Chicago's West Side Hartgrove Psychiatric Hospital focus of widening Justice Department probe

Highlight/Lowlights from this Chicago Tribune article

The Justice Department's criminal probe into Universal Health Services has entered a new and more serious phase, focusing on potential wrongdoing by the corporation as a whole and not just its individual facilities.

Universal, the nation's largest behavioral health firm, had previously disclosed a federal investigation into 18 of its 190 psychiatric centers across the country.

But in late March, the department's Criminal Frauds Section notified the company that "Universal as a corporate entity" is now under scrutiny, according to a regulatory disclosure filed by Universal on Tuesday.

As federal agents examine allegations of fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billing by the corporate office, they have highlighted one facility in particular, the company disclosure said: Hartgrove Hospital on Chicago's West Side.

[...]

The Justice Department began investigating Universal facilities in Illinois in 2008 after the Tribune documented allegations that juvenile state wards and other youths were sexually assaulted at the firm's west suburban Riveredge psychiatric hospital.

The state Department of Children and Family Services in response commissioned the University of Illinois at Chicago's psychiatry department to examine conditions at Riveredge, Hartgrove and other psychiatric facilities that serve Illinois wards.

In a 2010 report, the UIC experts described an environment of chaos, physical attacks and sexual assaults of young patients at Hartgrove, saying the West Side facility was regularly understaffed and over capacity.

Also part of the expanding federal probe is Universal's Rock River Academy, a 59-bed Rockford resident treatment center that promises intensive, round-the-clock care to female state wards who suffered abuse and neglect, as well as disadvantaged girls with mental health problems.

GAO Finds Major Overuse of Antipsychotic Drugs by the Elderly

From the Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

In late 2014 we blogged about the accusations levied against Dr. Michael J. Reinstein about his improper use of antipsychotic drugs prescribed to patients in abundance, as well as taking kickbacks from the drug maker to prescribe it, and making 140,000 or more false billing claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid for those treatments. This activity landed him in both civil and criminal hot water, and in more recent news he pled guilty to criminal charges as well as settled civil claims with the Illinois and federal governments.

The companies accused of providing those kickbacks and receiving Medicare and Medicaid dollars from the business Reinstein generated by prescribing their antipsychotic drugs. Reinstein exemplifies a holdover of a slowly diminishing practice of using antipsychotic medications, which now is viewed more as the easy way out and a method of chemical restraint when there are other methods that could more humanely calm and care for a patient, particularly dementia and Alzheimer’s patients who have historically been the recipients of antipsychotic medications. Nursing homes historically used these especially when they kept low staffing levels and did not have the manpower to aid patients. Yet antipsychotic drugs can create a cycle of drug dependency, and can even lead to death.

Changing Tides?

While the movement to eliminate the use of antipsychotic medications has gained steam in recent years, the federal government reports that elderly Americans have been overusing psychiatric drugs such as clozapine (Dr. Reinstein’s apparent drug of choice), Abilify, and others. Such drugs are meant to calm down and sedate patients that are prone to violence or outbursts, which those suffering from dementia or psychosis may be particularly prone to exhibiting. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report stating that elderly adults who live outside of nursing homes and long-term care facilities overuse antipsychotic drugs which are prescribed to them by doctors, though residents in nursing homes also fell into such dependency and overuse, and efforts to curb over-prescription and overuse must continue there as well.

Notably, according to the report, about 86% of Medicare enrollees who suffer from dementia and live outside of nursing homes are prescribed antipsychotic medications, which is a staggering statistic. It is even more remarkable when considering that only approximately 6% of total Medicare enrollees living outside of nursing homes suffer from dementia. Thus the choice of treatment has predominantly been geared toward chemical intervention. For those in nursing homes, of the elderly dementia patients living in nursing homes for over 100 days in the year 2012, approximately a third of those patients were prescribed antipsychotic drugs (and 14% of those outside of nursing homes during 2012).

Part of the problem, according to the GAO report, is the lack of oversight by the government. Medicare and Medicaid specifically take responsibility for such oversight on behalf of the federal government, and states typically have Medicaid fraud units that look into not only financial fraud related to health care, but also investigate when issues include abuse or misuse of medications (which can result in unnecessary and excessive, and thus fraudulent, payments to providers and pharmaceuticals with federal dollars). Those agencies and offices, as well as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the report notes, should be vital in promoting awareness of the dangers of antipsychotic drugs and reducing that use far more than the government has in the past.

Psychiatrist Settles Pleads Guilty and Settles Civil Claims

As seen on the Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog

Background

A few months ago, an Illinois psychiatrist was suspended indefinitely from practicing because of his alleged abuse of an antipsychotic drug called clozapine. Dr. Michael J. Reinstein prescribed clozapine to more than half of his patients at nursing homes as well as mental health facilities. Clozapine is used to keep patients sedated when they become irritable or violent – many of them suffer from dementia or other ailments, and antipsychotic drugs such as clozapine are used to hold them down. Such drugs can be considered an unacceptable form of chemical restraint that advocates have fought against in recent years in favor of more humane methods that avoid drug dependency.

