Utah Child Psychiatrist David Wilson Now Faces Criminal Charges Related to Child Pornography. Has Lost Job, License Revoked

From the Standard Examiner

David Ford Wilson, 43, is charged with 15 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He entered not guilty pleas to the charges on July 16, 2014.

At a Hearing today, Judge Scott Hadley scheduled a hearing for oral arguments on May 8.

Wilson was investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, with assistance from the FBI in 2013, officials had said.

In late March of 2013, Intermountain Healthcare’s information system security department found that Wilson’s computer was being accessed to download and view child pornography. He was immediately terminated and the incident was reported to police.

Detectives served a search warrant for Wilson’s hard drive and after a forensic analysis, which can take a lengthy amount of time, he was arrested on Sept. 6, 2013.

Wilson was an osteopathic physician as well as an child psychiatrist for Weber County. The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing revoked his license to practice medicine and prescribe drugs. A panel of three doctors reviewed the case and made an emergency motion to suspend Wilson. McKay-Dee Hospital also released a statement in 2013 that said there is no evidence that any of Wilson’s patients were at risk.

Judge: State of Alaska can't hold foster kids at mental hospital for indefinite stretches

From a report in the Alaska Dispatch News

More details at the link

Facing allegations that it improperly warehoused foster children at North Star psychiatric hospital in Anchorage, the Alaska Office of Children’s Services has been ordered by a state Superior Court judge not to keep children at the facility for indefinite periods of time.

The order is part of a preliminary injunction issued by Superior Court Judge Erin Marston that said a minor, admitted to the acute psychiatric hospital during an emergency, cannot remain there longer than 30 days without court approval.

But that length of time may change. As a next step, the judge has asked parties in the case to offer recommendations on the appropriate period of time a minor should be kept at the hospital before a court can weigh in.

The case was brought a year ago by the Southwest Alaska tribal governments of Hooper Bay and Kongiganak on behalf of the tribes’ children.

Alaska Legal Services, representing the tribes, argued that the state was improperly placing and holding children in the hospital. It provided examples of three Alaska Native teenage girls from two foster families who had been held at the hospital for at least four weeks without a judge’s approval, though their admission was based on questionable evidence.

One of the girls, a teenager referenced as C.A. for her initials, was held at the hospital for about a month, though a hearing judge later found there was no evidence supporting the decision to send her there, wrote Marston.

“OCS decided to send C.A. to North Star, although the reason for this decision is unclear,” Marston wrote.

Marston’s Feb. 12 preliminary order said that indefinite stays by children at North Star may violate U.S. constitutional rights and lead to “irreparable harm.”

“Continuing treatment of foster children without a judicial hearing raises the question of a violation of the fundamental right to due process,” he wrote.

The hospital provides a secure, locked facility where 24-hour services are given under the care of psychiatrists to children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, he wrote.

But long, unnecessary placement at a mental hospital is not good for adolescents, said Jim Davis, the attorney arguing the case for Alaska Legal Services.

“This is not to say North Star is ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’ but a mental hospital is not a good place for kids” with typical teenage behaviors, said Davis. “It can disempower and otherwise undermine a kid’s sense of self if they don’t really have a mental illness requiring them to be there.”

North Star Behavioral Health System was a defendant in the case along with Christy Lawton, OCS director. Like OCS, North Star must change its practices because of the preliminary order, Davis said.

Officials representing and working for North Star did not return phone calls seeking comments.

Though the case is not settled, the judge’s preliminary order is in part a victory for the tribal governments.

[...]

The state’s policy was insufficient because it proposed no timeline, leaving that up to the scheduling of the courts, Davis said. Getting a hearing can take far too long, sometimes leaving a child in the mental hospital long after they should have been released, said Davis.

The girl had caused alarm after it was believed she had overdosed on antidepressants, leading to a trip to the hospital emergency room in the hub city of Bethel. There, the girl showed no physical signs of overdosing and the girl’s foster mother found the bottle of pills the next day.

[...]

D.S. was held for 38 days, while J.S. was held for 47 days, Davis said. They were released after a Superior Court judge said they shouldn’t be there, he said.

“The process isn’t working when it takes weeks and weeks to have a hearing,” Davis said.

In his order, the judge wants the parties by March 12 to recommend the appropriate length of time to hold minors before a court can weigh in.

Davis said he will argue that minors, just like adults, should not be involuntarily held longer than 72 hours without a court’s input. That is more than enough time to determine whether a minor is being improperly held at the hospital, he said.

Bookman, of the OCS, said a child admitted by a guardian is in a situation different from that of an involuntarily admitted adult, so 72 hours may not be appropriate. He said he would “talk to OCS about it, do some research and come up with a position.”

Psychiatrist Claudio de Novaes Soares faces hearing for sex abuse allegations

As reported by the CBC News

A Hamilton psychiatrist has a disciplinary hearing with the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons two years after allegations emerged that he sexually abused a female patient.

Dr. Claudio de Novaes Soares has not be licensed to practice medicine in Ontario since Sept. 1, 2012, around the same time he was set to take a high profile post at the University of Alberta as the head of the psychiatry program there.

