Indiana had dozens of student sexual abuse cases in five years

As reported by WTHR in Indiana, part of information from a much larger investigation of child sex abuse in the education system.

A judge painted a chilling portrait of a former school psychologist before sentencing him to 385 years in prison for molesting two boys.

Stephen Serino had a "sexual appetite for young boys," the judge said, and used his professional training to choose victims and gain the confidence of their families. Then the molesting began, sometimes during overnight visits or after Wednesday night church services. One 13-year-old boy was molested more than 100 times.

It's a parents' nightmare. And it's one of 30 accounts of sexual misconduct by licensed teachers and school employees recorded from 2001 to 2005 in Indiana, according to a review by The Associated Press.

Sexual misconduct was reported in all types of schools - urban and rural, rich and poor, private and public. Victims were girls and boys, from 17 years old to as young as 8. Crimes included child molesting, sexual battery and child pornography. And the teachers involved were often those who spend time with students outside the classroom - band directors, choir teachers or coaches.

"Parents are concerned," said Marilyn Jones, a Hammond parent, former teacher and member of the Indiana PTA. "When you read the paper, you think, 'How can this happen? How do you make it not happen?"'

The state recorded 30 sexual misconduct cases over five years, with 17 involving student victims, the AP review found. Nearly all resulted in criminal convictions.

Indiana's figures were gathered as part of a seven-month investigation in which AP reporters sought records on teacher discipline in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The state has more than 30,000 licensed teachers, and there are about 3 million public school teachers in the United States.

Across the country, sexual misconduct allegations led states to take action against the licenses of 2,570 educators from 2001 through 2005. That figure includes licenses that were revoked, denied and surrendered.

The numbers may alarm parents, but Indiana's school leaders and lawmakers say they are trying to protect children from predators.

Background checks are required for teachers, and the state Department of Education can revoke a license for a number of reasons, including "immorality." State Superintendent Suellen Reed said schools have become more open about reporting the issue in recent decades, which could prevent sexually abusive teachers from returning to education.

"Today people are much more anxious to get anybody who may be a danger to any child out of the school system," Reed said.

One of Indiana's most troublesome recent cases is that of Serino. His original prison sentence was reduced to 90 years by the Indiana Supreme Court, which said 385 years was excessive. Serino's earliest possible release date is 2046, when he would be 82 years old.

Another high-profile case involved a girls basketball coach in Carmel, an affluent Indianapolis suburb. In 2001, Donald Renihan was accused of having sexual relations with a team member.

Renihan pleaded guilty to child seduction and spent a brief time in jail before being released on probation. The team member, who said she was in love and not a victim, greeted him with a kiss outside the courthouse. By then she was 18, and she married the then-41-year-old Renihan less than a week after the sentencing.

Abuse prevention experts say sexual contact by a teacher or coach is wrong at any age.
"Either situation is a total betrayal of trust," said Sandy Runkle, with Prevent Child Abuse Indiana. "A teenager is not able to process that like an adult would."

The Carmel district now conducts federal background checks on employees and has other safeguards, but that's no guarantee that sexual abuse won't happen again, said Superintendent Barb Underwood.

"I wish we had the secret magic formula so it would never happen again," she said. "We feel a responsibility to protect all our young people."

State law requires districts to notify the Department of Education if a teacher is fired for sexual misconduct, and prosecutors must alert the department when a teacher is convicted of such crimes.

But experts say not all cases are reported, and not all abusive teachers are caught.
State Rep. Jerry Torr, a Republican from Carmel, said Indiana law should require districts to report when teachers resign to avoid being fired or when they are arrested, instead of waiting for convictions on such crimes.

"In the old days, that was just the norm," Torr said. "If a teacher was suspected of some kind of misconduct with a student, a lot of times the teacher would just agree to resign and then they'd move to another district."

The Indiana State Teachers Association supports background checks and other precautions, but points out the fine line between protecting students and making sure innocent teachers aren't wrongly accused.

"False allegations occur often enough that you have to rely on convictions rather than arrests," said Dan Clark, the union's deputy director.

The days of hugging a child or patting a student on the back may be gone. ISTA tells its members to be careful to avoid allegations of impropriety.

Education leaders say it is clear what schools must do when in doubt about an accusation.

"If they're going to make an error, it's going to be on the side of protecting children. For some people who really didn't do anything, that's going to be hard," Reed said. "But our first duty is to protect the children."

More come forward to accuse psychiatrist

From this report in USA Today

A dozen women have come forward claiming a Lawrenceville psychiatrist fondled them during patient consultations, a Lawrenceville police detective said Friday.

"I'm dealing with an influx of women," Detective Brad Daugherty testified in a probable-cause hearing Friday for Dr. Mohammad Uzair Qureshi.

Qureshi, 45, faces charges of sexual battery and sexual assault by a practitioner of psychotherapy against a patient, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

A Gwinnett County magistrate judge Friday granted Qureshi a $75,000 bond provided he surrenders his passport, agrees to have no unsupervised contact with patients and consents to being monitored by a GPS device.

Qureshi was first arrested earlier this month after a female patient at the Gwinnett-Rockdale-Newton Community Services Board in Lawrenceville complained he touched her inappropriately during an appointment. He spent one night in jail before being released on $33,200 bail.

Since then, police have interviewed 11 more women with similar accusations, Daugherty said.

Qureshi was jailed again last week based on some of their statements.

Even though a judge granted him bond, Qureshi will not be able to practice psychiatry while the case is pending, according to his lawyer Andrew B. Margolis. His employer, Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital has suspended Qureshi until the case is settled, Margolis said.

Qureshi wore a green prison jumpsuit in court, his demeanor unassuming, and he appeared almost bookish in wire-framed glasses.

The detective testified that Qureshi used his position of authority as a doctor to manipulate some female patients into removing their shirts and bras.

He asked them if they were feeling anxious, Daugherty said, which was a segue into touching their arm for a pulse or having them lift their shirt and bra so he could check their heart rate with a stethoscope.

"They went along with it even though they were questioning why he needed to touch their breasts. Especially when their heart is not in either one of them," Daugherty said.

Daugherty said the director of the community services board warned Qureshi in April about touching two other patients inappropriately.

After his initial arrest, Qureshi was fired from the community services board, according to its lawyer.

The lead defense attorney said Qureshi is innocent and the case will not stand up in court.

"To call this investigation flimsy would be a kindness at best," Margolis said.

Frankenstein's Children: Modern Torture's Scientific Bible

Of course our interest is in the criminality and lack of morality displayed by these experts on the mind when working for a government (not just the US government)

A frightening and detailed review of a book that is best described by this quote:

What if there was a book that dispassionately looked at the history and methodology of torture? What if this book looked at human physiology and psychology and tried to scientifically establish how to best break another human being and bend him or her to your will? What if this book were written by top behavioral scientists and published in the United States? And, finally, what if the studies published in this book were financed by the U.S. government?

Look no farther, there is, or rather was, such a book. Published in 1961 by John Wiley & Sons, The Manipulation of Human Behavior was edited by psychologists Albert D. Biderman and Herbert Zimmer. This book, unfortunately, cannot be found online, nor was a second edition or printing ever made (not surprisingly). But I will provide a review here, and an introduction into the nightmare world of science, torture, and politics that helped shape our modern world and today's news.

In recent months, it went on-line and and can be viewed at Internet Archive:

The Manipulation of Human Behavior - The text is copyright 1961, but not renewed (and therefore expired in the US). HTML formatting from unknown source.

We include this summary of the text:

The titles of the book's essays are bone-chilling in their scientific bland exactitude. Here they are, with authors, for the record:

1. The Physiological State of the Interrogation Subject as it Affects Brain Function, by Lawrence E. Hinkle, Jr., Assoc. Professor of Clinical Medicine in Psychiatry, New York Hospital

[I have come to see over the past months of research that this essay by Hinkle is often referenced, and is key in understanding later methods of psychological and modern torture.]

2. The Effects of Reduced Environmental Stimulation on Human Behavior: A Review, by Phillip E. Kubazansky, Chief Psychologist, Boston City Hospital

3. The Use of Drugs in Interrogation, by Louis A. Gottschalk, Assoc. Professor of Psychiatry and Research Coordinator, Cincinnati General Hospital

And because you probably can't wait, and to juice up this account, I'll admit, yes, this is the chapter that goes into LSD, mescaline use and all that. Gottschalk found enough data in the research literature to find that LSD-25 might have "possible applications... to interrogation techniques".

The conclusions reached on mescaline hold equally for the possible applications of this drug to interrogation. As a tool in the advancement of knowledge of psychopharmacology, LSD-25 is a drug on which clinical and experimental research is likely to continue. (pp. 123-124)

Likely to continue..." An ironic understatement?

4. Physiological Responses as a Means of Evaluating Information, by R. C. Davis, Professor of Psychology, Indiana University

5. The Potential Uses of Hypnosis in Interrogation, by Martin T. Orne, Teaching Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University Medical School

An aside: Some of you may recognize Martin Orne as the psychiatrist of the famous poet Anne Sexton, who in the early 1990s released the tapes of her psychotherapy sessions with him to a biographer, precipitating a storm of controversy.

