Lawsuit by former Kamehameha students alleges decades of sex abuse at hands of school psychiatrist

As reported by KHON in Hawaii

Former Kamehameha Schools students have stepped forward saying they were sexually abused while they attended the school. Their claims were outlined in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in State Circuit Court by their attorney, Michael Green.

Green says for now, he is representing eight men who all say they were sexually abused and molested at the hands of Dr. Robert McCormick Browne, a psychiatrist who Green says worked for Kamehameha Schools and conducted so-called therapy sessions on the students, falling within a 21-year period from 1958-1981. Green says, at the time, Browne was the Chief of Psychiatry at St. Francis Medical Center and the boys were all younger than 16 years old.

“Many of them had minor problems at Kamehameha Schools when they were young, from 7th grade and 8th grade, and they were referred to Dr. Browne,” said Green. “If they did not see Dr. Browne, the threat was (they would) get expelled.”

Green says Dr. Browne died in 1991. According to the lawsuit, the so-called therapy sessions took place at the doctor’s home in Manoa along with a vacation home in Kamuela during weekend sleepovers. Green says the doctor was a dorm adviser and was given access to students at their dorm rooms. Green says the victims also allege the sessions took place at the doctor’s office at St. Francis.

The lawsuit comes just as the statute of limitations on the filing of child sex and molestation cases is set to expire next month, a deadline that was set two years ago by the state legislature. But there is a move to grant yet another extension for those who are willing to come forward and file suit. KHON2 obtained a copy of Senate Bill 2687, a measure that would extend the statute of limitations even further. If this measure becomes law, complainants who allege child sexual abuse will get to file civil suits up until they turn the age of 55.

State Sen. Maile Shimabukuro introduced the bill and also won approval for the two-year extension that expires next month. As for the age of 55, Sen Shimabukuro said, “It’s a way to strike a compromise between the rights of the accused and the rights of the victims.”

There's a video report

Widow sues Tripler Army Medical Center over veteran’s suicide - Psychiatrist implicated

From Hawaii's Star Bulletin

The widow of an Air Force veteran who jumped from the 10th floor of Tripler Army Medical Center is suing the U.S. government for his death.

The medical malpractice suit, filed last Thursday in U.S. District Court, claims the staff at the hospital ignored the suicidal thoughts of retired Master Sgt. Robert Roth, 50, who worked as a clerk in the records section, said attorney Rick Fried, who is representing Roth's widow, Satsuki Roth.

Tripler, in a short statement, said, "The case will be vigorously defended."

Roth died Jan. 2, about two weeks after he warned doctors he wanted to leap from the top of the hospital or the Makapuu cliffs, according to an internal criminal investigation by the Army.

On Dec. 16, 2006, Roth, of Sioux Falls, S.D., had to "wait several hours" to see an assistant psychiatrist who later released him, saying "he appeared to be OK to go home," the Army report said.

Ten days later, Roth stormed out of the hospital against medical advice after experiencing another long wait caused by the emergency room having only one doctor during the Christmas holiday, it said.

"Twice he basically came to the emergency room, and they ignored him," Fried said yesterday. "He came with a backpack to be admitted."

On Jan. 2, Roth had a doctor's appointment but found the hospital closed because of the federal holiday observing President Gerald Ford's death. He got into the building through an emergency door that had its alarm turned off by other workers, walked up to the 10th floor and plunged 89 feet, landing on a web of air-conditioner pipes.

The suit will seek monetary damages that would be used to care for Satsuki Roth, 47; Robert Roth's 74-year-old mother, Joyce Ulmer; and his 23-year-old son, William Roth, Fried said.

Psychologists Shot Down Nine Times in 2007

Seen in this report

The National Psychologist reported in its Sept/Oct 2007 issue that prescription privileges bills to give psychologists prescription privileges in nine different U.S. states failed in each and every case. Most never left committee, reflecting the leadership’s unease of granting prescription rights to non-medical professionals.

The bills failed in Hawaii, California, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee and Oregon. It came closest to passing in Hawaii, but was vetoed by the governor when it reached her desk.

What’s at stake here?

Two powerful professional organizations — the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association — butting heads over whether it is safe to allow psychologists, with additional medical training, to prescribe psychiatric medications.

Psychologists receive little or no formal training in medicine in their graduate studies today (as most physicians who are not psychiatrists receive little or no formal training in psychological theory and practices). If psychologists gained greater prescribing authority, they could rely less on medical doctors, such as psychiatrists, to prescribe common psychiatric medications.

Psychologists argue that there is a demand for such services in rural and areas throughout the country that currently do not have coverage by psychiatrists.

Doctors argue such privileges are already available to professionals who want them by undergoing medical school or similar training.

Psychologists believe they don’t need such intensive training because psychiatric medications are largely limited to affecting the mood, and don’t interact as much with other body systems.

As anyone who has looked into the side effects of psycho-active drugs knows, this last point is a woefully naive take on the situation. I can only imagine what additional horror stories await us if this were to go through.