers that they may pose to others while on the medications.

Make no mistake about it, these are powerful drugs intended to treat many mental illnesses. Most of them, if they are taken as intended, do provide great relief to patients. However, there are instances of violence that have occurred while suspects were under the care of a psychiatrist and were taking the prescriptions legally.

Let’s look at James Holmes, the accused killer who opened fire on a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and wounding 70. Holmes had been prescribed a generic version of Zoloft, which is used to treat depression, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Clonazepam, which treats anxiety and panic attacks. Zoloft has the potential to cause suicidal ideation, while Clonazepam also carries the potential for serious side effects.

Next, let’s consider Eric Harris, who along with Dylan Klebold, opened fire on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, murdering 13 classmates before killing themselves. Harris had been prescribed the powerful antidepressant Luvox.

One in 10 Americans now takes antidepressant medications and many others illegally acquire these drugs for recreational use. I am certainly not suggesting that one in 10 of us is a killer. What I am saying, is that when these powerful medications are given, they must be medically supervised, and all of the side effects must be considered by the prescribing doctor. When there is no medical supervision, or lax guidance, these drugs can enhance aggressive behavior and further fuel irrational thinking. The illegal prescription drug abuse on the streets is far too great for us to ignore.

As the nation once more looks for answers to an unthinkable tragedy, many will race to call for better gun control and background checks. Others will want social answers and call for better ways to mend the racial divide that exists in some of our communities. But what I ask our leaders is to also address the epic level of untreated mental illness in our country, which when paired with illegal drug abuse, has only left us reeling time after time.

We all need to work together. Just recently the Justice Department arrested 243 people across the country and charged them with submitting fake billing for Medicare which totaled $712 million. Among those arrested are 46 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals. In one case, a doctor in Michigan prescribed unnecessary narcotics in exchange for patients’ identification information to generate false billings.

Uncontrolled drug abuse in people that already possess racism and hatred in their hearts makes for an incredibly dangerous situation.

Each and every one of us will play a role in righting this wrong, and it begins with caring for each other. If you notice changes in any of your loved ones, friends or colleagues, then you must speak out. Too often after the fact we hear of all the warning signs that were there for us, whether it was the lack of compassion for your fellow man, drug abuse or mental illness, it is our responsibility to get them help. Let us hope that this hate crime will make every single American know how to love and respect and care for each other, because that will be the definitive cure that will make us stronger and better people.

Fairfield psychiatrist charged with fraud. They submitted bills that added up to them seeing patients 24 hours a day.

The state attorney general is suing a Westport couple for Medicaid fraud, charging they submitted bills that added up to them seeing patients 24 hours a day.

Attorney General George Jepsen announced Thursday morning that Dr. Ashwini Sabnis, a psychiatrist, and her husband Saurav “Sam” Mohanty, co-owners of Brighter Concept, Inc., 2000 Post Road in Fairfield, allegedly filed false claims under the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program. The couple also operated a Brighter Concept office in New Haven.

Jepsen said he is seeking triple damages under the state’s False Claims Act for actions that occurred between January, 2010 and December of last year, including billing for services that garnered higher reimbursement levels than the services they actually provided. Jepsen alleged that the couple overbilled the state Department of Social Services by $768,171 during the four-year period.

The lawsuit, pursued by Jepsen and Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan Harris, was filed in Hartford Superior Court.

"This action is being brought to seek damages, civil penalties and other relief due to a scheme that was perpetrated on a health care program intended to care for our most vulnerable citizens," Jepsen said in a statement. "Health care providers who accept taxpayer dollars must play by the rules."

The couple’s attorney, Ross Garber, declined comment.

The 42-page complaint alleges that the scheme included claims for services not rendered, as well as overbilling and filing false statements in a “systematic and persistent pattern of submitting false and fraudulent claims.” The lawsuit alleges that Sabnis and Mohanty discouraged auditors from the state Department of Social Services with claims that their computer system had crashed.