6. The Experimental Investigation of Interpersonal Influence, by Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton, Professor of Psychology, University of Texas, and Social Science Research Associate, University of Texas, respectively

7. Countermanipulation Through Malingering, by Malcolm L. Meltzer, Staff Psychologist, District of Columbia General Hospital

Six of the essay contributors were psychologists; two were psychiatrists.

School psychologist gets one year in jail for molesting 8-year-old boy

From the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz

Haifa District Court on Saturday sentenced a school psychologist convicted of molesting an 8-year-old boy whom he was treating to one year in prison.

The court added an 18-month suspended sentence, which will be in effect for three years.

The psychologist, Farid Shehadah, was employed in a school near Hadera. The verdict says that in August 2003, Shehadah summoned the boy, who was eight years old at the time, to his office for an examination. The boy arrived along with his sister and mother, and when the two left the room, Shehadah locked the door and molested the boy.

The verdict states that Shehadah continued to molest the boy throughout 2004.

Judges Ilan Schiff, Yitzhak Amit, and Hani Horowitz wrote that such crimes leave emotional scars, especially given the relationship of trust and dependency between a psychologist and a minor

San Luis Obispo Police Reveal Psychiatrist Murder-Suicide Mystery

As reported on MSNBC, with reactions from the neighbors here.

Many more details are available online via the San Luis Obispo Tribune

On October 3rd, Psychiatrist Dr. John Michael Rivard called 9-1-1 from his home on Frambuesa Drive in San Luis Obispo.

He fatally shot himself while on the phone with dispatchers.

When officers arrived, they found Rivard, his wife Barbara and their 7-year-old daughter Olivia all shot to death.

The couple's two younger children were found unharmed.

Today [Thursday, Oct 18], police confirmed what actually happened inside the home.

"Rivard stated that there had been a homicide-suicide in the home and that he had killed his wife Barbara after there had been an altercation between Barbara and their daughter Olivia," said San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deborah Linden.

Barbara was found dead on the floor in Olivia's bedroom. Police say they found no physical indication of a fight between Barbara and Olivia.

"John Michael Rivard severely beat his wife Barbara with a metal flashlight on her head while Barbara was in Olivia's bedroom. Sometime after that he shot Barbara and used a pillow to muffle the sound. After killing Barbara, John Rivard shot Olivia while she was lying in Rivard's bed," said Chief Linden.

John Michael Rivard was found still clutching the .357 revolver used in the killings and his cell phone.

Investigators used his statements to dispatchers and forensic evidence to determine the sequence of the deaths.

"The typical things that were examined were the blood evidence, blood spatter, where was it, the gun itself," said Chief Linden.

While police believe they have put together the puzzle of who pulled the trigger, there are a few things that remain a mystery.

"There are certainly facts that we don't know that we can't determine and I think in this investigation that we'll never know why he did this or what his motivation was," said Chief Linden.

The two Rivard children found alive inside the home are being cared for by family members.

Police say they have an incredible support system and are handling the tragedy as well as can be expected.

British Social Workers Use Discredited Psychiatric Disease as an Excuse to Confiscate a Woman's Future First Born Child.

Munchausen's syndrome by proxy was identified in the 1970s by the now discredited paediatrician Sir Roy Meadow. It was alleged to take the form of fabricated illness where a parent claims a child is ill by making up symptoms.

The theory became increasingly influential and in 1993 the professor's evidence helped convict British nurse Beverley Allitt of the murders of four children.

But the Angela Cannings and Sally Clark miscarriages of justice wrecked Professor Meadow's reputation because he had been an expert witness. Some now question whether Munchausen's exists.

Now we have a case where British social workers are threatening to take a woman's first born child because of the mere imagined possibility on their part that she would harm her child, based on her troubled teenage years.

From the Daily Mail:

A mother-to-be faces losing her baby within minutes of its birth because social workers fear she will harm the child.

Fran Lyon, 22, has been told she cannot be trusted with a newborn because she is likely to suffer from Munchausen's syndrome by proxy.

The condition is said to lead mothers to seek attention by harming their child or claiming it is ill.

Miss Lyon insisted yesterday that the mental health problems she had as a teenager were behind her. She also appealed for a place in a mother and baby unit so that she could look after her child under supervision.

"I would be happy to stay for as long as it takes," she said. "At the end of the day I have nothing to hide so why would I have a problem going? I know there is nothing wrong.

"I'm not depressed, although I have every right to be. I'm not struggling to cope."

Miss Lyon's child - a girl to be called Molly - is due in January.

"I know I wouldn't hurt her," she said. "I would quite happily have 24-hour supervision with a perfect stranger sat with me watching my every move.

"All I want is a chance to be Molly's mum."

Social workers told Miss Lyon last week that her child will be taken from her within 30 minutes of birth.

Munchausen's has been at the heart of a series of miscarriages of justice.

Sir Roy Meadow, a discredited paediatrician who helped develop theories about the condition, was responsible for evidence that led to the wrongful convictions of Angela Cannings and Sally Clark for murdering their children. Miss Clark died earlier this year, after, friends said, turning to alcohol following her release from prison.

Miss Lyon, from Hexham in Northumberland, started self-harming at the age of 15 and has been treated at psychiatric hospitals for borderline personality disorder.

She said a domestic incident in July led to the involvement of social services who became concerned by her pregnancy.

"I told them that I had mental health problems when I was a lot younger and that I had since moved on and now had a normal life," said Miss Lyon.

"I assumed that would be the end of it but the next thing I know they were going to a child protection conference.

"I am living with this constant notion that someone might walk into the delivery suite and take my baby away."

Her case has been taken up by Lib-Democrat MP John Hemming who has been campaigning against adoption of babies.

"The whole family court system, because of the secrecy which surrounds it, is vulnerable to bad practice," he said.

"Social workers are under pressure not to lose cases."

Family courts set up adoption orders and make decisions about children thought to be at risk. The evidence and the reasoning behind rulings are rarely made public.

A spokesman for Northumberland County Council said: "Legally we are unable to comment on the detail of individual cases.

"We can say that such cases can be very complex and involve a lot of information and various concerns relating to the safety of a child."

Dr Stella Newrith, a psychiatrist who has treated Miss Lyon, said she had made a significant recovery.

In a letter to Northumberland Council, she stated: "There has never been any clinical evidence to suggest Fran would put herself or others at risk and there is certainly no evidence to suggest she would put a child at risk of emotional, physical or sexual harm."

The Continuing Investigation of Khristine Eroshevich

Several items on this story, consolidated into one post. See our archive of previous stories on psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich here

First: some of the items seized in raids of Khristine Eroshevich and others in the case of the death of Anna Nicole Smith have been turned over to LA court. From the San Jose Mercury News:

California authorities have turned over to a court some of the items seized from Anna Nicole Smith's former doctors in raids last week.

Wednesday's handover is standard procedure following searches involving doctors and others with privileged information, said Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney spokeswoman.

After a medical professional's office is searched, a special master appointed by the court reviews the items and helps ensure authorities didn't seize materials, privileged or otherwise, not covered by the warrant. The doctors' attorneys will have the opportunity to challenge the seizure of these items.

California Department of Justice agents brought boxes containing some of the items to the Los Angeles court of Judge Larry Paul Fidler, a court official said. A hearing in the matter was tentatively scheduled Dec. 5.

On Friday state agents raided the office of Smith's psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, as well as the home and office of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed the painkiller methadone to Smith shortly before her February death from an overdose. She was 39.

Messages left with attorneys for Eroshevich and Kapoor and with a Justice Department spokesman were not immediately returned.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has said his office began investigating Kapoor and Eroshevich after he discovered the two combined to prescribe more than a dozen drugs in the days before Smith's died in a Florida hotel.

He has declined to speculate on what charges the doctors might face if it is determined they improperly prescribed drugs.

Second: more search warrants are in store for psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich.

Third: Lawyers for Eroshevich are challenging the search warrants as "overly broad"

As reported by TMZ:

Lawyers for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, Anna Nicole Smith's former psychiatrist, were in a Los Angeles County courtroom challenging the validity of a search warrant used in last Friday's raid on her Studio City home.

The home of Dr. Erosovich was one of several locations raided by state officials as part of an investigation into doctors who prescribed medications to the former Playmate who died in Florida on February 8th.

Erosovich's lawyers challenged the search warrant as "overly broad" and requested the return of some of the good doctor's personal items, including CDs and DVDs that had been seized in the raid.

Erosovich's attorneys also made arrangements to view all of the seized materials. We've learned the judge may appoint a Special Master to the case. This person ensures there was no "inappropriate seizure," and analyzes the material seized to determine what is protected by doctor/patient privilege and what is not.

In addition, the judge signed several additional search warrants -- what those are for, we don't know. They'll be back in court December 5.

Several agencies conducted searches last week in connection with the Medical Board of California's investigation into whether Anna Nicole was overprescribed medication.