Soares resigned his position with UofA around Sept. 24, two weeks after CBC News revealed allegations that he had sexual relations with a female patient while he was practicing at a Hamilton office affiliated with McMaster University.

A document outlining Soares’s disciplinary hearing at the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons alleges that between Nov. 2007 to May 2009 he made sexual remarks toward the female patient — referred to only as Patient A — and also engaged in fellatio and had sex with the woman.

“This behaviour constituted sexual abuse of Patient A by Dr. Soares and/or disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional conduct by Dr. Soares,” the document alleges.

The document also alleges Soares has “failed to co-operate” with an investigator assigned to his case.

He’s also accused of being “engaged in an act or omission relevant to the practice of medicine that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.”

Soares is set to appear at a series of disciplinary hearings in Toronto from Jan. 12-16 and Jan. 26-30, most of which will likely run throughout the entire day.

If the College’s discipline panel finds the accusations against Soares to be true, he may be reprimanded, fined up to $35,000 and his certificate of registration may be revoked.

While at McMaster, Soares was the associate chair of research in the department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences. He was also director of the Women's Health Concerns Clinic.

Michigan's common law recognizes a duty of care to third parties who might foreseeably be harmed by a mental health professional's use of techniques that cause his or her patient to have false memories of sexual abuse.

As seen in this Michigan Appellate Court Decision [PDF]

In this suit for malpractice, plaintiffs L### R###### and J### R###### appeal by right the trial court’s order dismissing their claims against defendant, Kathryn Salmi, LPC, who does business as Salmi Christian Counseling. On appeal, we must determine whether a mental health professional, such as a licensed professional counselor, see MCL 330.1100b(16)(e); 333.18101(b),1 owes a duty of care to third persons who might be harmed by the professional’streatment of his or her patients. Specifically, we must determine whether a mental healthprofessional has a duty to third parties (specifically, a patient’s parents) who might foreseeably be implicated in abuse when the mental health professional treats a patient using techniques that cause his or her patient to have false memories of sexual abuse.

For the reasons more fully explained below, we conclude that Michigan’s common law recognizes a duty of care to third parties who might foreseeably be harmed by the mental health professional’s use of techniques that cause his or her patient to have false memories of sexual abuse. Because the trial court erred when it dismissed Lale and Joan Roberts’ claim on the grounds that Michigan does not recognizesuch a duty, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

Disciplinary Hearing of Florida Psychiatrist Ronald Kurlander

As seen in the description on YouTube

On April 5, 2013 in Deerfield Beach, Florida psychiatrist Ronald Kurlander was disciplined by the Florida Department of Health. He was accused of prescribing drugs to people he had never examined or even met. The father of one of Kurlander's patients gave testimony as to the extensive damage caused by these drugs to his son. Kurlander is the one with the moustache and goatee with wire frame glasses seated to he left. He was fined over $30,000.00, given a reprimand, ordered to take a law and rules course, a drug course and a medical records course. Additionally, he has to undergo a risk management assessment.

Update: The Prosecution of Psychiatrist Dr. Alan Beitel

We have an update on the prosecution of psychiatrist Allan Beitel. Essentially, the charges were dropped for a number of practical reasons as seen in the article below.

1. He wasn't going to get anymore jail time than what he had already served while waiting for trial, and
2. the victim was moving out of the country, and would not be available to give testimony.

These circumstances are not a clean verdict such as acquittal, and leaves a cloud of suspicion over the doctor's head. This is also not a clean statement of innocence by the prosecutor, although the original charges were a little convoluted. The psychiatrist still faces other criminal charges, according to the report. As reported in The Hamilton Spectator.

Charges of accessing and possessing child pornography against a psychiatrist who formerly practised in Hamilton and Burlington have been stayed by the Crown.

Dr. Allan Beitel, who now practices in Toronto, had been facing the charges since 2003.

The Crown also stayed a charge of possession of stolen property and two counts of failing to comply against Beitel.

The Crown's prosecutor concluded that it was no longer in the public's interest to continue prosecution of the case, according to a spokesperson for Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General.

"Even if Dr. Beitel had been found guilty of all charges, it was unlikely that he would serve a single additional day in jail beyond the time he had already served in pre-trial custody," the spokes-person indicated.

"Given that completing the trial would have required significant amounts of additional court time and resources, the Crown concluded that it was not in the public interest to continue."

Beitel had spent a number of months in custody last year related to other charges.

A charge of sexual assault against Beitel has also been withdrawn by the Crown after concluding there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction.

"The victim was moving out of the country and would not be returning for the trial," the ministry spokesperson indicated.

Beitel is still facing a number of other charges, including perjury, fraud under $5,000, two counts of theft under $5,000 and six counts of fail to comply with a recognizance.

Beitel remains an active member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, with no past disciplinary findings against him.

UPDATE: see also this Blog Post by David Akin

Houston Psychiatrist's License Suspened Over Cocaine Use

As reported by the Houston Chronicle

The Texas Medical Board temporarily has suspended the license of Houston psychiatrist Dr. Eli Anderson, saying he failed a test for cocaine use and his practice represents a threat to the public's welfare.