Constant drug use by patients as prescribed can put them in a stupor and can hasten their mental and/or physical demise. Clozapine adversely affects the immune system by diminishing white blood cells, and can cause heart inflammation, seizures, and problems with the blood, as well as dizziness and lightheadedness. As we profiled earlier in this space, clozapine itself is one of the most dangerous types of antipsychotic medications, and is considered “a risky drug of last resort.” Historically, Dr. Reinstein was alleged to have prescribed more clozapine in a single year (2007) than all medical providers in the large state of Texas combined, and has had patients die in the past while on substantial doses of clozapine.

Charges, Guilty Plea and Settlement

Reinstein was also accused of taking about $350,000 in kickbacks, including gifts (like travel and dinners) from a clozapine manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, which is against the law. Teva already settled with the government over those kickback allegations. The government also sued Reinstein for taking kickbacks to prescribe clozapine, and for submitting possibly more than 140,000 false claims (overbilling) for reimbursement for these treatments from the federally funded programs Medicare and Medicaid. This type of Medicare/Medicaid fraud is prosecuted civilly and criminally under the False Claims Act, and such allegations are very serious. In recent news, Reinstein, already dealing with a suspended license and a civil suit from the government for taking kickbacks and committing medication fraud, has been charged criminally by the United States for taking kickbacks from the clozapine drug maker.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the criminal charges have been brought on a single kickback worth $2,000, but the government was reportedly looking to take back approximately $600,000 worth of “ill-gotten gains stemming from clozapine prescriptions.” Just days ago, Reinstein pled guilty to the federal charge of accepting kickbacks for prescribing clozapine against the Medicare and Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute. His sentencing date is as yet unscheduled, but the please agreement includes a recommendation of 18.5 months behind bars. Along with the guilty plea, Reisnstein settled the civil case with both the Justice Department and the State of Illinois (which later joined the federal government in that suit) for $3.79 million, settling claims that he accepted kickbacks to prescribe clozapine and then submitted an astounding amount of false claims for reimbursement.

Takeaway

This case demonstrates the importance of cracking down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, as well as companies and medical providers engaging in kickback schemes. This is an illegal way to “get rich” at the expense of patients who are not prescribed what they need or do not receive the appropriate treatment because doctors are prescribing medications as part of the kickback scheme. This case also highlights the abuse of federal taxpayer dollars through reimbursement claims. And above all, it puts the spotlight on the abuse of medications for chemical restraints, and how we must continue moving toward alternative methods.

Chicago psychiatrist pleads guilty to taking drug kickbacks

As reported by ABC channel 7 in Chicago

A long-time Chicago psychiatrist pleaded guilty Friday to receiving illegal kickbacks and benefits totaling nearly $600,000 from pharmaceutical companies in exchange for prescribing an anti-psychotic drug to his patients.

Dr. Michael J. Reinstein, 71, of Skokie, has also agreed to pay $3.79 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging that he caused the submission of at least 140,000 false Medicare and Medicaid claims for the thousands of patients he prescribed Clozapine to in nursing homes and other facilities in exchange for kickbacks.

"The defendant put his patients at great risk of serious health problems to benefit his personal interests at taxpayer expense," said Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office handled the civil litigation.

Reinstein's plea agreement calls for the government to recommend a sentence of 18.5 months in prison when he is sentenced.

The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois filed a single felony charge against Dr. Michael Reinstein, a Chicago psychiatrist took kickbacks for prescribing an antipsychotic drug

As reported on ProPublica

Be sure to the original for many extar links related to the story

A former Chicago psychiatrist who was the nation's top prescriber of the most powerful and riskiest antipsychotic drug intends to plead guilty to a federal felony charge of taking kickbacks from its manufacturer in exchange for prescriptions, court records show.

The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois filed a single felony charge against Dr. Michael Reinstein this week for taking $2,000 in November 2009 from drugmaker Teva "in return for Reinstein's referrals of patients" for clozapine prescriptions.

Clozapine, also known as Clozaril and FazaClo, is approved to treat schizophrenia patients who don't respond to other medications. But it can have dangerous side effects, including seizures, inflammation of the heart muscle, and a drop in white blood cells. The drug is considered particularly risky for elderly patients.

A note in court records says that Reinstein intends to plead guilty at his arraignment next Friday. The action was first reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Reinstein's prescribing patterns have been detailed in two ProPublica reports.

In 2009, ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune reported how in one year Reinstein prescribed more of the antipsychotic clozapine to patients in Medicaid's Illinois program than all doctors in the Medicaid programs of Texas, Florida and North Carolina combined. Autopsy and court records showed that at least three patients under Reinstein's care had died of clozapine intoxication. At that time, Reinstein defended his prescription record, arguing that clozapine is effective and underprescribed.

Then, in 2013, as part of a ProPublica investigation into Medicare's failure to monitor problem prescribers, we reported that Reinstein prescribed even more clozapine in Medicare's prescription drug program for seniors and the disabled. Medicare continued to let him prescribe in the program even after the U.S. Department of Justice accused him of fraud and Illinois' Medicaid program suspended payments to him.