Former head of McLean Psychiatric Hospital permanently surrenders Massachusetts medical license

Via the Worcester Telegram and Gazette

The former president of McLean Hospital, who acknowledged to regulators in his home state of New York that he had inappropriate sexual contact with a patient, has permanently surrendered his right to practice medicine in Massachusetts, the state Board of Registration in Medicine said Wednesday.

Dr. Jack Gorman, 55, a well-known psychiatrist, abruptly resigned his post at the prestigious psychiatric hospital in suburban Belmont in May 2006 after only four months on the job. At the time, he said he was resigning for personal and medical reasons.

Last month, Gorman signed a consent decree with regulators in his home state of New York, admitting he was negligent when he had inappropriate sexual contact with a female patient on more than one occasion. Officials in New York did not release details, citing confidentiality laws. The Boston Globe has reported the relationship was with a patient at his practice in New York.

Gorman's New York attorney, Anthony Scher, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday night. Gorman has said in a statement to the Globe he has taken responsibility for his conduct and hopes to continue to make contributions to the field of psychiatry.

Under the New York order, Gorman can request that his license there be reinstated after six months. If his license is restored, he would face five years of probation under the supervision of another doctor.

Gorman's Massachusetts license expired in September 2006. His decision to resign his right to renew it permanently removes him from practice in the state, the board said.

Before taking the job at McLean, Gorman became known at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City as a leading researcher on anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia. He received his medical license in New York in 1978.

Psychiatrist quits drug panel over $350,000 in speaking and consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies

From the AP News report

A Minnesota psychiatrist who received more than $350,000 in speaking and consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies will quit a panel that advises the state on drugs for low-income Medicaid patients.

Dr. John E. Simon said on Wednesday that he will resign because the organization that originally asked him to serve, the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, was "a little uncomfortable with the appearance of conflict of interest" posed by his panel membership.

Financial relationships between the drug industry and two panel members, including Simon, came to light when The Associated Press reviewed disclosure records filed by drug companies under a pioneering state law. Eli Lilly & Co. and other drug makers paid Simon more than $350,000 in honoraria and fees while he was serving on the Minnesota Medicaid Drug Formulary Committee. Another adviser who resigned last year got $78,000.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services is asking the panel members to sign off on a new policy requiring them to reveal "real or perceived" conflicts of interest, including honoraria, compensation, free travel or other perks from drug companies within the past five years.

They must abstain from voting on "any related matters that may come before the committee."

Department spokeswoman Karen Smigielski said committee members are expected to approve the new policy before their next meeting on Tuesday.

The panel advises the human services agency on roughly $240 million worth of drugs for more than 200,000 patients, most of them mentally ill or disabled.

Simon said his work as a paid speaker didn't influence his decisions on the committee. He joined the panel in mid-2004, and said he will resign when the Psychiatric Society picks another psychiatrist to replace him.

"I thought I did a good job of representing the patients of the Society and for the interest of psychiatric patients," he said. "I have not heard otherwise."

Linda Vukelich, the Minnesota Psychiatric Society's executive director, praised Simon's service but said there were concerns that he would have to sit out key votes under the new policy. She said the organization is grappling more broadly with the influence of business, including the drug industry, on medicine.

"It's bigger than just one appointee or one situation," she said.

Ethics experts have said the links between Minnesota's drug advisers and the industry raise the possibility of similar arrangements in other states. But tracing the influence is difficult: Outside of Minnesota, only Vermont and Maine require drug companies to report payments to doctors for speeches, consulting and other services.

Lawsuit over shocking advice to parents

From the Daily Record

Two couples left with the wrong children after their babies were swapped at birth have been told by a psychologist to pretend the kids they raised are dead.

The shrink even urged the couples to put gravestones for the tots in their back gardens. Both sets of parents blasted the advice.

Czech couples Jan and Jaroslava Cermak and Libor and Jaroslava Broza are still struggling to come to terms with the mix-up that saw them take each other's daughter home from hospital last December.

And Jan, 26, said the advice from psychologist Olga Hlinkova had made the nightmare even worse.

He added: "We have agreed to get rid of the shrink.

What a terrible, cold, inhumane suggestion - pretending the baby we had raised had died. Where do they think these things up?" Libor and his wife are also refusing to have anything more to do with Hlinkova.

And both couples have agreed to abandon a rigid timetable for swapping the children back.

Libor said his partner and Jan's wife were planning to go away together with the babies, Nikola and Veronika, to a secluded cabin so the children can gradually get used to their real mums.

He added: "They will prepare themselves for the exchange and decide finally if they can really go through with it."

Libor's partner said: "Nikola and I have shared so many moments and now everyone seems to think I am just going to let her go. I do not think I can do it."

The couples plan to sue Trebic Hospital near Brno for £250,000 compensation. Police are investigating whether the babies were swapped deliberately.

Military Bars Soldiers with 'Personality Disorders' - Families Say the Disorders are the Result of the War.

From National Public Radio with radio show feed on the site

Thousands of military personnel have been dismissed for "personality disorders" since the war in Iraq began.

The military says the soldiers had pre-existing mental conditions that it is not responsible for treating. But soldiers, their families and veterans' groups counter that the mental condition is post-traumatic stress disorder caused by their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Daniel Zwerdling says if a soldier's medical unit diagnoses him with PTSD, the treatment could last months and make the military liable for the soldier's disability benefits. But if the soldier is diagnosed with a personality disorder — a condition that predates his military service — then the treatment would only last a couple weeks and the military would not be liable for the disability benefits.

Zwerdling says he found no evidence of a military psychiatrist diagnosing a soldier with a personality disorder in order to avoid the extended treatment and costs. However, he did hear that the personality disorder diagnosis has been used to discharge problem soldiers quickly.

William Wooldridge, who was an Army specialist in Iraq, says he was dismissed from the service for having a personality disorder.

During his second enlistment, Wooldridge says he underwent a stressful deployment to Iraq and had a breakdown. When he returned to the U.S., he was evaluated by an Army psychiatrist and received a discharge for having a personality disorder.

Wooldridge fought the diagnosis and eventually got it changed to PTSD.

Zwerdling says the military also needs to figure out how it will deal with the tens of thousands of soldiers and Maries who are returning home with serious mental health problems that interfere with their daily lives.

Currently, he says, the military has a terrible system for dealing with mental health problems and it is not doing much to make the system better.

Zwerdling and Wooldridge talk to Alex Chadwick about the issue.

Raids Highlight Prescription Drug Debate

From this report

California authorities who raided the homes and offices of two of Anna Nicole Smith's doctors last week made the highest-profile use yet of a controversial state database that can detect suspicious patterns of prescriptions.

But the raids also reignited debate about the technology. Law enforcement officials say it's a useful tool for fighting prescription drug abuse. Many doctors and privacy advocates say patients are suffering because the government crackdown invades people's privacy and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship.

"What we have going on right now is a society wide witch hunt," said Dr. Frank Fisher, who was recently exonerated following a seven-year court battle that included murder charges, malpractice suits and a medical board investigation into the deaths of several patients for whom he prescribed painkillers.

Some patient advocates believe that allowing investigators to track physicians' prescribing habits risks hurting patients who genuinely need the drugs.

"These databases chill prescribing," said Siobhan Reynolds, who founded the New Mexico-based nonprofit Pain Relief Network after her terminally ill husband was denied large doses of pain killers in the days before his death. "If we had the resources, we would try to shut down every one."

California Attorney General Jerry Brown and other law enforcement officials dismiss such claims and contend the system is needed to curb prescription drug abuse.

"There is no evidence that legitimate treatment is being suppressed or being discouraged," Brown said in an interview. "I think there are more cases out there than are being prosecuted."

The number of Americans who abuse prescription drugs nearly doubled, from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003, according to the U.N.-affiliated International Narcotics Control Board in its 2006 annual report, issued in February.

Investigators use the database to look for patients who have received prescription narcotics from several doctors. They are also searching for physicians who authorize higher-than-expected amounts of drugs.

California authorities conducted the raids Friday at the office of Smith's psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, and the home and office of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed the painkiller methadone to Smith shortly before her February death from an overdose. She was 39.

Brown said his office began investigating Kapoor and Eroshevich after he discovered the two combined to prescribe more than a dozen drugs in the days before Smith's death at a Florida hotel. He has declined to speculate on what charges the doctors might face if it is determined they improperly prescribed drugs.

The Medical Board of California is also investigating Eroshevich, who, according to documents, authorized all 11 prescription medications found in Smith's hotel room the day she died.

Agents have so far reviewed more than 100,000 computer images and files, analyzed patient profiles and pharmacy logs, and interviewed witnesses in the U.S. and abroad, Brown said.

Authorities are also mining the massive database kept by the California Department of Justice called the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System, or CURES.

The database has long been a useful tool for doctors wanting to check patient backgrounds before writing a new prescription. It details the 20 million narcotic prescriptions written each year in the state.

Nearly three dozen states have similar databases, but California's, created in 1996, is the oldest and largest.