Agency documents indicate Anderson, 64, pleaded no contest to a third-degree felony cocaine possession charge in June 2005. He was placed on a five-year order of deferred adjudication, meaning that the offense would be stricken from his record if he met probation-like requirements during that period.

In February 2007, Anderson was arrested in Lubbock on outstanding warrants from Clay County. While in custody, Lubbock police lodged other charges against him, including one for possessing drug paraphernalia.

In August of that year, officials of Anderson's employer, the Lubbock Regional Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center, notified the medical board that the charges had led to his dismissal.

In June, Anderson tested positive for a cocaine metabolite.

Medical board spokeswoman Jill Wiggins said the temporary suspension will remain in effect indefinitely. Anderson may appeal the decision in state district court.

Anderson, a graduate of the Baylor College of Medicine, has practiced in Texas 29 years, most recently at 8240 Antoine Drive. He could not be reached for comment.

Psychiatric Radio Host Had Undisclosed Drug Company Ties, Conflict of Interest Means His Show to Be Pulled From Air

From a Report in the NY Times

An influential psychiatrist who was the host of the popular NPR program “The Infinite Mind” earned at least $1.3 million from 2000 to 2007 giving marketing lectures for drugmakers, income not mentioned on the program.

The psychiatrist and radio host, Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin, is the latest in a series of doctors and researchers whose ties to drugmakers have been uncovered by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. Dr. Goodwin, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is the first news media figure to be investigated.

Dr. Goodwin’s weekly radio programs have often touched on subjects important to the commercial interests of the companies for which he consults. In a program broadcast on Sept. 20, 2005, he warned that children with bipolar disorder who were left untreated could suffer brain damage, a controversial view.

“But as we’ll be hearing today,” Dr. Goodwin told his audience, “modern treatments — mood stabilizers in particular — have been proven both safe and effective in bipolar children.”

That same day, GlaxoSmithKline paid Dr. Goodwin $2,500 to give a promotional lecture for its mood stabilizer drug, Lamictal, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Fla. In all, GlaxoSmithKline paid him more than $329,000 that year for promoting Lamictal, records given to Congressional investigators show.

In an interview, Dr. Goodwin said that Bill Lichtenstein, the program’s producer, knew of his consulting but that neither thought “getting money from drug companies could be an issue.”

“In retrospect, that should have been disclosed,” he said.

But Mr. Lichtenstein said that he was unaware of Dr. Goodwin’s financial ties to drugmakers and that, after an article in the online magazine Slate this year pointed out that guests on his program had undisclosed affiliations with drugmakers, he called Dr. Goodwin “and asked him point-blank if he was receiving funding from pharmaceutical companies, directly or indirectly, and the answer was, ‘No.’ ”

Asked about the contradiction, Dr. Goodwin and Mr. Lichtenstein each stood by their versions of events.

“The fact that he was out on the stump for pharmaceutical companies was not something we were aware of,” Mr. Lichtenstein said in an interview. “It would have violated our agreements.”

Margaret Low Smith, vice president of National Public Radio, said NPR would remove “The Infinite Mind” from its satellite radio service next week, the earliest date possible. Ms. Smith said that had NPR been aware of Dr. Goodwin’s financial interests, it would not have broadcast the program.

Sarah Alspach, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, said, “We continue to believe that healthcare professionals are responsible for making disclosures to their employers and other entities, in this case National Public Radio and its listeners.”

[...]

Mr. Grassley is systematically asking some of the nation’s leading researchers and doctors to provide their conflict-of-interest disclosures, and he is comparing those documents with records of actual payments from drug companies. The records often conflict, sometimes starkly.

In October, Mr. Grassley revealed that Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University, an influential psychiatric researcher, earned more than $2.8 million in consulting arrangements with drugmakers from 2000 to 2007, failed to report at least $1.2 million of that income to his university and violated federal research rules. As a result, the National Institutes of Health suspended a $9.3 million research grant to Emory, and Dr. Nemeroff gave up his chairmanship of Emory’s psychiatry department.

In June, the senator revealed that Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard, whose work has fueled an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children, had earned at least $1.6 million from drugmakers from 2000 to 2007, and failed to report most of this income to Harvard.

Mr. Grassley’s investigation demonstrates how deeply pharmaceutical commercial interests reach into academic medicine, and it has shown that universities are all but incapable of policing these arrangements. As a result, almost every major medical school and medical society is reassessing its relationships with makers of drugs and devices.

“We know the drug companies are throwing huge amounts of money at medical researchers, and there’s no clear-cut way to know how much and exactly where,” Mr. Grassley said. “Now it looks like the same thing is happening in journalism.”

Mr. Grassley has proposed legislation that would require drugmakers to disclose all payments of $500 or more to doctors. Eli Lilly and Merck have promised to begin doing so next year.

[...]

Psychiatrist guilty of misconduct after freeing dangerous patient

From a Report out of Plymouth, England

A Plymouth psychiatrist who released a dangerous schizophrenic from a mental health ward hours before he tried to kill his mother was today found guilty of 'recklessly' putting the public at risk.

Dr Andrea Tocca described the 39-year-old as 'no danger to himself or others' and discharged him from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, a day after he assaulted a female patient.