The U.S. Attorney's office declined to discuss Reinstein's upcoming plea. Reinstein's attorney, Terence Campbell, did not immediately return a phone call from ProPublica seeking comment. He told the Tribune on Thursday that Reinstein was "working toward resolving the issues raised by the government and hopes to put this episode behind him soon."

The Tribune reached Reinstein, as well, yesterday. He would not discuss the criminal case but denied any payments from Teva, clozapine's manufacturer, were for prescribing the drug. The doctor instead said the money was for lectures he gave.

In November 2012, the federal government filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Reinstein, saying he "received illegal kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies and submitted at least 140,000 false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for antipsychotic medications he prescribed for thousands of mentally ill patients in area nursing homes."

Last August, Illinois medical regulators indefinitely suspended Reinstein's medical license after determining that Reinstein received " illegal direct and indirect remuneration" from the maker of generic clozapine, did not consider alternative treatments for his patients, and disregarded patients' well-being. In response to the medical board's accusations, Reinstein's lawyers invoked his right against self-incrimination.

Early last year, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the maker of generic clozapine, agreed to pay more than $27.6 million to settle state and federal allegations that it induced Reinstein to prescribe the drug.

Reinstein's prescribing of clozapine appears to have declined after our 2009 articles about him. From 2007 to 2009, he wrote an average of 20,000 Medicare prescriptions annually for clozapine and the brand-name version, FazaClo. That figure dropped to about 8,000 in 2012, according to data obtained by ProPublica.

Psychiatrist suspended after allegations of sexual misconduct

As seen in this report from NBC WREX 13 in Rockford, Illinois

WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

Much more info in the video and at the link

A Rockford psychiatrist is immediately suspended after he is accused of inappropriately prescribing medications and being involved in sexual misconduct with several female patients, according to a notice of temporary suspension from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

The notice states Dr. William W. Wood is suspended as allegations against him "constitute an immediate danger to the public."

The notice details accusations that Wood violated boundaries with several female patients at his practice by sending text messages of a personal and sexual nature, kissing, touching, and hugging.

In addition, the notice alleges Wood inappropriately prescribed controlled substances, including Percocet, to at least one patient he was treating for depression, anxiety and panic attacks. The notice states that Wood was aware of that patient's history of prescription medication abuse and he continued to prescribe multiple controlled substances to her, knowing that she was overusing and overdosed on the prescribed controlled substances.

The notice goes on to state that Wood became aware that a local area Walgreens pharmacist refused to refill a prescription for this patient because she was taking too many medications. Wood instructed the patient to go to a different pharmacy.

These allegations are documented from July 2014 to November 2014.

Illinois regulators have disciplined Springfield psychiatrist Dr. Duttala Obula Reddy for alleged sexual misconduct with a female patient.

Springfield (Illinois) psychiatrist suspended for ‘sexually inappropriate’ conduct

A Springfield psychiatrist who took over the care of a female patient victimized by “sexually inappropriate” conduct at the hands of another psychiatrist in the same clinic was disciplined by the state this week for sexual misconduct with the patient.

Officials from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issued a temporary suspension of the license of Dr. Duttala Obula Reddy, a psychiatrist at Psychiatric Associates of Central Illinois, 1124 S. Sixth St.

For the time being, the state's action prevents Reddy from continuing to practice medicine legally. Reddy, a 64-year-old Chatham resident, couldn't be reached for comment, and an office manager at Psychiatric Associates didn't return a phone call from The State Journal-Register.

According to documents from the state, Reddy began providing psychiatric care and treatment to the woman at Psychiatric Associates in 2013 after her previous psychiatrist, Dr. Kripakaran Puvalai, resigned from the clinic in September 2013.

Puvalai, 58, was suspended from the practice of medicine by the state in October 2013 for engaging “in a pattern of sexually inappropriate conduct with multiple female patients of Psychiatric Associates.” Those patients included the patient whose care was taken over by Reddy, state officials said.

Puvalai, whose license remains suspended, was disciplined for flirting with and inappropriately touching several female patients between 2009 and 2013 while he practiced at Psychiatric Associates and worked as a consulting psychiatrist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' outpatient clinic in Springfield.

Puvalai also was punished in the early 2000s by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, during his psychiatry training in Springfield, for a lack of professional conduct and failure to maintain appropriate boundaries with patients.

[...]

This isn't the first time Reddy has been punished for conduct that allegedly crossed professional boundaries.

[...]

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150101/NEWS/150109978/

This is one of those things that just invokes rage

Deadline upcoming in Lawsuit for Investors in Psychiatric Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: PSYS)

As seen on GroundReport.com

The Shareholders Foundation announces that a deadline is coming up on February 2, 2015 in the settlement reached in the securities class action lawsuit filed on behalf of investors who purchased shares of Psychiatric Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: PSYS) between February 21, 2008 to February 25, 2009.

Investors who purchased a significant amount of shares of Psychiatric Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: PSYS) between February 21, 2008 to February 25, 2009, have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 – 1554.

The settlement proof of claim form or detailed settlement notice for the settlement in the Psychiatric Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: PSYS) Investor Securities Class Action Lawsuit can be downloaded at: http://shareholdersfoundation.com/case/psychiatric-solutions-inc-nasdaq-psys-investor-securities-class-action-lawsuit-09212009

In order to submit a claim an investor has to submit the claim proof to the class action claim administrator in a timely manner. The deadline to submit the proof with the class administrator is February 2, 2015. The class action administrator for this case is Gilardi & Co, LLC.