Crime victims like Bob Pack insist the state's prescription database needs a technological update to catch more people who seek drugs from multiple doctors. A drugged-up motorist ran over Pack's two young children in 2003 as they walked to get ice cream on a Sunday evening.

The foundation Pack launched with his wife in honor of their children is now the driving force behind an effort to make the database instantaneously accessible.

Currently, only Justice Department officials can directly access the CURES database. Doctors and pharmacists must fax patient background requests to the agency, a process Pack argues is too time-consuming to catch drug abuses who obtain multiple prescriptions from different doctors.

Jimena Barreto, the professional nanny who killed Pack's children, had six prescriptions for the pain killer Vicodin from six different doctors at the same HMO in the weeks before the crash.

"When my children were killed, I naively thought doctors and pharmacies had this information at their fingertips," Pack said. "They don't."

Psychiatrist arrested - Leaked client statements and psychiatric data to a freelance journalist who later published them

As seen in the Asia Media News Daily

A psychiatrist is under arrest on suspicion of leaking information to a freelance journalist about a teenager institutionalized after setting his home in Nara Prefecture on fire last year. The teen's stepmother and two siblings were killed.

Arrested Sunday, Morimitsu Sakihama, 49, is suspecting of giving statements made by the teen during the investigation as well as a copy of his psychiatric evaluation to journalist Atsuko Kusanagi last October.

Prosecutors allege that Sakihama handed over the confidential information at his home in Kyoto and at a hotel.

Sakihama was asked by the Nara Family Court to assess the teen's psychiatric condition and was granted access to the teen's previous statements.

In May, Kusanagi published a book about the arson-murder in which she claimed to have obtained around 3,000 pages of investigation materials, including statements made by the teen, which she quoted.

Before his arrest by the Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office, Sakihama was quoted as saying, "I never thought it would be published in such form." Following his arrest, he admitted to the allegations, according to investigative sources.

Kusanagi, who has also been questioned by investigators over the case, said in a statement issued by publisher Kodansha Ltd., "I cannot say if the source of information was the psychiatric examiner who has been arrested, but I offer my apologies for causing tremendous inconvenience as a result of investigations concerning my work."

On her source, Kusanagi said earlier she was given access to investigation documents with the permission of a person she did not name, and she photographed some of them.

The boy, who was 16, was arrested two days after his home burned down June 20, 2006, killing his stepmother and his younger brother and sister through carbon monoxide poisoning. The father was not home at the time of the fire.

The Nara Family Court decided last October to send the teen to a juvenile reformatory after he was diagnosed as having a disorder in developing communication and social skills.

The publication of Kusanagi's book in May drew a strong reaction from law enforcement. The next month, then Justice Minister Jinen Nagase called it "a challenge to the order of justice and the Juvenile Law." The Justice Ministry's Tokyo Regional Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned the Tokyo-based publisher and the journalist, saying the book "evidently went beyond what is permissible in the name of freedom of publications."

The teen and his father filed a complaint over the information leak.

Kodansha said it can't ignore the actions taken by Nara prosecutors in the name of investigating the information leak and lodged a stern protest over Sakihama's arrest.

The arrest also triggered various reactions from experts on media issues.

"Holding (the psychiatrist) in custody will probably have a tremendous impact in the sense it will stifle the flow of information by stepping up control and restrictions on the source of reports and information," said Yasuhiko Tajima, a professor of media law at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Journalist Akihiro Otani said he cannot condone the arrest for its potential impact on journalism but criticized Kusanagi and Kodansha.

"Because the image of the investigation document was used on the book cover, it was obvious the book would cause inconvenience to the reporter's source," Otani said, adding that a journalist must deal carefully with materials provided by a source who wants anonymity.

Journalists and authors have been challenged in court over their reports and publications, but these cases have primarily been civil lawsuits. The only notable incident that developed into a criminal case and the arrest of a reporter was a leak of confidential information from the Foreign Ministry in 1972, one expert said.

The Penal Code provides for six months in prison or a fine of ¥100,000 if a doctor, pharmacist, lawyer or other professional leaks secret information they obtained professionally and a complaint by victims of such a leak is filed.

Psychiatric facility told to relocate patients, threatened with closing

From the Longview News Journal

Acadia Pathways Hospital, a psychiatric facility in North Longview, has been forced to move all its patients to other establishments after a state investigation into complaints about patient care and hospital management.

The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an emergency 10-day suspension of Acadia's license on Thursday. The state agency also delivered a notice of violation to Acadia, detailing the department's proposal to revoke Acadia's license.

Acadia administrators are scheduled to meet today with state officials to discuss the violations and determine what needs to be done.

"If we are satisfied that the conditions are successfully addressed, we can ... re-instate the license," said Doug McBride, press officer for the State Health Services Department. "If we're not satisfied, the most severe action would be the revocation of the license permanently, or at least not temporarily."

If Acadia's license is revoked, it would have to reapply for one to operate again.

The state began investigating the facility in October, after a complaint was filed.

There are specific violations listed in the state's notice to Acadia, including an incident in September of a facility psychiatrist physically assaulting a 16-year-old patient.

Other violations are more general, such as Acadia's failure to have a written staffing plan from July to October that was based on the number of patients, the patients' needs, the expertise of the staff and other factors.

Acadia Pathways, owned by Acadia Heathcare, is a 76-bed hospital that treats people of all ages suffering from psychiatric illnesses and chemical dependency, according to its Web site.

The notice from the state department was addressed to Pamela Broughton, listed as Acadia's administrator/CEO on the facility's Web site.

A call placed Monday to Acadia revealed that Broughton no longer works there. Hospital officials would not answer a request for comment on Monday, but said a statement will be made today.

Child Psychologist Charged With Raping Boy in Her Care

From the North County Gazette and Capital News 9 for the photo, with a video at the link

A county psychologist court-appointed to counsel a 14-year-old male teen has been charged by the New York State Police with second degree rape, a felony.

Jennifer Hastings, 32, an employee of the Rensselaer County Unified Family Services, has been charged with having sexual contact with her patient on several occasions including in her car, area motels and her Sand Lake residence.

State Police said that the school resource officer at Tamarac High School in Brunswick became suspicious when Hastings picked up the teenager from the school and claimed to be his sister. An BCI investigation revealed that she was the boy’s court-appointed counselor and that she had allegedly moved the counseling sessions from the school to her car in the school parking lot. Police said that the teen has admitted having sexual intercourse with Hastings.

Hastings has been remanded to the Rensselaer County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail. She has been suspended with pay by Rensselaer County where she had been employed since 2003.

State Police said the investigation is still open and that Hastings may have had sexual contact with other children. Anyone having information about the case may contact the State Police at 518-732-4644.

Suspected gunman in SuccessTech Academy school shooting was on psychiatric drugs

The SuccessTech Academy shooting is a school shooting that took place on October 10, 2007 at SuccessTech high school in Cleveland, Ohio. The perpetrator, Asa H. Coon, wounded at least four people, including two teachers and two students; another student was injured fleeing from the school. Coon had been suspended on Monday, October 8, after fighting with another student during a disagreement, and returned on Wednesday, October 10, with two guns and began shooting. Coon reportedly then committed suicide. (via Wikipedia)

Peter Breggin, M.D., documents cases of irreversible psychosis from short stints on certain drugs.

Ann Tracy, Ph.D., Executive Director of www.drugawareness.org has received reports of antidepressant-induced psychosis lasting for five years before complete recovery was achieved.

As reported by WKYC, via the SSRI Stories website.

Many are asking what caused the suspected gunman in the SuccessTech Academy shooting to snap.

We are learning new details about Asa Coon's troubled background.

The anger that touched off the tragedy began in the heart and mind of Asa Coon at a very young age.

"Are there a lot of Asa's out there? There probably are," Cuyahoga County Children's Services Director Jim McCafferty
said.

McCafferty says between 1998 and 2002 the county agency twice investigated the Coon family for neglect and once for physical abuse.

Asa had mysterious burns on his arm, McCafferty says his older brother, Stephen, may have been to blame.

"As these boys got older and more out of control one has to wonder how much control was in their lives," McCafferty said.

Stephen Coon has a history of committing violent crimes including assault, weapons and drug charges.

One day after the shooting, Cleveland Police arrested Stephen outside his home on an outstanding warrant.

"His environment was living with an older brother who has a long violent history of criminal activity not only in juvenile court and adult court," Chief Juvenile Prosecutor Carmen Naso said.

In January 2006 Asa Coon was convicted of domestic violence.

At the age of 12 he attempted suicide. Asa was prescribed antidepressants and pills for attention deficit disorder.

After a psychiatric evaluation specialists suspected he suffered from a bipolar disorder and recommended psychotropic drugs.

"He was a troubled youth. In January of 2006 that resulted in violence against his own mother and that should have told us something," Naso said.

Whatever it told healthcare professionals, the juvenile and child welfare systems, it was not enough to prevent this from happening.

Police say they've gone to the Coon household five times since 2006.

They were responding to complaints of domestic violence, assault and some property crimes.