Soon after arriving home, the man, referred to as GA, told his mother: 'I know what I have to do to you' and battered her repeatedly over the head with a spade.

Dr Tocca was found guilty of misconduct after the GMC panel decided that he had 'recklessly put the public at risk' in releasing GA from the ward.

Panel chair Ralph Bergmann said: 'This panel is particularly concerned by your decision to discharge GA on April 25, 2006.

'You had been responsible for the care and treatment of GA for some three months prior to discharging him.'

Mr Bergmann said during this time he had been informed by the patient's previous doctor in Torquay that 'if GA became acutely psychotic, his mother may be at risk.

'He (the doctor) had also informed you that GA had made two very serious suicide attempts.

'The panel accepts the proposition put forward by your counsel that your conduct in discharging GA amounted to a single episode of significant error.

'However, you had access to GA's medical history, you had become very familiar with his condition and you ought to have been very alert to the risks and potential consequences of discharging him.

'Your decision to do so leaves the panel in no doubt that this was serious misconduct on your part.

'As the consultant psychiatrist responsible foe the care and treatment of a vulnerable patient, you behaved irresponsibly and recklessly in allowing GA to be returned to the community.

'You thereby put at risk not only the patient but also his mother and the public.

'Taking all these matters into account, the panel has determined that your fitness to practise is impaired because of your misconduct.'

The GMC panel will now consider whether to kick Dr Tocca out of the medical profession.

The hearing was told that Dr Tocca did not read GA's medical notes and decided to 'make up his own mind' about the patient.

On April 24, GA assaulted a female patient on the unit by holding her in a headlock and punching her.

His medical records show that he had also threatened other patients and believed that the staff on the unit were trying to kill him.

Marios Lambis, for the GMC, said: 'At 9.55am on April 25, Dr Tocca made an entry in GA's notes stating that in his view, that assault on the female patient was not a product of his mental state but rather a result of the high level of stress he was experiencing on the unit.

'He recorded that once the police had completed their investigation into the assault, he would discharge GA, and twenty minutes later he recorded: ''In my clinical opinion, GA is not detainable under the Mental Health Act and he is not really a danger to himself or to others.'''

In a statement read to the panel GA's mother, referred to as Mrs A, told the hearing that Dr Tocca telephoned on April 25 to say her son had assaulted a patient but he was sending him home.

[...]

The GMC heard that GA had developed brain damage after falling from a tree swing at the age of 12 and became 'passive and apathetic.'

In 1991, at the age of 22, he was admitted to hospital in Manchester with paranoid psychotic symptoms, the hearing was told.

Mr Lambis said: 'He would not let anyone into his flat, his furniture was broken and he was talking in an incomprehensible manner.

'He had become suspicious and withdrawn.'

In 1993, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was admitted to acute mental health units nine times over the following three years.

Two years later he made threats to kill his grandmother.

GA took an overdose in 2003 and was later sectioned.

On August 8 2005, he set fire to his mattress five times before lying on it and burning himself in a suicide attempt.

He spent 11 weeks in the burns unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Dr Tocca admitted being told by GA's doctor that he became acutely psychotic his mother may be at risk.

He also admitted that he ought to have known that GA had made threats to kill his grandmother and had shown previous incidents of violence, and he discharged GH when he ought to have known he should not have been discharged.

Psychiatrist faces review in wake of massacre - Hearing to decide competency of Toronto doctor who treated man who killed his wife and children

As seen in the Globe and Mail. Edited for Space

The competency of a Toronto psychiatrist who was treating Chau Huc Minh at the time he massacred his family in 2006 is under scrutiny by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

The College has scheduled a hearing to determine whether the psychiatrist - Dr. Hung-Tat Lo - is competent to continue practising in light of his actions in the Chau case and 15 other unspecified cases.

The main complaint behind the hearing appears to be one lodged last year by Mr. Chau's sister, Jenny Chu. Ms. Chu alleged that Dr. Lo refused her plea to have Mr. Chau sent to a hospital for an assessment and possible treatment on Jan. 6, 2006. Five weeks later - on Feb. 9, 2006 - Mr. Chau used a meat cleaver to inflict fatal injuries on his wife, Shao-Fang, his three-year-old daughter, Vivian, and his five-month-old baby, Ivan.

A CPSO document states that its disciplines committee will decide whether Dr. Lo "failed to maintain the standard of practice and is incompetent in his care and treatment - including, but not limited to - his assessments, diagnoses, treatment and record-keeping, of 15 patients whose identities have been made known to Dr. Lo, between about July, 1983, and July, 2007."

It said the probe will also consider whether Dr. Lo displayed "a lack of knowledge, skill or judgment or disregard for the welfare of his patients of a nature," to the point that his practice should be restricted or terminated.

In the meantime, Dr. Lo has been told to submit sample medical charts and other patient information at least once every two weeks to a doctor appointed by the College to monitor his work.

CPSO spokesman Jill Hefley said in an interview yesterday that a complaint is referred to a disciplines hearing only if there has been a determination that "reasonable and probable cause" exists to believe it may be well founded.

Ms. Chu complained that she told Dr. Lo that her brother's behaviour had grown alarmingly erratic. "I was concerned that he might hurt his two young kids and wife" she said in her complaint. "Therefore, I urged Dr. Lo to send him to hospital with detailed descriptions of his strange behaviour."