The lawsuit was originally filed in in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against Psychiatric Solutions Inc over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between February 21, 2008 and February 25, 2009.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges that Psychiatric Solutions Inc and certain of its officers and directors violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing between February 21, 2008 and February 25, 2009, materially false and misleading statements concerning Psychiatric Solutions Inc safeguards and controls over its operations, including at its Riveredge Hospital facility.

The plaintiff accuses that the defendants downplayed incidents at Psychiatric Solutions Inc facilities, indicating that the deficiencies had all been resolved and that defendants assured investors that corrective actions had already been taken at its facilities to improve the quality, safety and risk management. The plaintiff claims that as a result of defendants’ false and misleading statements, Psychiatric Solutions Inc stock (NASDAQ: PSYS) traded at artificially inflated prices between February 21, 2008 and February 25, 2009. On July 17, 2008, the Chicago Tribune issued an investigative report which disclosed unreported violence among juvenile patients at Psychiatric Solutions Inc’s Riveredge Hospital facility.

As a result of the Chicago Tribune’s investigation, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services placed a hold on admitting youths in the custody of the state to Riveredge Hospital. As a further result, the Department of Justice initiated an investigation into the facility and its operations, so the lawsuit. Then, on February 25, 2009, Psychiatric Solutions Inc announced the fourth quarter and year-end financial results due. Psychiatric Solutions Inc missed its 2008 income guidance from continuing operations of $2.02 to $2.03 per diluted share, instead reporting $1.92 per diluted share. The guidance miss was based upon the problems at Psychiatric Solutions Inc’s Riveredge Hospital facility, including the effect of the continuing hold at the facility by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, additional charges related to the investigation and an increase in Psychiatric Solutions general and professional liability reserves, so the lawsuit.

Psychiatric Solutions Inc, located in Franklin, TN, is a provider of inpatient behavioral healthcare services in the United States. The Company operates 95 inpatient behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 10,000 beds in 31 states, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. Psychiatric Solutions Inc reported in 2007 Total Revenue of $1.46068 billion with a Net Income of $76.21 million and in 2008 Total Revenue of $1.7659 billion with a Net Income of $107.88 million. Shares of Psychiatric Solutions traded recently at $29.63 per share and were down from a 52 week High of $40.90 per share and almost $42 per share in 2007.

On November 15, 2010 Psychiatric Solutions Inc was acquired by Universal Health Services Inc.

Those who purchased shares of Psychiatric Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: PSYS) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:

Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Michael Daniels
3111 Camino Del Rio North – Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com

Former Veterans Affairs Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Medicare Fraud

As seen in this press Release from the US Department of Justice

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Former Veterans Affairs Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Medicare Fraud

Dr. Mikhail L. Presman, a licensed psychiatrist employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), pleaded guilty today to health care fraud for falsely billing Medicare for home medical treatment to Medicare beneficiaries and agreed to forfeit more than $1.2 million in illegal profits.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch of the Eastern District of New York, and Special Agent in Charge Thomas O’Donnell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.

According to court documents, from Jan. 1, 2006, through May 10, 2013, Presman submitted approximately $4 million in Medicare claims for home treatment of Medicare beneficiaries notwithstanding his full-time, salaried position as a psychiatrist at the VA hospital in Brooklyn. Contrary to his representations, Presman did not provide any treatment to a substantial number of the beneficiaries he claimed to have treated. For example, Presman submitted claims to Medicare for home medical visits at locations within New York City even though he was physically located in China at the time of these purported home visits. Additionally, Presman submitted claims to Medicare for 55 home medical visits to beneficiaries who were hospitalized on the date of the purported visits.

Presman is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser of the Eastern District of New York on Feb. 13, 2014, and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the HHS-OIG, with assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Bryan D. Fields of the Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia E. Notopoulos of the Eastern District of New York.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to:

http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov

High-Prescribing Chicago Psychiatrist Faces Federal Fraud Suit

As Reported by ProPublica

The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois filed a federal fraud lawsuit today against a Chicago psychiatrist profiled by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune in 2009 for his voluminous prescribing of antipsychotic drugs to nursing home patients.

In a news release, the government says that Dr. Michael Reinstein “received illegal kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies and submitted at least 140,000 false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for antipsychotic medications he prescribed for thousands of mentally ill patients in area nursing homes.”

ProPublica and the Tribune reported in 2009 that Reinstein prescribed more of the risky antipsychotic clozapine to patients in Illinois’ Medicaid program in 2007 than all of the doctors in the Medicaid programs of Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

The government accuses Reinstein of billing Medicare and Medicaid for managing his patients’ medications, “knowing that he did not engage in substantive evaluations of his patients’ medical and psychiatric conditions to properly manage their medications,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in its release. “Instead, he allegedly prescribed medications to his patients based on his receipt of kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies.

Prosecutors allege that Reinstein’s prescribing decisions were motivated by money and perks from pharmaceutical companies. He allegedly switched patients from one brand of clozapine to another based on money and other enticements he received from a pharmaceutical maker.