Psycho-Analyst Priest claims he was 'only pretending to be gay'

Given all of the trouble the Catholic Church has had in recent years, you know this will just invite more problems. Our interest is in the psychoanalyst angle, not the religious angle. As reported on CNN

A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man said in an interview published Sunday that he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview with La Repubblica newspaper, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico said he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst.

He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

Vatican teaching holds that homosexual activity is a sin.

"It's all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work," La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Saturday that the monsignor had been suspended pending a Vatican investigation.

Stenico is a top official in the Vatican's Congregation of the Clergy. The Vatican acted after officials recognized Stenico's office in the background of a television program on gay priests that was broadcast on Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian TV network.

Stenico was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful. In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality "to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people -- among them some priests -- is doing so much harm to the Church."

He said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy.

Italy's Sky TG24 said Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defense. Calls to Stenico's home and Vatican office went unanswered Sunday.

Psychologist convicted in murder case, sentenced to life for killing ex-fiancee

From the Dallas Morning News

A licensed psychologist who met a woman on Match.com and became engaged to her was convicted Friday of her murder.

Lester Winningham, 59, was convicted in the death of Deborah Houchin, a licensed family therapist.

The two had met through the online dating service and later became colleagues at the Counseling Center in Arlington, officials said.

In July 2005, the 56-year-old woman's body was found burned beyond recognition in Cooke County.

“Sometimes, things fit,” said Tiffany Burks, an assistant Tarrant County district attorney. ”When Deborah Houchin was at her home, the defendant came over and shot her in the back three times.” Ms. Houchin’s blood, she told jurors, was found in the trunk of Mr. Winningham’s car.

Mr. Winningham moved to Arlington from Temple to live with Ms. Houchin and join her and other clinicians at the Mitchell Boulevard office. Ms. Houchin, prosecutors said, assisted Mr. Winningham in finding clients and building his practice. By Christmas 2004, they were engaged.

Deborah Houchin’s sister, Marlene Wallem testified she suggested to her sister that she needed to get a prenuptial agreement.

“He got so mad,” Ms. Wallem said. “After that, he wouldn’t touch her or kiss her.”

Less than a week after the engagement, the couple had broken up but continued to date off and on, she said.

One month before she was found dead, Ms. Houchin said her sister issued a dire warning. “She told me, ‘if anything happens to me, make sure the police talk to Les,” Ms. Wallem testified.

Mr. Winningham’s attorney, Bill Ray, said investigators neglected to look at other suspects. Ms. Houchin, he said, changed her online dating profile and drew some 400 hits from other men -- all of whom could be suspects.

“She received a good deal of response,” Mr. Ray said. “We don’t know who all those people are.”

Mr. Ray had attacked the state’s case as largely circumstantial. He told jurors there was no physical evidence tying his client to the slaying.

“The only piece of evidence in this case is the blood in the back of the car,” he told jurors Friday during close arguments.

“We don’t know how it got there. We don’t know how long it’s been there,” Mr. Ray said.

Mr. Wnningham, he said, did not have time to dump a body in Cooke County, drive 90 minutes to Arlington, clean up evidence and report to work.

“The car didn’t smell like gasoline,” Mr. Ray said. “He didn’t smell like gasoline.”

Prosecutors portrayed Mr. Winningham has dejected suitor who seethed over his break-up with Ms. Houchin.

“There is no mystery killer,” said Greg Miller, an assistant Tarrant County district attorney. “He’s sitting right in this courtroom.”

California Attorney General Jerry Brown Statement Regarding Search Warrants Executed on Psych Khristine Eroshevich in the Death of Anna Nicole Smith

From the Website of the California Attorney General, Which also includes video in several formats.

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Statement From California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. Regarding Search Warrants Executed Today In Connection With The Death Of Anna Nicole Smith:

“The California Department of Justice today served search warrants at various doctors’ offices, billing locations, and residences in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties, related to the death of Anna Nicole Smith. The locations searched today are related to doctors who provided medical treatment or prescribed drugs for Anna Nicole Smith or her associates.

On March 30, 2007, the California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement commenced an investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith, including the prescribing and dispensing practices of several California licensed doctors and pharmacies. To date, agents have reviewed over 100,000 computer images and files, analyzed patient profiles and pharmacy logs and interviewed witnesses throughout the country and abroad.

The California Department of Justice is spearheading this investigation with regulatory agencies, medical professionals and law enforcement agencies, including: The California Department of Insurance, the California Medical Board, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Seminole Tribal Police and the Royal Bahamian Police Force.

In view of the fact that the investigation is ongoing, we will not provide further details or report any findings at this time. The California Department of Justice will conduct a fair and thorough investigation and wishes to protect the identity of cooperating witnesses. When our investigation is complete, you will be provided as much information as possible about any suspects, arrests or criminal charges.

Beyond this statement, no one involved in this investigation will have further comment at this time. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Anna Nicole Smith's Psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich hit with search warrant

TMZ reports (with video):

California Attorney General Jerry Brown says that he requested the search warrants executed earlier today in connection with the death of Anna Nicole Smith because, he believes, "a serious crime has been committed."

In a press conference just concluded, Brown didn't divulge specific details of what he was looking for, and what crimes might have been committed, but told reporters that "playing with dangerous drugs" can result in death and "prescribing drugs illegally is a crime," and he suggested people should "put it together."

See also our earlier coverage in our own special section dedicated to Khristine Eroshevich

As reported in the SF Chronicle gossip column

Anna Nicole Smith's psychiatrist received a rude awakening on Friday morning when her home was raided by police investigating the death of the tragic model/actress.

California authorities served Dr. Khristine Eroshevich with one of several search warrants as they upped their investigations into the death of Smith, who died of a fatal overdose in a Florida hotel back in February.

Ironically, Smith's longtime companion, Howard K. Stern was with the doctor when the members of the justice department arrived at her home, according to TMZ.com.

Stern was in Los Angeles after appearing on the "Larry King Live" show on CNN on Wednesday.

Eroshevich is also under investigation by the Medical Board of California after admitting to prescribing a haul of drugs for her celebrity patient in the days following her son Daniel's death last year.

See also the Fox News gossip column report

Psychiatrist faces more sexual assualt charges as 8 women come forward

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution

A Lawrenceville psychiatrist was back in jail Wednesday with no bond allowed after more women came forward to say he inappropriately touched them, police said Wednesday.

Six more women have given statements to police similar to the first alleged victim, said Capt. Greg Vaughn, a spokesman for the Lawrenceville Police Department. The first woman who complained to police told them that Dr. Mohammad Qureshi asked her to disrobe during a psychiatric session and touched her breasts, he said.

"That's the thing," Vaughn said. None of the women "knows exactly what happened (with the first woman) so when they come forward and tell us (similar details), it's like, 'Wow, same thing.'"

Police charged Qureshi Tuesday afternoon with six counts of felony sexual assault and six counts of misdemeanor sexual battery. Those charges are in addition to one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual battery Qureshi faces as a result of the first woman who contacted police.

In addition to the seven women who have come forward, Vaughn said, there are perhaps two more who have called police but have not given statements.

Qureshi, 45, worked at the Gwinnett-Rockdale-Newton Community Services Board, which assists people suffering from mental illness, retardation or drug addiction. He was dismissed by the board after the first woman complained about him to police.

Qureshi said a few days ago that the allegations were "totally false."

Vaughn declined to give details of how Qureshi convinced the women to disrobe, in order to keep allegations valid if more women come forward.

But, "I could see how he could it," he said. "The red flag should have come up, but you trust your doctor and (if) he talks well enough to do it, I could somewhat see [how it could have happened]."

Minnesota Limit on Gifts to Doctors May Catch On

There are bagels and fruit in the morning, sandwiches at lunch, fresh cookies in the afternoon and an occasional restaurant dinner, but many of the doctors who routinely accept these goodies from pharmaceutical sales representatives say they see sales people for the educational messages they bring, not the food.

Maybe doctors in Minnesota are different.

Two years after Minnesota officials forbade drug makers to give doctors more than $50 worth of food or other gifts per year, drug company sales representatives there are having a far harder time marketing to doctors. The rule change was small and almost accidental — a state official decided to interpret a 1993 law differently from his predecessor. But the effect on drug makers has been profound.

The year after the change, the number of visits that Minnesota primary care doctors accepted from drug sales representatives decreased at about twice the rate of the decline reported by primary care doctors nationwide, according to a survey by ImpactRx, a New Jersey firm that tracks pharmaceutical marketing. A growing number of Minnesota hospitals and clinics have banned routine visits from them.

“We have an extended hallway, and the sales reps sit there now without anything except maybe Styrofoam cups filled with M&Ms. The 30 pizzas are gone,” said Dr. Michael Severson, a pediatrician in Brainerd, Minn. “It’s made the doctors think about whether to ban them.”

A 1997 study found that medical students saw gift-bearing drug sales representatives as helpful while viewing with suspicion those without gifts. This experiment is now being played out statewide in Minnesota.