[...]

Upon leaving Dr. Lo's clinic that day - Jan. 6, 2006 - Ms. Chu claimed that she tried to coax her brother to go straight to the hospital. She said that Mr. Chau became furious, and said: "Even Dr. Lo said that I was okay. Why must you make me go to a hospital?"

Mr. Chau was found not criminally responsible in the killings earlier this week by a Toronto judge.

According to a transcript from Mr. Chau's 2007 preliminary hearing, Dr. Lo denied that Ms. Chu asked him to admit her brother to hospital at the Jan. 6, 2006, meeting. Dr. Lo acknowledged that he saw Mr. Chau for just 140 minutes during the 12 years that he treated him. However, Dr. Lo, who stated he sees 15-20 patients a day, said that he didn't see it as necessary to spend more time with Mr. Chau.

Dr. Lo's office was closed this week, and he did not return telephone messages.

Peter Lindsay, Mr. Chau's defence lawyer, expressed misgivings yesterday about the quality of care his client was given. "The compelling story here is that Dr. Lo sees him so little. If you do the math, he saw him for just over 11 minutes a year. I'm not a doctor, but I think that's far short of what he should be seeing this guy."

[...]

Other victim

Chau Huc Minh was not the first of psychiatrist Hung-Tat Lo's mentally ill patients to explode into violence.

In 2004, two years before Mr. Chau's killing rampage, a 36-year-old Chinese immigrant, Xuan Peng, drowned her four-year-old, autistic baby in a bathtub at her Scarborough home.

She had been under Dr. Lo's care at the time.

According to a 2005 bail ruling that freed Ms. Peng pending her first-degree murder trial, Dr. Lo was treating her for a bipolar disorder at the time that her daughter, Scarlett, drowned.

The presiding judge at the bail hearing was Ontario Superior Court Judge David McCombs.

He was persuaded to grant Ms. Peng bail partly based on testimony from Dr. Lo, who said that she was capable of being managed in the community and agreed to supervise her treatment.

[...]

Police arrested Ms. Peng seven months after Scarlett's death. Last March, she was found guilty of second-degree murder, notwithstanding her history of mental illness.

A La Mesa psychotherapist surrendered her counseling license amid allegations that she coerced an 8-year-old rape victim into falsely identifying her

From the San Diego Union-Tribune of March 21, 1996, via FatherMag.com

A La Mesa psychotherapist facing state disciplinary hearings has surrendered her counseling license amid allegations that she coerced an 8-year-old rape victim into falsely identifying her father as the attacker. Kathleen King Goodfriend was accused by government regulators of being "grossly negligent or incompetent" in her treatment of the child, Alicia Wade.

The California Board of Behavioral Science Examiners said that "pressure" by Goodfriend over a period of 13 months finally led the girl to falsely accuse her father.

As a result, her father, James Wade was arrested, charged and faced 16 years in prison. Alicia was nearly placed for adoption. Alicia's mother, Denise Wade attempted suicide. Authorities overlooked DNA evidence which proved the father had not assaulted his daughter and disregarded a suspect already convicted of attacking other girls in the neighborhood.

More info available via the LA Times

If You Think There is a Risk Then Why on Earth Are You Releasing Him?

From the Derby Evening Telegraph

A Transcript reveals how a doctor was warned by a police inspector about the risk of releasing a patient who threatened to torch his house - 24 hours before he set himself on fire and died.

It shows Inspector Alison Dando telling psychiatrist Dr Raj Sinha that, if anything happened to Andrew Whetton, "it would look bad on the health authority".

The 48-year-old begged to be kept in hospital and threatened to set fire to his house but was released from the mental health unit.

The next day, he covered his clothes in petrol and set them alight while in a car with his partner of 25 years, Julie Croft, in Marston Lane, Hatton.

Coroner Dr Robert Hunter recorded a verdict of suicide at the end of a two-day inquest yesterday.

However, he said the fact Mr Whetton was not given a mental health examination by a senior psychiatrist after the suicide threat was a "contributing factor in his death".

Dr Sinha rang police to let them know Mr Whetton was being released.

After a recording of the call Dr Sinha made to police was played in court, he said: "Too much pressure was coming to me at that time. It was not an ideal situation.

"We do not have a machine to say what this patient will do."

[...]

Dr Robert Rowlands, an independent psychiatrist asked to look at Mr Whetton's medical notes, also questioned the decision not to carry out an assessment.

He said: "People being agitated to the point of pleading on their knees - that's an unusual level of agitation. If you have ended up on a psychiatric ward, you are a high risk.

"Dr Gupta did not actually review the patient himself. That would have been the prudent thing to do."

The inquest heard how Mr Whetton could not be sectioned under the Mental Health Act as he wanted to stay in hospital.

Summing up, the coroner said: "Mr Whetton was agitated, he fell to his knees pleading with staff not to discharge him. The team were collectively concerned to inform the psychiatrist, but no formal examination was made. The consultant psychiatrist did not see him. As a result of that decision, it was agreed he should be sent on home leave. I find that this was a contributing factor in Mr Whetton's death."