Before August 2003, thegovernment alleged, Reinstein prescribed Clozaril, brand name for clozapine made by Novartis, which paid him to promote the drug.

When the drug went off patent in 1998, the lawsuit says, Reinstein resisted attempts to switch his patients to cheaper, generic versions. But when Novartis stopped paying Reinstein in 2003, the lawsuit says, he switched his patients to a generic version made by IVAX Pharamceuticals.

That company had agreed to pay him a consulting fee, pay his nurse to speak on the drug’s behalf and fund a research study at an affiliated institute, according to the lawsuit.

“While generally only four percent of schizophrenia patients who were prescribed antipsychotics received clozapine, during the time Reinstein was allegedly accepting kickbacks from IVAX, more than 50 percent of his patients were prescribed IVAX’s clozapine,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said in its news release. “At one nursing home, Reinstein had 75 percent of the 400 residents on IVAX’s clozapine.”

Ivax paid other perks to Reinstein and his associates, including airfare, entertainment expenses, a fishing trip, a boat cruise and a golf outing, the lawsuit says.

In 2006, Reinstein began switching to clozapine made by a different company but moved some patients back when he received additional perks and funds, the lawsuit says.

In an interview, federal prosecutor Eric Pruitt would not comment on whether his office would pursue criminal charges against Reinstein or whether any legal action would be taken against the pharmaceutical companies that allegedly paid the physician kickbacks.

A call left at the office of Reinstein’s attorney was not immediately returned.

The 2009 investigation by ProPublica and the Tribune showed that Reinstein’s high prescribing had serious consequences for his patients. Autopsy and court records showed that by 2009 at least three patients under Reinstein’s care had died of clozapine intoxication. One of them, a 50-year-old man, had five times the toxic level of clozapine in his blood when he died, according to his medical records.

Reporters determined that, based on his Medicaid prescribing alone, Reinstein he would have to work 21 hours a day, seven days a week to see each of his patients for 10 minutes. Research has found that the typical U.S. psychiatrist sees about 35 patients per week; Reinstein was seeing 60 each day, he wrote in an audit report in 2007.

In the 2009 investigation, Reinstein strongly defended his reliance on clozapine, saying the medication is underprescribed and is the most effective in its class for schizophrenic patients.

Psychiatrist ordered imprisoned for Medicare fraud

A report from the Belleville News Democrat out of Decatur, Illinois

A Metro East psychiatrist is headed to federal prison for two and a half years for defrauding Medicare of $1.75 million.

Fifty-five-year-old Ajit Trikha (ah-JEET' TREEK'-ah) pleaded guilty last June in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to two counts of health care fraud.

Trikha overbilled Medicare and Medicaid for services that weren't performed, including when he was out of the country. He also billed for group-therapy sessions that far exceeded the 12-person limit set by Medicare and Medicaid.

A federal judge has ordered Trikha to reimburse the government for the money he bilked.

Trikha established his TRX Health Systems in 2000 in Belleville, Illinois.

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.

Northern Illinois University Murders Due to "Chemical Imbalances" from Psychiatric Drugs.

Article by Fred Baughman, Jr. M.D. Neurologist/Child Neurologist, as found on OpEd News. Of course, it is our own opinionthat the Northern Illinois University murders were caused by "chemical imbalances" due to the use of psychiatric drugs.

Regarding the Northern Illinois University shooter, Steven P. Kazmierczak, The New York Times (Benedict Carey, 2/19/08, A20) remarks “…doctors say it is almost impossible to tell whether the spasms of violence stem in part from the drug reactions or the underlying illnesses.”

A girlfriend said Kazmierczac, took Prozac to battle anxiety and compulsive behavior. While psychiatry (psychology too) and the pharmaceutical industry want anxiety, depression, elation impulsiveness, poor conduct, trouble with math, reading, writing, etc., portrayed as brain abnormalities/diseases/disorders/syndromes, so as to be able to portray their drugs as “medications” and “treatments” there is no such thing as an demonstrable physical abnormality/disease in all of psychiatry.

Diseases of the brain, MS, ALS—Lou Gehrig’s disease, stroke, meningitis, etc., are the province of neurology, my specialty. This was assured in 1948 when the two specialties were formally split with “neuropsychiatry” becoming the separate, new specialties, “psychiatry” and “neurology.” This means that the drugs/exogenous chemicals invariably prescribed by psychiatrists (and throughout mental health, by all sorts of doctors) are toxins/poisons, the first and only demonstrable abnormality/disease that they have.

But today, patients are invariably lied to—told, for purposes of informed consent, that they have an illness/sickness/chemical imbalance. This gains their consent. Whether it is true, honest, informed consent or not the psychiatry-pharmaceutical cartel doesn’t care. There is little doubt that without the “chemical imbalance” lie the epidemic psychiatric drug poisoning would be a small fraction of what it is today.

At a 1970 Congressional hearing on the drugging of school children, that at which hyperactivity was first called a brain disease, Dr John D. Griffith, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, testified: “I would like to point out that every drug, however innocuous, has some degree of toxicity. A drug, therefore, is a type of poison and its poisonous qualities must be carefully weighed against its therapeutic usefulness.”