Leslie Pott, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca, said the company provided “modest meals” to doctors because “given a physician’s demanding clinical schedule, the most efficient time for doctors and medical staff to meet with representatives is often during lunch hour.”

“We believe it is important that physicians have access to the latest information on our drugs,” Ms. Pott said.

She would not comment on Minnesota’s food limit or its effect on her company.

Minnesota also requires drug makers to report all consulting payments made to doctors. Maine, Vermont and West Virginia have passed similar registry requirements, at least a dozen other states are considering them and Congress is considering a national one.

But no other state has adopted Minnesota’s limit on free food. That could change.

New Jersey’s attorney general, Anne Milgram, who announced on Sept. 18 the creation of a task force to examine ways to limit the gifts and money that drug and device makers give doctors, said in an interview that she planned to look closely at Minnesota’s food limit.

“When you see a doctor, you should have confidence that the advice you get is based on what’s best for you and not on some financial incentives or gifts that the doctor is getting,” Ms. Milgram said.

The interest in legislation to register or limit the food, gifts and money that drug and device makers lavish on doctors stems from growing concerns that these benefits lead doctors to prescribe more, and more expensive, drugs and devices, raising the costs of health care and changing care to patients.

Few studies have shown that patients are harmed when their doctors accept gifts or money from drug makers, in part because data comparing the prescribing trends of doctors who accept money and gifts with those who do not have for years been available only to drug makers, not to the public.

In one of the few public analyses of the prescription patterns of doctors, The New York Times found that Minnesota psychiatrists who received money from makers of atypical antipsychotics tended to prescribe the drugs to children the most often despite the profound risks from these drugs.

Drug makers have long argued that buying modest meals for doctors is simply a courtesy that allows doctors to take a moment out of their busy schedules to learn about medicines. Most doctors dismiss the notion that they can be influenced by food.

But the Minnesota experience suggests otherwise.

Dr. Samuel Carlson, chief medical officer of Park Nicollet Health Services, one of Minnesota’s largest private health systems, said that many of his system’s 20 clinics began asking to bar sales representatives after the food limit went into effect. Park Nicollet is considering further systemwide restrictions on sales representatives, Dr. Carlson said.

SMDC Health System of Duluth, Minn., a nonprofit system of 17 clinics and four hospitals, forbids drug sales representatives to make unannounced visits or provide free drug samples, gifts or food. By the end of the year, the system will place strict limits on consulting relationships between its 450 doctors and drug makers.

“No matter how you look at it, we’re all influenced by these marketing activities,” said Dr. Carl Heltne, chief medical officer for SMDC. “But patients come to us and they trust us to make decisions solely on their behalf. To uphold that trust, we can’t have even a perception that companies influence us.”

Michael Clements, the owner of a food-catering business in St. Paul, said the new rules had been disastrous for him. His business of taking lunches, paid for by drug makers, to doctors’ offices all but disappeared after the rule change, cutting his overall sales by two-thirds, Mr. Clements said.

Food has long been a pillar of drug makers’ marketing efforts. In data collected by the state of Vermont, drug makers spent nearly $778,000 last year buying food for Vermont doctors.

Food has not entirely disappeared from the marketing efforts of drug makers in Minnesota. The companies still rent out private dining rooms in restaurants and still hire influential doctors to deliver educational talks about drugs during dinner. But instead of doctors, the companies now invite nurses and secretaries to dine, drink and listen.

Sue Bikke, a geriatric nurse in St. Paul, said she was delighted when she and her nursing colleagues suddenly started receiving invitations to free meals — wine and cocktails included — at the area’s best restaurants.

“I don’t go to those places normally because they’re way too expensive for me,” Ms. Bikke said. “I’m so grateful that nurses are starting to get all these perks.”

Ms. Bikke said that many of her nursing colleagues were puzzled to receive these dinner invitations since they cannot prescribe drugs. But the nurses and secretaries may be ancillary to the companies’ principal target: the speakers at these events.

Those delivering the talks get training that involves learning drug makers’ most important marketing messages. And they receive anywhere from $500 to $5,000 for each talk they give, with some doctors earning more than $100,000 annually.

“This is the companies’ way of thanking high prescribers,” said David J. Rothman, president of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession at Columbia University. “Drug companies don’t really care who’s in the audience.”

When asked whether drug makers’ motivation for hiring doctors to educate secretaries may be to influence them instead of the secretaries, many doctors said they had never thought of that.

“That’s a good question,” answered Dr. Kent G. Brockmann, a psychiatrist from the Twin Cities, who earned more than $16,000 from 2003 to 2005 doing educational talks for drug makers. “Maybe they’re trying to keep me loyal to those drugs.”

Still, nearly all said that they were not influenced by the money they earned giving the talks

Former President of nationally known McLean Psychiatric Hospital admits sexual contact with patient - State orders investigation.

It appears one psychiatrist has had a conscience attack, turning himself in for molesting a patient. He may need psycho-surgery to remove his conscience, although there is hope that the manifestation of a conscience can be suppressed with the right medications, so that he can return to normal professional life.... [JOKE!] Mclean Hospital is a nationally known psychiatric research hospital, and is also responsible for the training and education of many psychiatrists.

As reported in the Boston Herald, see also this Boston Globe report

The former president of McLean Hospital has admitted he had inappropriate sexual contact with a patient and has surrendered his medical license for at least six months.

Dr. Jack Gorman, a well-known psychiatrist, abruptly resigned his post at the prestigious psychiatric hospital in Belmont in May 2006 after only four months on the job. At the time, he said he was resigning for personal and medical reasons.

Last month, Gorman signed a consent decree with regulators in his home state of New York, admitting he was negligent when he had inappropriate sexual contact with a female patient on more than one occasion.

Under the order, Gorman can request that his license be reinstated after six months. If his license is restored, he would face five years of probation under the supervision of another doctor.

Claudia Hutton, a spokeswoman for the New York Department of Health, said Gorman reported himself to the New York Board for Professional Medical Conduct.

"It is unusual for somebody to self-report, but it is a wise move," Hutton said. "Moral unfitness is something that in the New York community, we just won’t tolerate."

Hutton said she could not provide any details on the patient or Gorman’s relationship with her, citing confidentiality laws.

Gorman’s New York attorney, Anthony Scher, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

In a statement issued to The Boston Globe, Gorman said he has taken responsibility for his conduct and hopes to continue to make contributions to the field of psychiatry.

"I have stepped forward and voluntarily acknowledged any mistake I have made and, in doing so, have paid a huge personal price," Gorman said.

"I accept the consequences, but remain proud of my 30-year career of outstanding academic and clinical service and research."

Before taking the job at McLean, Gorman had made a name for himself at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City as a leading researcher on anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia. He received his medical license in New York in 1978.

The Boston Globe reports that the State is ordering an investigation into the psychiatrist

The Department of Public Health directed McLean Hospital yesterday to investigate whether its former president, Dr. Jack M. Gorman, sexually abused any patients at the hospital, one day after his medical license was indefinitely suspended in New York for "inappropriate sexual contact" with an unidentified patient.

Gorman resigned abruptly from the Harvard-affiliated hospital in May 2006 for what the hospital said were "personal and medical reasons." Gorman later admitted to New York medical regulators that he had been having an improper relationship with a patient that precipitated a personal crisis, culminating in a suicide attempt.

The Board for Professional Medical Conduct in New York has not revealed where the sexual contact with the patient occurred; an official would say only that it happened on multiple occasions. However, Gorman practiced primarily in New York City, and worked as a psychiatrist at McLean for only about four months before he quit.

"We are contacting McLean Hospital and asking them to conduct an investigation and report back to us," said Donna Rheaume, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health. "Our concern is the health and safety of the patients at the facilities we are licensing."

The agency learned of Gorman's sexual misconduct when it was reported in the Globe yesterday, and officials want to ensure that any victims are receiving proper care, Rheaume said.

Yesterday, officials at Partners HealthCare, the parent organization of McLean, as well as hospital board members declined to say what they knew about Gorman's problems when he resigned. He initially took a medical leave in mid-April after a suicide attempt, but McLean officials were saying publicly that they expected him to return to his job only two days before he quit.

"The hope is really to put this behind us," said Partners spokeswoman Petra Langer, pointing out that McLean has named a new president, Scott L. Rauch. She said she had not heard about the state's request for an investigation into Gorman's conduct while he was at McLean.

Word that Gorman had admitted to sexual misconduct came as a shock to many at McLean, including some who worked directly for him. One Partners official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, said people felt betrayed by Gorman's misconduct and were upset that it caused so much upheaval in leadership of the hospital.

An associate of Gorman who asked not to be named said that the doctor concealed his misconduct from the McLean board of directors and other officials.

"He didn't want to embarrass one of the greatest teaching hospitals in the country," the associate said.

Instead, Gorman returned to New York and reported the misconduct to regulators there.

Illegal hospitalizations endanger patients

From the Israeli paper Haaretz, some strange events in the Israeli psychiatric care system.

Dr. Eli Griner has seen enough. Griner, the head psychiatrist for the Northern District in the Ministry of Health, recently alerted the ministry's director general, Prof. Avi Yisraeli, to the issue of illegal involuntary hospitalizations of dangerous patients at the Mizra state psychiatric hospital in Acre.