Board Revokes License for Child Psychologist

In a followup to a long and ongoing case, we have this news item:

The State of Ohio has revoked the medical license of local child psychologist. Doctor Leo D'Souza was indicted by a Hamilton County Grand Jury in February on charges of gross sexual imposition and sexual imposition involving his young patients.

Court documents state the psychiatrist repeatedly fondled one boy in at least six office visits. In another case he is accused of examining an eight-year-old for a sexually transmitted disease. The alleged incidents happened at D'Souza's offices in Milford and Westwood.

The Ohio Medical Board examiner found that Doctor D'Souza failed to conform to minimal standard of care.

See also these earlier stories on this case

• Closed Hearings in Psychiatrist Child Molestation Case
• More Information on Psychiatrist under investigation
• Another man sues psychiatrist over sexual molestation

Psychiatrist faces complaints from patients, former business partner. Ethics rulings months away

From the Topeka Capital Journal

The state Board of Healing Arts ended a closed-door session Saturday by delaying action for six months on the latest round of ethics complaints against a Johnson County psychiatrist.

Douglas Geenens, trained at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, opened the hearing by declaring he would withdraw a request that the board terminate a 2004 disciplinary agreement resulting from a finding that he crossed professional boundaries by having a sexual relationship with a one-time patient.

Geenens said he would voluntarily remain under medical observation of another doctor.

"I felt it was reasonable to continue with my psychoanalytically based supervision," he said.

The board met with Geenens in executive session before ordering a formal hearing on a series of pending allegations against him. A former business partner and at least two former patients submitted recent complaints.

Responsibility for the upcoming review would fall to a judge at the state Office of Administrative Hearings, which would be expected to issue a decision by September. If that occurred, the board would place Geenens on its October agenda.

"This would give the board the opportunity to know all the relevant facts," said Mark Stafford, the board's general counsel.

Geenens was among four Kansas-licensed doctors profiled in a series in The Topeka Capital-Journal in March. Each had sparked regulatory challenges for the Board of Healing Arts, which regulates more than 20,000 health professionals in Kansas.

The board has been widely criticized for its slow reaction to allegations of professional misconduct.

In early April, the Kansas House and Senate unanimously approved resolutions calling on the 15-member board to institute personnel changes and other reforms to restore public confidence in the agency. The board's top administrators — Larry Buening, executive director, and Stafford — resigned. Stafford departs June 1 and Buening on July 1.

Debbie Holscher, a Johnson County resident and former patient of Geenens, said she filed a formal complaint last week against the psychiatrist. She said one element of her grievance focused on Geenens' instruction — not heeded — to obtain a divorce and move to the Plaza area of Kansas City, Mo., so that Geenens and Holscher could regularly have breakfast together.

"I think it's very unprofessional," said Holscher, who attended Saturday's board meeting in Topeka. "I think he should lose his license."

Holscher stopped attending counseling sessions with Geenens four years ago, but her complaint mirrors the content of complaints filed by other people who were clients of Geenens.

Andrew Jacobs filed a complaint with the Board of Healing Arts after Geenens began an intimate relationship with Jacobs' wife in 2003. During counseling, Jacobs said, Geenens urged Jacobs' wife to get a divorce. Geenens is now married to the woman.

In the consent order signed by Geenens in 2004, the psychiatrist accepted a one-week suspension of his state license and agreed to supervision of his practice for two years. He was publicly censured and required to attend a course on "maintaining proper boundaries" with patients.

Geenens had requested Saturday's hearing with the board to vacate that consent order.

"We received a letter from Dr. Geenens who asked to withdraw his request," said Betty McBride, the board's president.

Geenens holds a full license to practice medicine in Kansas. In September, he closed his clinical office in Johnson County. Geenens agreed in October to "retire" his medical license in Missouri while regulators in that state looked into allegations of his out-of-bounds associations with women.

He continues to see patients privately and remains on the payroll at Pfizer, the world's largest research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company.

"We can confirm that Dr. Geenens is an employee of Pfizer," said Chris Loder, a company spokesman in New York City. "However, as a matter of company policy, we do not comment on personnel matters."

Psychiatrist investigated for illegal drugs and for giving a false name to police

Report from the BBC

A doctor has denied providing false personal details when he was caught with drugs at a music festival.

Police found 14 ecstasy tablets and small amounts of cannabis resin and amphetamine in Dr Fraser Gibb's car at the event in Dumfries and Galloway.

He told a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing that he initially thought the officers were security staff.

However, the Dumfriesshire doctor said he gave them full and correct personal details. The hearing continues.

Dr Gibb said he was told that if he admitted he had drugs in his possession then they would be confiscated and he could go into the Wickerman Festival in July 2006.

If drugs were found after a search he would be escorted from the premises.

Dr Gibb, 41, kept quiet as officers found the drugs in a black case on the back seat of his silver Hyundai.

Giving evidence, he said he "gradually realised" that he was dealing with police, before the illegal substances were discovered.

Robin Kitching, cross-examining for the GMC, asked: "Why didn't you tell them you had drugs?"

He replied: "I should have said that. I deeply regret it."