Sabnis regularly overbooked her scheduled Medicaid patients for 15 or 30 minute appointments, saw them for as little as 5 or 10 minutes, then used a reimbursement code that showed she spent as much as 75 to 80 minutes with them, the complaint said. The lawsuit alleges that there were 113 days when Sabnis billed the state for more than 24 hours of service for low-income and disabled patients.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby praised the Attorney General’s investigation.

“Uprooting and eliminating this type of fraudulent activity requires the constant vigilance of oversight agencies,” Bremby said. “While the great majority of Medicaid-enrolled providers are professional and honest, the exceptions require aggressive action on behalf of the program’s overall integrity and the taxpayers who fund it.”

The Devious Matrix Called Psychiatry

A new Blog entry by Jon Rappaport entitled The Devious Matrix Called Psychiatry

A very long article well worth the read. Here's the intro

“Psychiatry does more than define mental disorders. It purports to describe actual states of mind, and it coalesces and freezes those descriptions in such a way that people believe these states of mind exist. They don’t. They’re fictions. Fantasies. This is an enormous landscape of consciousness-programming. It’s actually reduction. Like many systems before it, psychiatry tries to reduce the possibilities of wide-ranging free consciousness. Throughout history, people have always been afraid of mind freedom. ‘What will people with free minds do?’ ‘What will society become if people’s minds are free?’ I can tell you: society would change radically, right down to its foundations.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

Over the past 30 years, my work has always returned to freedom of the individual.

Not only Constitutional freedom and Bill-of-Rights freedom, but liberation of the power of individual thought and imagination and invention. Because those qualities are unpredictable, open-ended, and limitless. This is where long-term revolution begins.

So naturally, I’ve investigated the premier “science” that claims to have the best understanding of the mind: psychiatry.

I was neither surprised nor shocked to discover that psychiatry is a fraud, a pseudoscience.

Yet, this “science” is accorded special treatment and licensure and favored status by governments around the world. Why? Because untold numbers of patients can be diagnosed and drugged with highly toxic substances, and even held against their will in closed wards. Dissidents can be contained. Whole populations can be convinced they are either “mentally healthy” or “mentally ill,” as if those two fictional categories described some highly significant status.

If psychiatry were merely recognized as an experimental hypothesis, and so-called professionals diagnosed one another and applied labels to one another and drugged one another, in order to assess the outcome, as any scientist would, before subjecting the public to his idiosyncratic notions…well, fine. I could understand that.

But of course, this is not where we find ourselves. Psychiatrists are considered lofty authorities. They are called as expert witnesses in criminal trials. Then can, in many cases, arbitrarily force their will on patients. They are called upon by media to render their analyses. They occupy sanctified chairs at universities.

So…with that introduction, let me present information which has not been broadly communicated to the public.

An East Tennessee State University medical school psychiatrist Sues Claiming False Arrest for DUI (Despite Failing Streetside Sobriety Tests)

Apparently local Law Enforcement was not appropriately deferential and arrested him because he failed the tests. Also, if he is in such rough shape (as alleged in the lawsuit), what business does he have being a psychistrist? Note this quote from the story:

Also, during the booking process, Agrawal said Stillwagon’s data entry device made a “machine gun” sound, which further terrified Agrawal.

I sure wouldn't want him even as a regular doctor! Paranoia anyone?

It is rare that a shrink gets the same treatment that patients often do. He also sounds like he is looking for a payday

From a report in the Johnson City Press

An East Tennessee State University medical school psychiatrist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Mountain Home, has sued Washington County, Johnson City and a city police officer over an alleged bogus DUI arrest and his treatment while jailed nearly 36 hours.

Dr. Newton Agrawal filed the lawsuit through his attorney, Richard Pectol, in Washington County Circuit Court May 28, almost one year to the date of his arrest. Agrawal was pulled over around 11:50 p.m. on May 30, 2014, near the intersection of Buffalo and East Main streets by Johnson City Police Officer Kirt Stillwagon and ultimately arrested on two charges — DUI and violation of the light law. Months later, blood alcohol test results showed no alcohol in Agrawal’s system and a toxicology report indicated all drug tests were negative. Both charges were dismissed by state prosecutors in October.