In an unusually sharply-worded letter to Yisraeli, Griner said these hospitalizations endanger the patients and medical staff at the hospital as well as the general public.

"What more needs to happen for the ministry under your control to step in and put a halt to this blatant disregard for the law?" wrote Dr. Griner.

In a case mentioned by Dr. Griner in his letter, a dangerous psychiatric patient from the high-security ward at Sha'ar Menashe Mental Health Center in Hadera, where dangerous psychiatric patients from throughout the country are hospitalized, was transferred to a closed ward at Mizra in March. The transfer was approved by both hospital's managements, but they did not obtain the district psychiatrist's approval as required by law.

In August, the patient assaulted another patient on the ward, who required stitches in his head as a result. The dangerous patient was returned to Sha'ar Menashe after the incident. In its report on the attack, the ministry's legal department expressed "wonder that both hospitals did not see fit to at least inform the district psychiatrist of the transfer...."

A Haaretz investigation uncovered several additional cases in which the welfare of helpless psychiatric patients and the general public were jeopardized. The investigation was based on dozens of documents and internal, confidential reports.

One of these involved the suicide, on hospital grounds, of a double-leg amputee who had been hospitalized at Mizra for 32 years. The patient sneaked out of the building in the middle of the night without being noticed, got out of his wheelchair and laid under a parked bus in the hospital lot. In the morning, he was run over and killed by the bus.

The internal investigation committee found no fault with the patient's treatment, but the report nevertheless raises many questions about the care of psychiatric patients with physical disabilities. The investigation revealed that for years the patient had applied to be admitted into a group home, which rejected him because of his disability.

A ministry report cited shortages of basic foods at Mizra, including meat, cheeses and powdered milk.

According to a statement by a Health Ministry spokeswoman, most of the charges "were examined and found to be baseless and fallacious, and based on biased personal interpretation that does not match the interpretation of the ministry's legal department." Certain issues were still being examined and have been passed on to the relevant offices within the department. The spokeswoman did not indicate exactly what was determined to be "baseless" and "fallacious," by whom and according to what standard..

Science proves people's brains equivalent to Jell-O

Reposting an amusing bit from the adventures of modern psychiatry:

As seen online at the Jello Musuem and elsewhere:

March 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia [NY] test a bowl of lime Jell-O with an EEG machine and confirm the earlier testing by Canadian Doctor Adrian Upton in 1969 that a dome of wiggly Jell-O has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women. In 1969, Dr. Upton connected an electroencephalograph (EEG) to a dome of lime Jell-O, only to find the readings to be almost identical to those of healthy human beings.

This is not quite correct. To be picky, the signals observed are identical to brain waves. There is obviously no brain in a bowl of jello.

Also as originally reported in Mother Earth News back in 1976

THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR MODERN MEDICINE . . . OR IS THERE?

Dr. Adrian Upton, professor of neurology at MacMasters University in Hamilton, Ontario, recently rigged a brain wave machine, artificial respirators, and intravenous feeding equipment to a bowl of lime jello about the size of a human brain, and—gasp!—recorded readings typical of those emitted by a living person. In fact, the good doctor noted, the results of the electronic analysis would not have qualified the dessert as sufficiently "dead" to have the life-sustaining plugs pulled under existing legal guidelines!

Apparently the Smithsonian once held a symposium on Jell-O where 1993 results were confirmed.

(Note - Dr. Upton is NOT a fictitious Doctor. He has had a long career at McMasters University)

What an electroencephalograph machine (or EEG) does is measure electrical activity in the brain. This is probably useful for something, though I’m not sure what.

Of course, the experiment proved that EEGs are quite susceptible to environmental interference. But it seems amusing that brain scientists are using this to try to detect thoughts. How much phenomena is attributed to the mere monitoring of environmental noise?

And confirming anything from the pre-internet era is a bit difficult.

Further Details:

March 17, 1993, technicians at St. Jerome hospital in Batavia test a bowl of lime Jell-O with an EEG machine and confirm earlier testing by Dr. Adrian Upton that showed that a bowl of Jell-O has brain waves identical to those of adult men and women.

Congress Holds First Hearing on Abuse in Unregulated 'Troubled Teen' Industry, Exposing Quackery and Torture Across America

While not directly related to psychiatrists or psychiatry, you have to wonder where these jokers got their theory of mental health from. Just the name of "Attack Therapy" is enough to give me the chills. That said:

FIRST, we have this press release from a Statistics Watchdog Group in advance of a hearing held today on Capitol Hill. You have to know that when the statisticians are after you, you have really screwed up. We include it here because it speaks so well to the issue:

Deaths from medical neglect and other severe child abuse in teen "wilderness programs" "boot camps" "emotional growth boarding schools" and other residential facilities will be the subject of a first ever Congressional hearing this week. On Oct. 10, the House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Representative George Miller (D-CA), will hold a full committee investigative hearing.

Parents of adolescents who have died in these programs will testify and the Government Accountability Office will present its findings from a recent investigation of the industry. Seven boot camp guards and a nurse are currently on trial for manslaughter in the death of one boy in Florida.

Statistical Assessment Service Senior Fellow Maia Szalavitz helped spur this investigation with the first book-length expose of this billion-dollar industry, "Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids" (Riverhead Books, 2006), which detailed the horrifying abuse, medical ignorance, and neglect that caused thousands of injuries and dozens of deaths. It is the only book to comprehensively cover this subject. She will attend the hearing and be available to the media.

Your dog has more protection than your child

A federal law protects mule deer from harassment -- but teens held in these programs do not even have the right to contact their parents or law enforcement or be free from food deprivation, sleep deprivation, isolation, restraint and other severe punishments.

Most parents are unaware that in many states, dog kennels and nail salons are more highly regulated than the health and safety of children in these institutions.

Where state regulation exists, enforcement is lax. Anyone -- including convicts -- can open a program; no qualifications are required.

Szalavitz has continued to investigate this highly profitable industry, exposing the spurious treatment practices and abuses for STATS and other publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reason, and the American Prospect.

[...]

About STATS: Since its founding in 1994, the non-profit, non-partisan Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) has become a much-valued resource on the use and abuse of science and statistics in the media. Our goals are to correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge; and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies. For more information, contact Trevor Butterworth at 202-841-2868 or visit http://www.stats.org.

Second, we have this link to an earlier story regarding the political links between one political party and the 'Troubled Teen' industry, which would explain why investigations were not conducted earlier. It also includes a history of the weird origin of the Attack Therapy used throughout these prison camps for kids.

Thirdly: There are other reports (USA Today, Huffington Post) on these hearings as well. The complete video of the hearings can be seen online here

Finally, we have the Committee's press release, complete with direct links to the report and to transcripts of the testimony of several witnesses. :

A new government report released today found thousands of allegations of child abuse at private residential treatment programs between 1990 and 2007. The report also examined in detail ten cases of child abuse and neglect that resulted in death between 1990 and 2004.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, which prepared the report at the request of House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA), testified about its findings at a committee hearing today. Three parents whose children died in private residential programs also testified at the hearing.

There are estimated to be tens of thousands of children enrolled in private residential treatment programs – often called “boot camps,” “wilderness camps,” and “behavior modification facilities” – around the country. A weak patchwork of state regulations governs the operation of these programs.

The GAO report found that the 10 programs it examined were marked by ineffective management, untrained staff; reckless or negligent operating practices; and misleading marketing practices.

Cynthia Harvey’s daughter, Erica, was 15 years old when she died of dehydration and heat stroke at a wilderness program in Nevada. “When Erica’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell off the trail, head first, into rocks and scrub brush, she was left to lie where she fell for 45 minutes, while two [program] staffers, still unwilling or unable to recognize what was happening, watched Erica die a slow, painful death,” testified Harvey.

Paul Lewis’ son Ryan committed suicide at a residential school and wilderness program in West Virginia in 2001. “Our family was duped into believing that caring people would help Ryan, who was struggling with a learning disability and clinical depression. We thought these were professionals who knew what they were doing. We had no idea that their interest was profit, not healing.”

Bob Bacon’s son Aaron died at a wilderness program in Utah in 2004. According to the GAO, Aaron showed signs of physical distress for three weeks that were ignored by program staff, including a company-employed Emergency Medical Technician. In those three weeks, Aaron lost 20 percent of his body weight.

“This company-employed EMT . . . dismissed [Aaron’s] final desperate plea to see a doctor who could prove he wasn’t faking and made a conscious decision to prove a point rather than render aid, thus effectively killing our son rather than saving him.”

Miller said today that Congress must act to regulate the industry to prevent abuse from happening.

“This nightmare has remained an open secret for years. Sporadic news accounts of specific incidents have built a record that should never have been ignored, but shamefully was,” said Miller. “Without regulations, the industry as a whole will continue to present unacceptable risks to the children it serves.”

Miller requested the GAO investigation in December 2005. The GAO is expected to release a comprehensive report in early 2008. To see a copy of Miller’s 2005 request, click here.