Mr Kitching accused him of further deceit by telling the officers his name was Fraser Duncan McKay and his address was The Old Schoolhouse, Steilston, Dumfries, when he had recently moved from there to the neighbouring The Old School.

Dr Gibb, a locum consultant psychiatrist at Crichton Royal Hospital, Dumfries, insisted he gave his full name, Fraser Duncan McKay Gibb.

Personal use

He added: "I gave them the address that all my identifiers were registered to - I told them where I worked.

"I said I was a doctor. I told them things that were likely to get me into trouble."

He was cautioned and later arrested when he admitted to officers the drugs were for his own personal use.

Dr Gibb was convicted at Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court of possessing ecstasy at the event in Dundrennan in July 2006 and was fined £400.

The GMC alleges Dr Gibb's fitness to practise is impaired because of his conviction and alleged misconduct in being misleading and dishonest with the questioning officers.

Growing Scandal - The Money Spent on Psych Drugs for Kids in New Jersey

As seen in this report from Pharmalot

New Jersey’s Medicaid program spent more than $73 million on antipsychotic medications for children less than 18 years old between 2000 and 2007, according to state records, even though the drugs weren’t approved by the FDA for treating kids. And a state official acknowledges the drugs may have been prescribed for conditions other than schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the approved uses. As a result, a state legislator is calling for an investigation and is formulating legislation.

“There are horror stories about these meds and there’s a reason they’re not prescribed for kids,” says New Jersey assemblyman Pat Diegnan, who adds that he plans to draft a bill to change the practice and to hold talks with the New Jersey attorney general’s office, which recently formed a task force to examine interactions between pharma and docs. “The entire issue is frightening and the state should be taking a closer look at this. I’m concerned about the casual prescribing by doctors and the enormous amount of money being spent.”

The disclosure comes amid growing debate over antipsychotics. At issue are fears that children are misdiagnosed; drugs are inadequately studied; some docs presribe the pills too readily, and drugmakers promote the meds improperly. As reported previously, a growing number of states are suing various drugmakers over marketing that led Medicaid programs to pay unnecessarily for the meds.

Florida, for instance, is reviewing whether antipsychotics were prescribed improperly for ADHD. “There are no studies that have shown they (atypicals) are safe, or for that matter, that they are effective for children,” Ronald Brown, a Temple University pediatric psychology professor who headed an American Psychological Association committee that examined the issue, told The St. Petersburg Times last year. “The bottom line is that the use of psychiatric medications far exceeds the evidence of safety and effectiveness.”

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Money Spent on Psych Drugs for Kids in New Jersey

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Product	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Abilify	$0	$0	$0	$309,257	$1,420,414	$3,081,174	$4,984,463	$6,115,322
Geodon	$0	$41,565	$129,088	$212,560	$295,085	$390,794	$437,207	$397,331
Haldol	$6,655	$8,558	$13,311	$18,172	$17,206	$13,764	$8,113	$9,448
Risperdal	$1,954,461	$3,259,323	$4,022,473	$4,885,024	$4,986,423	$5,419,384	$5,797,825	$5,522,290
Seroquel	$150,717	$422,674	$905,333	$1,556,533	$1,882,016	$2,375,059	$2,732,248	$3,011,707
Thorazine	$36,905	$41,403	$36,226	$26,881	$14,458	$14,027	$15,009	$18,100
Zyprexa	$751,867	$1,270,683	$1,504,897	$1,719,372	$1,594,270	$1,282,623	$1,271,629	$1,107,777

Psychiatrist 'let crazed bodybuilder free to kill and dismember two women,' tribunal hears

We often assume the psychiatrists are capable of fulfilling their duties regarding public safety at a basic level, especially regarding real, not imagined threats. It seems that our trust was unwarranted in this case involving the gruesome murder of two young women. Report from This Is London

A schizophrenic killed two women after a senior psychiatrist discharged him from hospital against the advice of other doctors and the man's own family, a medical tribunal heard yesterday.

Dr Eric Birchall, 70, released bodybuilder Mark Corner into the community, telling GPs he posed little risk to the public. But less than a year later 29-year-old Corner - who was a cannabis smoker, had a history of violence and harboured murderous thoughts - killed two prostitutes in separate attacks.

He butchered Hanane Parry, 19, and 25-yearold Pauline Stephen before dumping their body parts in bin bags in a Liverpool alleyway. Other parts were found in his freezer. Both women were so badly mutilated that police were unable to say exactly how they died.

Corner was sentenced to indefinite detention under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Yesterday, a hearing of the General Medical Council in Manchester was told that Corner, who had mental health problems from the age of 12, had been sectioned in 2002 after trying to stab a female neighbour with a kitchen knife.

Corner told one doctor he had an "abnormal interest in girls who died and were dismembered".

Experts concluded he was likely to become dangerous if he went back to using alcohol, cannabis and cocaine. A mental health tribunal ruled that Corner, from Everton, should not be released.

But Dr Birchall agreed to discharge Corner from the Ferndale mental health unit in Liverpool less than a month later, telling his GP the risk to others was low.

Within a fortnight Corner had taken an overdose of paracetamol. He told doctors he had stopped taking medication for his schizophrenia and had begun drinking and smoking cannabis.