Such a scientific, honest weighing of the risks vs. the benefits of psychiatric medications is virtually never carried out today because the psychiatric diagnosis, never a “chemical imbalance”/disease, is always portrayed as one, always needing, even requiring “treatment” with a “chemical balancer”—pill.

Think for a moment of the tens of thousands of children court-ordered to take psychiatric drugs for diagnoses such as ADHD, conduct and oppositonal-defiant disorders, lest their parents, without trial, be pronounced “medically negligent” and threatened with the loss of custody of the child—their child. Their child who’s emotional life they are no longer allowed to direct. This is what we have come to in the USA!

As in the University of Northern Illinois case, almost all of the grade school, high school, and college shooters have been psychiatric patients with psychiatric “diseases” (not real diseases) on psychiatric drugs (real exogenous chemical compounds, real brain- and body-altering poisons, real diseases). Nor is the issue of whether they still have the poison in their system or not critical. All psychiatric drugs damage the previously normal brain and body.

This is how they alter the subjective symptoms for which they are “treatment.” Even if stopped they have damaged and thus altered the previously normal individual. Eric Harris, one of the two Columbine shooters had been on Zoloft, also Prozac-like. There is no such thing as the “chemical imbalance” portrayed in the Zoloft ad. There is no such thing as the balancing of that “chemical imbalance” as portrayed in the Zoloft ad. And yet the FDA, as much a part of the pharmaceutical industry as psychiatry, lets them tell us these lies. Harris was denied enlistment in the armed forces. They knew something the public did not.

Health care providers in Sweden are now required to report all suicides committed up to four weeks after their last health care visit. 367 suicides were thus-reported for the year 2006. More than 80 percent of persons committing suicide had been “treated” with psychiatric drugs. In over 50 percent of cases the persons were on antidepressants, most of them Prozac-like, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). More than 60 cases had been on antipsychotic/neuroleptic. This information had been concealed by psychiatric officials at Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare. Does this not blow the myths of antidepressants and neuroleptics as suicide-preventive drugs to pieces?

What’s more: these drugs—SSRIs and neuroleptic/antipsychotics alike, are being given to infants toddlers and children in the US, and are being pushed hard by the psychiatry-pharmaceutical cartel around the world. Think of it: over 80 percent of persons killing themselves on treatment with psychiatric drugs.

A certain number of persons killing themselves can be expected to be suffering from drug induced akathisia – an extreme inner restlessness, a feeling of having to creep out of ones skin, a completely unbearable condition. It is created by the psychiatric drugs, not by any “underlying disease”—there is no such thing as an actual disease in psychiatry, at least, not before the “treatment” poisoning—the first and only disease. (thanks to Janne Larsson, investigative journalist, Sweden).

In December, 1994, Professor David Healy interviewed Jonathan Cole , Director of Psychopharmacology Research at the National Institute of Mental Health. Healy asked: “What about a group of patients who may get worse on it Prozac?

Cole responded: Yes. I’m one of the authors of the suicide paper. Yes, I have seen people, at least a handful, that clearly got more agitated and got weird thoughts and suicidal drive. Tony Rothschild…found three people who had jumped off something while on fluoxetine, who didn’t kill themselves, and agreed to take it again. He re-created the same desperate driven quality with fluoxetine (Prozac).

Cole: One patient…was so distressed by a thought telling her to kill herself over and over again, …I told her to take some Ativan and go to sleep and she did and within 36 hours it had passed. At the end of it she said ‘gee, I’ve been depressed for 21 years, and suicidal a lot but that was ridiculous.’ Lilly (manufacturer of Prozac) doesn’t believe it…Plus about 1-2% of the people on fluoxetine…called up and said I’ve got suicidal ideas that I haven’t had before and another 1-2% phoned up and said I’ve got crazy ideas that I hadn’t had before.

Today in the US we have been so taken in by the “chemical imbalance”/ “chemical balancer” lie of the psycho-pharm cartel that 20% of school children are on one or more psychiatric drug, 60-70% of children in foster care (who cannot defend themselves ) and a like number of those in juvenile and adult penal institutions.

At the same time we have organized psychiatry asking us to believe that half of all of us in the US will one day be afflicted with a “serious mental disorder” (read chemical imbalance) and that, of course we will need one or more “chemical balancers”/drugs.

[...]

When normal people are lied to, told they have a "disease" to make "patients" of them, their right to informed consent has been abrogated and they no longer live in a democracy. When, pursuant to that lie, they are drugged, we have not "treatment" but poisoning. This is the greatest health care fraud in modern medical history.

Illinois gunman 'stopped his medication'

The Furious Seasons weblog has, as usual, some excellent commentary

As noted in the Telegram, and elsewhere.

Officials have said that the man who killed five students and injured many more before turning the gun on himself at Northern Illinois University had become erratic in the past two weeks after stopping his medication.

Campus police chief Donald Grady said that the motive of 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak motive was not known and that there were no indications that he had a relationship with any of his victims.

[...]

Mr Grady refused to name the medication Kazmierczak had been taking, but said that he was "a fairly normal, undistressed person".