According to the filing, Agrawal had attended a gathering of co-workers at Gourmet & Co. earlier in the evening, where he had one alcoholic drink around 7 p.m. During the time at the restaurant, Agrawal ate a meal and drank water. Around 11:30 p.m., Agrawal left the restaurant to drive home, but was pulled over by Stillwagon, “purportedly for driving with a headlight that was not illuminated,” the suit states.

Agrawal apparently admitted to Stillwagon that he had been at Gourmet & Co. and consumed one alcoholic drink. That’s when Stillwagon asked Agrawal for his license and vehicle registration. According to the warrant charging Agrawal with DUI, Stillwagon said the doctor “fumbled papers, losing focus on what was asked originally.” The warrant does not indicate Stillwagon smelled alcohol, observed bloodshot eyes on Agrawal or that Agrawal had slurred speech or was driving erratically.

Stillwagon then administered several field sobriety tests — finger dexterity, on which Stillwagon said Agrawal did poorly; recite the alphabet from E to Q, which was performed correctly; horizontal gaze nystagmus — the follow-my-finger” test; as well as the walk-a-straight-line test. Both of the last two tests were performed poorly, according to Stillwagon’s affidavit of the arrest.

Agrawal stated in the suit that he was forced to conduct the field sobriety tests on a sloped surface while wearing formal shoes and with flashing lights from three police cars blinding him. He also asked Stillwagon to allow him to calm down for a few minutes because the act of being pulled over, and that multiple police officers responded to the traffic stop, caused him to be nervous and anxious. The lawsuit indicates Stillwagon refused Agrawal any time to calm himself before performing the tests, and he also denies performing poorly on the tests.

Stillwagon took Agrawal to Johnson City Medical Center approximately one hour after the stop for a blood test, but did not perform a breathalyzer, according to the lawsuit.

Once at the jail, Agrawal said he was mistreated by booking officers who refused to allow him to call to a bondsman, tried to force him to sign a statement indicating he was suicidal and then refused Agrawal a mental health assessment when he requested one. Following the booking process, Agrawal said he was told to strip naked, and was then placed in a suicide watch cell where he was kept from May 31, 2014, until the morning of June 2, 2014. Also, during the booking process, Agrawal said Stillwagon’s data entry device made a “machine gun” sound, which further terrified Agrawal.

During that time in the suicide watch cell, Agrawal said he was given only a thin paper sheet to cover himself and was housed with two inmates also placed on suicide watch. Also, Agrawal said he attempted to get the attention of booking officers numerous times to ask to arrange for bond and for his heart medicine, but he was ignored by the officers who sat just feet away from the cell.

Agrawal said in his lawsuit that he did not receive a mental health assessment until June 2, and it was conducted over the phone. That morning he was also allowed to call a bondsman so he could be released from jail. ”Stillwagon’s tortuous acts and omissions as described ... will continue to cause (Agrawal) to suffer fear, terror, nightmares, embarrassment, humiliation, damage to his professional reputation as a medical doctor .... emotional stress, mental anguish, a disruption of his normal everyday life activities, and a loss of the enjoyment and pleasures of life,“ the suit states.

The suit, which states Agrawal also suffered physically from being “slammed by Stillwagon onto the hood of his patrol car and onto the counter in the Washington County Detention Center,” asks for a judgment against the defendants for a total of $1.8 million in compensatory damages. The lawsuit had not been served on the city, county or Stillwagon as of Wednesday morning. Once it is served, the parties have 30 days to file a response.

Vista Del Mar Hospital Employee Arrested For Sexual Assault Of Psychiatric Patients

A Report from KEYT TV3 news

Police arrested 37-year-old Juan Pablo Valencia of Ventura Thursday on charges of sexual assault and rape of hospital patients.

Victim after victim came forward since the first incident was reported in October 2014—each with almost the same story. They were psychiatric patients at Vista Del Mar Hospital in Ventura and say Valencia sexually pursued them and continued to do so after their release.

The first victim reported the assaults occurred in 2013, with the rest of the victims coming forward in February 2015.