Corner's father pleaded with the doctors to readmit his son, but again Corner was discharged.

In the months before the killings he missed two of three outpatient appointments and was seen just once by his GP. He also admitted taking up to 70 Ecstasy tablets a week and hearing voices again.

The panel was told that Corner was arrested in July 2003 and charged with the murder of both prostitutes.

He was convicted of their manslaughter and detained indefinitely in that December.

An inquiry said Dr Birchall had committed "grave errors of judgment" when he discharged Corner. His claim that the risk was "low" was "inaccurate and misleading".

Yesterday, Craig Sephton, for the GMC, told the tribunal: "It is not part of my case to say that Dr Birchall was responsible for those murders but it is our job to find out what happened.

"We suggest that he did not devise an adequate care plan. We say that Dr Birchall did not adjust the care plan to accommodate the new features of the case."

If found guilty of misconduct Dr Birchall, who no longer works for the Mersey Care NHS Trust, could be struck off the medical register and banned from practising.

The tribunal continues.

BBC Talking Head Psychiastrist Tonmoy Sharma Is Banned From Practising In Britain - Did Studies for Eli Lilly

As Reported in the Telegraph

A psychiatrist who regularly appeared as an expert on the BBC has been struck off the medical register after he lied about his academic qualifications and performed unethical drugs tests on mentally ill patients.

Tonmoy Sharma, who was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, has been exposed as a fraud who repeatedly referred to himself as a "professor" when records show that he had never completed a PhD thesis.

Despite this, Sharma, who was registered at the Clinical Neuroscience Research Centre in Dartford, Kent, regularly used the letters PhD after his name and managed to deceive the NHS and some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.

He also appeared on the BBC2 series Mind of a Murderer in 2000 and was often used as an expert commentator on BBC News Online stories.

A General Medical Council panel yesterday found Sharma guilty of "serious failings of personal integrity" after hearing that he recruited mentally ill patients to test drugs without seeking proper approval.

Andrew Popat, chairman of the panel, told Sharma: "Your persistent and wide-ranging dishonesty and untruthfulness, spanning a number of years, together with your lack of insight, is so serious that it is fundamentally incompatible with your continuing to be a registered medical practitioner."

Mr Popat said Sharma, the author of several books on mental illness, had "contributed significantly towards the advancement of medical science" and was highly regarded by his colleagues.

However, after a 10-month hearing, the GMC Fitness to Practise panel found Sharma guilty of serious professional misconduct and struck him off the medical register.

The 42-year-old, who trained in India, was found to have acted unprofessionally in relation to five major studies between 1997 and 2003, involving four leading pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly and the Janssen Research Foundation.

He also misled the companies when he chose to use identical patients in different studies, subjecting them to MRI scans and tests that had not been approved by an ethics committee. In 2003, he recruited mental health patients in unsolicited telephone calls and without consent from their doctors. He then failed to give them proper information about the trials - one schizophrenic was simply handed a leaflet.

His misconduct was first uncovered by the drugs company Sanofi, and a complaint resulting in his temporary suspension was made to the Institute of Psychiatry in 2001, prompting an investigation.

Sharma, who represented himself at the hearing, denied the claims and insisted that he "believed in ethics in medicine".

Psychiatrist loses license due to 'predatory behavior'

We have this report from the Republican American Prospect, out of Waterbury, Connecticut. The bureaucratic speak in the news story just spin talk for "He is suspected of screwing his patients"

Jeremy August, a psychiatrist with a practice in town for 27 years, has lost his license because of what a state board called "predatory behavior and repeated boundary violations" with his patients.

On Feb. 19, the Connecticut Medical Examining Board revoked his license to practice medicine and surgery.

The board's decision came after reviewing allegations that August had been seen hugging and kissing a patient and continued to speak with her on the telephone after she moved to Illinois, according to documents filed by the board in February.

Combined with previous complaints against the psychiatrist dating back to 1999, August's actions established "a pattern of predatory behavior and repeated boundary violations that pose a real and current danger to psychiatric patients," according to a memorandum of the board's decision.

August, who closed his Waterbury Road office after his license was suspended in June, said he plans to challenge the medical examining board's decision, which he says is based on unsubstantiated allegations.

Maryland psychiatrist Anil Sanghera surrendered her license to practice

Maryland psychiatrist Anil Sanghera surrendered her license to practice medicine in November 2007. Sanghera, a member of the Maryland Board of Physicians, consultant to the organization Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD) and the Georgetown University Center for Personal Development, was found guilty by the Board of immoral or unprofessional conduct, among other charges.

Among specific violations cited in the Board's documents was that Dr. Sanghera prescribed to family, friends and one employee without conducting physical examinations, evaluations or follow up care and did not maintain any medical records for some of these individuals. She specialized in the treatment of adult ADD.

Here are some of the documents we have received in this matter.

First we have the complaint that was filed in 2005

Read this doc on Scribd: Anil Sanghera Medical Board Charges 15 September 2008

Then we have the etter from November 2007 where the psychiatrist surrenders their license in order to avoid criminal prosecution by the state of Maryland.

Read this doc on Scribd: Anil Sanghera MD psychiatric board order 11-28-07