"There were no red flags," he said. "He was an outstanding student".

ABC News has this information:

Though Kazmierczak seemed friendly and normal, he had a troubled past. After high school, Kazmierczak's parents sent him to Thresholds-Mary Hill House, a psychiatric treatment center for teens, where he lived for a year while getting therapy and medication for what was described as "unruly" behavior.

Louise Gbadamashi, a former employee at the Chicago treatment center, told the Associated Press that he used to cut himself, and had resisted taking his medications. "He never wanted to identify with being mentally ill," she said. "That was part of the problem."

Apparently in recent weeks Kazmierczak's problems were re-emerging. "We have spoke to people who are close to him and apparently he had been taking medication. He had stopped taking those medications and had become somewhat erratic in the last couple of weeks," said NIU Police Chief, Donald Grady.

The chief declined to specify the type of medication the gunman was on.

We wonder why the medications the gunman was on were not identified. It seems like there may have been a PR push to get the release of this information delayed as a general policy, so that that the drugs in questions would not be so strongly tied to the killing. We need to know which drugs are responsible for these deaths.

We note the history involving a psychiatric treatment for "troubled teens". These have been controversial in the past, especially those which are best labeled Psychiatric Boot Camps for Breaking Minds and Spirits, as noted in our earlier stories:

• Lawsuits Against Child Abuse in Utah Based Troubled Teen Homes
• Congress Holds First Hearing on Abuse in Unregulated 'Troubled Teen' Industry, Exposing Quackery and Torture Across America
• Child Abuse for Profit
• Utah wilderness therapy deaths

The Thresholds Mary Hill House does not seem to be in this class of facility, but there is precious little information available online about it. There have been recent scandals at other Illinois facilities.

The Thresholds chain of psychiatric facilities are oldest and largest of their type in Illinois. We are sure they will be getting many questions from investigators and reporters.

We also note the following items located at the SSRI STORIES website documenting the connection of Psychiatric Drugs such as antidepressants and other SSRIs to school shootings, among other things.

Sadly, we expect this this will be a similar case. Between the possible combination of the two factors, this could be revealed as an especially grim case.

School Shooting	Anafranil Antidepressant	May 20, 1988	Illinois	**29 Year Old WOMAN Kills One Child: Wounds Five: Kills Self
School Shooting	Prozac Antidepressant	January 30, 1992	Michigan	**School Teacher Shoots Kills His Superintendent at School
School Shooting	Antidepressants	September 20, 1992	Texas	**Man, Angry Over Daughter's Report Card, Shoots 14 Rounds inside Elementary School
School Shooting	Zoloft Antidepressant	October 12, 1995	South Carolina	**15 Year Old Shoots Two Teachers, Killing One: Then Kills Himself
School Stand-Off	Zoloft Antidepressant	April 13, 1998	Idaho	**14 Year Old in School Holds Police At Bay: Fires Shots
School Shooting	Prozac Antidepressant Withdrawal	May 21, 1998	Oregon	**Four Dead: Twenty Injured
School Shooting Threat	Antidepressant	April 16, 1999	Idaho	**Teen Fires Gun in School
School Shooting	Luvox/Zoloft Antidepressants	April 20, 1999	Colorado	**COLUMBINE: 15 Dead: 24 Wounded
School Threats	Prozac	October 19, 1999	Florida	16 Year Old Threatens Classmates With Knife Fake Explosives
School Shooting	Paxil Antidepressant	March 10, 2001	Pennsylvania	**14 Year Old GIRL Shoots Wounds Classmate at Catholic School
School Shooting	Celexa Effexor Antidepressant	April 19, 2001	California	**Teen Shoots at Classmates in School
School Shooting	Antidepressant?	January 17, 2002	Virginia	**Possible SSRI Withdrawal Mania: 3 Dead at Law School
School Shooting Threat	Antidepressant	May 31, 2003	Michigan	**Teen Threatens School Shooting: Charge is Terrorism
School Shooting	Paxil Antidepressant	February 9, 2004	New York	**Student Shoots Teacher in Leg at School
School Shooting Threat	Med for Depression*	October 19, 2004	New Jersey	**Over-Medicated Teen Brings Loaded Handguns to School
School Violence	Antidepressants	February 9, 2005	Pennsylvania	**Teen Uses Knife to Attack Fellow Classmate
School Shooting	Prozac Antidepressant	March 24, 2005	Minnesota	**10 Dead: 7 Wounded: Dosage Increased One Week before Rampage
School/Assault	Zoloft Antidepressant	February 15, 2006	Tennessee	**Teen Attacks Teacher at School
School Shooting	Celexa Antidepressant	August 30, 2006	North Carolina	**Teen Shoots at Two Students: Kills his Father: Celexa Found Among his Personal Effects
School Shooting	Med for Depression?	September 19, 2006	Canada	**Young Man Kills 1 Self : Injures 19: Being Teated for Depression
School Shooting	Antidepressant	September 30, 2006	Colorado	**Man Assaults Girls: Kills One Self
School Shooting	Antidepressant?	April 18, 2007	Virginia	**Possible SSRI Use: 33 Dead at Virginia Tech
School Threat	Antidepressants	April 23, 2007	Mississippi	**College Student Arrested for Making School Threat Over Internet
School Threat	Wellbutrin Antidepressant	April 24, 2007	Tennessee	**Young Boy, 12, Threatens to Shoot Others at School
School Suspension	Lexapro	July 28, 2007	Arkansas	Student Has 11 Incidents with Police During his 16 Months on Lexapro
School Shooting	Antidepressant Withdrawal?	October 12, 2007	Ohio	**14 Year Old School Shooter Possibly on Antidepressants or In Withdrawal
School Shooting	Antidepressants	November 7, 2007	Finland	**Student Shoots 8: Wounds 10: Kills Self: High School in Finland
School Shooting	Medication Withdrawal	February 15, 2008	Illinois	** 6 Dead: 15 Wounded: Perpetrator Was in Withdrawal from Med Acting Erratically