Valencia was initially arrested on January 2015 on the 2600 block of N Ventura Avenue. He was again arrested Thursday on the 600 block of Count Square Drive.

He is being held at Ventura County Jail under numerous sexual assault charges including rape of an intoxicated and institutionalized person.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding sexual misconduct by the suspect is urged to contact the Ventura Police Department at 805-339-4328.

Nebraska state shrinks still double-dipping, a decade after vow to end the practice

From a report from the Nebraska Watchdog. Another case of getting paid for more than what they do.

Nearly a decade ago, the new head of the state psychiatric hospital promised change to the Lincoln Regional Center after lawmakers discovered most of the psychiatrists had other jobs. Some were double-dipping — working at the state psychiatric hospital and county mental health center — while others were triple- and quadruple-dipping. But, 10 years later, Nebraska Watchdog has found little has changed.

Take Dr. Sanat Roy: He’s a psychiatrist at the Mental Health Crisis Center of Lancaster County, contract psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center and has a private practice at Plaza West Psychiatrists. He’s also listed as the medical director for Blue Valley Behavioral Health, a Beatrice nonprofit that serves 16 counties in southeast Nebraska.

Scott Etherton, program director for the county’s mental health center, said Roy works part-time and is on call 24/7. He gets $160,000 annually plus nearly $30,000 in benefits. Roy is on a contract with the state, earning more than $125 per hour for up to 1,664 hours per year (32 hours per week) or $210,266 per year.

[...]

Another psychiatrist, Dr. Klaus Hartmann, works full-time for the Regional Center, earning $243,884 annually — the highest state salary. He’s also listed as a psychiatrist for Bryan LGH and fills in for Roy when he’s on leave, according to Etherton.

A third psychiatrist working a second job is Dr. Rafael Tatay, a full-time psychiatrist at the Regional Center who makes $237,597 annually. He also is listed as a psychiatrist at Plaza West Psychiatrists.

After getting complaints for years that Regional Center psychiatrists weren’t putting in 40 hours a week, a 2005 performance audit by the Legislature found most Regional Center psychiatrists had other jobs that had them putting in upwards of 80 hours per week. The audit report didn’t say whether the psychiatrists were still able to properly do their jobs, despite holding down multiple positions. After the report came out, the new head of the Regional Center at the time, Bill Gibson, said he would work to end the double-dipping.

Back then, Roy and Hartmann were making about $330,000 annually working for the state and county, with jobs that required them to put in more than 65 hours per week, plus private practices. They’d been doing it for two decades [...] “It has been standard practice. I don’t think it has been detrimental to patient care. But it is not what I envision for the future,” he said in 2005.

Psychiatrists are among the highest paid state employees — with eight of them cracking the top 15 highest paid state employees

[...]

Gay Conversion Therapy Trial: New Jersey Nonprofit Group In Fraud Trial For Claiming To Cure Homosexuality

Another case where Shrinks do not know what they are doing, and end up getting sued for it. From a report from the International Business Times (Warning, autoplay video on website)

A major challenge to “gay conversion” therapy is ramping up in New Jersey, in a case that critics of the controversial treatments hope will set a precedent for fighting the practice around the country. A group that offered the so-called therapy is scheduled to go on trial for fraud Wednesday in the state, one of only three to have banned licensed therapists from offering treatments that purport to change a person’s sexual orientation.

Four men and two of their mothers are suing the nonprofit group Jews Offering New Alternatives for Homosexuality, or Jonah, on the grounds that it fraudulently claimed that it could change patients’ sexual orientation and for characterizing homosexuality as a mental disorder, the Associated Press reported. The plaintiffs have accused the group of engaging in “unconscionable practices,” including making patients strip naked during therapy sessions and subjecting them to slurs regarding their homosexuality.

Lawyers for the group have countered that scientists are still debating the nature of sexual orientation, including whether it is fixed or changeable, as well as whether conversion therapies are actually harmful. They have also accused the plaintiffs of seeking to "shut down the debate by making one viewpoint on the issue literally illegal," the AP said.

[...]