To see Miller’s opening statement from the hearing, click here.

See also this Video report

Study: Antidepressants Double Stomach Bleeding Risk, Mixing With Painkillers Increases Risk Six Times

Via Fox News, yet another reason not to be misdiagnosed with one of these marketable diseases

Taking antidepressants alone is enough to double your risk of stomach bleeding, but mixing them with painkillers is even more dangerous, a new study finds.

Mixing SSRIs (drugs used in the treatment of depression) such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft with over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen increases an individual's risk of stomach bleeding six-fold, according to research by the U.K.'s University of East Anglia.

About 10 million Americans use antidepressants. For the study, Dr. Yoon Loke, a clinical pharmacologist at UEA’s School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, worked with colleagues at North Carolina's Wake Forest University. The results are published in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

Currently, most SSRIs warn users of an increased risk of stomach bleeding when mixing the drugs with painkillers. However, authors of the new research claim to be the first to show that just taking the antidepressants alone is enough to raise the risk of stomach bleeding.

The findings are based on an analysis of four studies covering more than 153,000 patients, which estimate that over a period of one year, one in every 106 patients taking SSRIs together with painkillers will require hospital admission due to bleeding in the stomach.

“While the SSRIs on their own carry only a small risk of harm, this risk becomes much more serious when they are taken in combination with painkillers,” Loke said in a news release.

The researchers also looked in detail at more than 100 cases of patients who suffered bleeding in the stomach related to SSRIs and found that two-thirds of the patients were taking painkillers at the same time.

“If you have a history of stomach ulcers or indigestion, then SSRIs may not be the best choice for treating your depression,” said Loke. “There are other antidepressants which seem to be less harmful.”

Loke advised that patients on SSRIs may do better taking drugs such as Tylenol, rather than ibuprofen.

North Carolina Medical Board forced to give up secret proceedings due to psychiatric drug death.

A group of men protecting their own through secret proceedings is forced to tell the truth. But for one widow, it is far too late.

My own reaction to this story is to describe the North Carolina Medical Board in the most vile and disturbing terms. This is probably not appropriate for civilized society. And is probably would be too much of an understatement anyhow.

As seen in the News Observer.

A week ago Monday, a state law was changed thanks to Maggy Lewis of Durham.

She has been choking back tears, however, not sipping champagne.

The law she helped rewrite opens up the complaint process at the N.C. Medical Board. But the handling of her own husband's death will remain under wraps.

It was about four years ago that Lewis' husband, Mark, grew depressed after being laid off from a job he truly loved.

He had survived other job losses over the years, the deaths of both his parents and the dissolution of his previous marriage.

But this layoff threw him for a loop.

He went to a psychiatrist for help.

The doctor prescribed an antidepressant. And then, another, and another, and another.

After about a year and a half, Lewis' husband was on seven drugs simultaneously, five of which increase the amount of serotonin in the brain.

He shook, sweated, grew confused and slept poorly. His mood became erratic.

Finally, Mark took his own life.

Maggy Lewis was crushed. She blamed her husband's psychiatrist for prescribing so many drugs and changing the doses abruptly.

Lewis briefly looked into suing but decided against it.

During the research, however, she had four medical experts review her husband's files. Each independently found that his prescribed medications had induced serotonin syndrome, a well-documented syndrome caused by an overload of drugs that increase serotonin.

Lewis filed a complaint with the state medical board.

She was curious to see what the doctor's response was. Turns out she will never know.

Lewis came up against the hard fact that North Carolina law allows the doctor's response to a complaint to remain secret. Ditto the board's response -- unless direct action such as suspension of a doctor's license is involved.

Incredulous, Lewis contacted her state representative, Paul Luebke, to see about getting the law changed.

The medical board's openness was already under review, and to the board's credit, it supported opening up the complaint process.

When the bill passed in August, it seemed like a true victory. Under the rewritten law, patients have the right to know how the board handled their complaints and how it reached its decisions. The complaining patient or loved one also can request and receive a copy of the doctor's official response.

It was a few weeks later in August that Lewis received a letter from the medical board noting that her complaint had been "handled appropriately." Had the doctor been chastised? Had the doctor told the whole truth to the board?

Lewis appealed to the board for more information.

"I appealed to their basic decency," she said.

The week before the rewritten law went into effect, however, she got a final answer from the board: "No."

"I have no way of knowing what the doctor said in response, what she said about my husband," Lewis said. "The board members sat in a room and discussed my husband for hours, and I have no way of knowing what was said."

So, no, Lewis isn't celebrating -- though, for her legislative "victory," all of us owe her a debt of thanks.

Psychologist goes on trial in slaying of former fiancee

From the the FW Star-Telegram

It's been more than two years since Deborah Houchin's body was found smoldering on a tarp behind a mechanic's shop in rural Cooke County.

But those who were close to the marriage and family counselor still want to know how her ex-fiance and former business partner could have ended up as the man accused of fatally shooting her three times in July 2005 before her body was dumped.

Testimony in the murder trial of Lester Winningham, 59, a licensed psychologist who was once engaged to Houchin, is scheduled to begin today.

The case is being tried in District Judge Mollee Westfall's 371st District Court. Winningham faces 5 to 99 years in prison if convicted of killing Houchin.

"How she got wrapped up with someone who would murder her is beyond me," said George Marler of Fort Worth. Marler and his wife, Luana, befriended Houchin in the U.S. Virgin Islands more than a decade ago during a scuba diving adventure. Marler owned a diving school at the time. "She was a brilliant person."

Prosecutor Greg Miller declined to comment on the case.

Winningham's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Houchin's co-workers contacted Arlington police July 25 after she failed to meet with a client that Monday morning. They told officers that they saw her as she left work late July 21, a Thursday.

Houchin, 56, was divorced with no children, lived alone and took three-day weekends, which is why it was hard to know exactly when she went missing, according to previous reports.

Winningham has been a suspect since her body was found, police said.

Houchin shared an office with Winningham in central Arlington. The two split after Winningham refused to sign a prenuptial agreement.

Two months before she was slain, Houchin was still living in her Interlochen neighborhood home; Winningham had moved into a $435-a-month apartment near their office, according to an affidavit.

Houchin, who apparently feared Winningham, told her sister that if anything happened to her, the authorities should question Winningham, according to the affidavit.

Court records detail the couple's relationship, their engagement on Christmas Day in 2004, and how they broke up after Winningham refused to sign a prenuptial agreement.

The couple had lived together on and off in Houchin's home in the 2300 block of Westwood Drive, court records show.

Winningham had secured a passport, bought a plane ticket to Germany and withdrawn $20,000 in cash from his bank account in the days after Houchin's body was found, investigators have said. However, Winningham's attorney at the time said Winningham canceled his flight to Germany the day before his arrest.

The trouble with rehab, Malibu-style

The LA Times is carrying an expose on the scams run by a number of celebrity oriented rehab centers. The expose cites a number of horror stories involving the greed of these shady operations. Not a pretty picture, but too long to quote in full here. Here are a few snippets:

Hollywood rehab can produce unhappy endings, even when the patient isn't named Lindsay or Britney.

That's what Kelly Logan learned when he sought treatment for a methamphetamine addiction at Promises Malibu, detox destination to the stars.

Logan's brother, Garfield, says he paid $42,000 up front to admit the former professional surfer for a month at Promises' canyon-top Mediterranean-style home. Five days later, he says, Promises kicked Logan out for belligerent behavior but kept all the money.

"They're scam artists," said Garfield Logan, a plaintiff in one of four consumer-rights, breach-of-contract and unfair-business-practice lawsuits filed against Promises Malibu and its Westside branch in the last year. Promises has denied the allegations.

The suits and state licensing violations reveal a little-seen side to the high-end rehabilitation centers that have become a Malibu cottage industry and -- thanks to such patrons as Promises alums Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears -- a tabloid feeding ground.

The legal problems also reflect how the Malibu properties -- the area has one of the densest concentrations of rehab retreats in the nation, experts say -- can differ from industry norms, as represented by the Betty Ford Center, Hazelden, Phoenix House and other leaders in addiction treatment.

All of the Malibu centers are for-profit enterprises in a field dominated by not-for-profits. With luxury as a principal appeal, many charge far more than the going rate for residential care. Court records indicate that Promises' fee is more than double the $23,000 cost for a month at Betty Ford.

[...]

Promises, Passages and other Malibu rehab firms have identified on their websites a number of psychiatrists and other physicians as staff members, even though the centers are not licensed to provide medical care.

Instead, they are limited to offering services such as detox monitoring that does not require medical treatment; group and individual counseling; and addiction education, state officials say. Over the last few years, Promises and several other centers that do business in Malibu have been cited by state regulators for providing medical services outside the scope of their licenses.

[...]

Many of the Malibu firms typically demand a month's payment in advance and refuse to refund any portion if the patient leaves treatment early or is expelled. No-refund policies at more traditional centers often apply to just part of the fee -- $5,000 in the case of Betty Ford, for example.