In recent years, several states have moved to ban the therapy over fears that it could subject young people to psychological damage but only New Jersey, California, Oregon and Washington, D.C., have succeeded in passing and implementing bans. But the current bans apply only to licensed therapists who practice gay conversion therapy on minors, which is why prosecuting Jonah for consumer fraud could set an important precedent, according to Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist and one of the most vocal critics of these therapies.

“A win by the plaintiffs will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on practitioners of SOCE [sexual orientation change efforts] beyond the borders of New Jersey,” Drescher said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “A win would also expand the ban on SOCE embodied in existing legislative bans in CA, NJ, OR and DC: They only apply to licensed professionals who do SOCE with minors. Consumer fraud laws can be used against non-licensed practitioners and protect adult patients as well.”

Psychiatrist who practiced in Nashua allegedly used fake prescription to get drugs

Report from the Union Leader

A Nashua psychiatrist has been arrested by state narcotics investigators and charged with using a bogus prescription to obtain a scheduled drug, N.H. State Police said.

Robert C. Vidaver, 50, of Henniker, was arrested by Henniker police, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Narcotics and Investigations Unit of the state police.

State police said the arrest followed a four-week investigation, which started after the NIU’s Drug Diversion Section received a complaint about Vidaver.

He is charged with obtaining a controlled drug by fraud.

According to an online listing at the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, Vidaver is a psychiatrist who works at Harbor Homes, a Nashua organization that provides housing, health care, employment, job training and supportive services to the poor and disabled.

Vidaver’s license was issued in 2007 and is set to expire on June 30.

After his arrest, Vidaver was released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in Hillsborough District Court on July 28.

Texas Medical Board temporarily suspends license of Dallas Psychiatrist

Via the Dallas Morning News

The Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended the license of a Dallas physician on Tuesday after determining her continued practice could pose a threat to public welfare.

The board panel received an emergency referral on May 6 from the Texas Physician Health Program based on a self report from Dr. Abbie Ewell. Ewell's self-report claimed she was unsafe to practice because of "a recent relapse of a mental or physical condition," the board said.

Ewell's suspension will last until the board takes further action, the board said.

She graduated in 2008 from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and was an assistant professor in the school's psychiatry department.

During A Raid on A Psych Hospital, The FBI has a hard time getting Pizza Delivery

Although everyone thinks of this as a joke, it has been verified by Snopes as a real event

FBI agents conducted a "search and seizure" at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of poring over many rooms of financial records, some sixty FBI agents worked up quite an appetite. The case agent in charge of the investigation called a local pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.

The following telephone conversation took place:

Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and sixty-seven cans of soda.
Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.
Pizza man: To 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'll 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 you're over at Southwood?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood 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 this?
Agent: I have my check book right here.
Pizza man: And you are 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.

As Snopes explains:

Origins: The above-quoted tale about FBI agents trying to arrange for pizza delivery to a psychiatric hospital is one of those pieces that serves to remind us that no matter how bizarre, far-fetched, or incredible a story may seem at first glance, it should never be entirely discounted without at least some effort being made to verify it.

This anecdote began circulating on the Internet in 1995, often attributed to a "Center for Strategic and International Studies report on GLOBAL ORGANIZED CRIME" or "a talk by R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence, given at a conference on global organized crime." We initially reproduced it on our site with no judgment as to its truth or falsity, expecting that it would eventually be revealed as a work of creative fiction by some Internet prankster. To be thorough, we sent a routine inquiry to the FBI's San Diego office about the story and then promptly forgot about it, assuming that the FBI had much better things to do than spend their time debunking silly tales spread via e-mail.

We were quite surprised, therefore, when several weeks later we received a response from FBI Special Agent Wayne A. Barnes, who confirmed for us that the incident described was real and supplied us with additional background detail about it.

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 law enforcement agencies had scheduled coordinated raids on all nine of those facilities to take place on the same day (so that none of the hospitals could alert the others). The unexpectedly high volume of records seized in a morning raid on the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Chula Vista, California, meant that the investigation there turned into an all-day affair. 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, though, the FBI was not taping all of the hospital's calls that day; the conversation reproduced above was reconstructed from the memories of agents present at the event.

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