Psychologists Shot Down Nine Times in 2007

Seen in this report

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

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

What’s at stake here?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Psychiatrist faces four counts of practicing despite having his license revoked

From ABC7 in Chicago

DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett announced Wednesday that Yong Soo Ha, 67, of Oakbrook Terrace, has been charged with four counts of violating the Illinois Medical Practice Act, a felony.

Ha could face up to three years in prison.

The charges stem from allegations that despite having his medical license revoked in April 2006 by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, Ha continued to practice psychiatry, treat patients and prescribe medication through April 2007, according to the State's Attorney's Office.

"If these allegations are proven to be true, not only did Mr. Ha break the law, he represented himself to his clients as someone who could help them when, in fact, he was in no position to help them at all," said Birkett in a statement.

On August 7, a warrant was issued for Ha's arrest. He was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at his home without incident.

Ha appeared in bond court Wednesday morning in front of Judge Brian Diamond. His bail is set at $100,000.

Other sources say that regulators revoked his medical license in April 2006

[...] after failure to answer allegations that he committed dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct; immoral conduct; and gross negligence in his psychiatric care and treatment of a patient.

State rips nursing home - Violations at East Peoria facility lead to a $100,000 fine

The hell of a mental health facility combined with a nursing home. An investigative report by the Chicago Tribune

A troubled East Peoria nursing home and state health officials are gearing for battle after authorities fined the home $100,000 -- one of the largest such fines ever -- for neglect and faulty care of mentally ill and elderly patients.

In a report obtained by the Tribune, state health officials detailed violations at East Peoria Gardens Healthcare Center that are unusual in scope and severity, according to state officials and watchdog groups.

After a police raid in April, the state report provides additional evidence to support claims that mentally ill patients were sometimes out of control and tormented elderly residents, a pattern that developed after the facility began accelerating the admission of younger, more volatile psychiatric patients in August.

In the 1990s, the state relaxed rules on nursing homes, allowing psychiatric and geriatric patients to live side by side. After a disturbing series of incidents involving abuse of the older patients, including dozens of injuries and deaths reported to the state, new rules were created in 2000 governing the way those two patient populations are monitored.

But among nearly 4,500 detailed investigation reports compiled each year, officials say the situation at East Peoria this spring was one of the worst they have seen.

The Illinois Department of Public Health cited the facility for poor or no staff training, ignoring numerous falls of patients, failing to check patients for criminal backgrounds and providing no appropriate service to mentally ill residents, according to the report dated June 26, which was made in response to two dozen separate complaints.

"The facility failed to provide services necessary to avoid physical harm, mental anguish or mental illness," the report reads.

A police dragnet at the home in April led to the arrests of three patients and two employees on outstanding criminal warrants.

East Peoria Gardens plans to contest the fines and charges at a state hearing, a date for which has yet to be determined.

"Not only are we now operating in compliance, we categorically deny each and every charge -- including the fine -- presented by the state," said Meyer Magence, attorney for the home. "We are going to fight every one of them."

Authorities say the facility, which has about 100 residents, has improved procedures and conditions since the April raid.

The 50-page report paints a picture of a period in which communication was poor, mental patients did not receive proper medical and psychiatric care, and elderly patients were left to deteriorate.

"The breadth of the violations is extraordinary," said Wendy Meltzer, executive director of the watchdog monitor Illinois Citizens for Better Care. "It's really unusual to see this many violations affecting so many people. It's not something you see, fortunately, often."

Among the allegations in the report:

• Staff failed to try to revive a heart patient who fell and injured his head because they believed he was a hospice patient. He died soon after.
  
  
• Staff failed to properly diagnosis and monitor a 54-year-old patient who developed gangrene in his left toe.
  
  
• A 72-year-old mentally ill resident choked and died after eating a doughnut. A speech therapist had warned against giving the man difficult to swallow food but staff said they knew of no such order.
  
  
• An 81-year-old woman at the facility fell 10 times without staff putting in place precautions and a prevention plan. She died of complications from a fall.
  
  
• The facility did not have any treatment programs in place for 11 of 51 residents identified as "seriously mentally ill." With limited proper supervision in place, the safety of elderly residents was threatened when some psychiatric patients became agitated.
  
  
• The facility added more than 40 mentally ill patients from August 2006 to January and had no effective administration or adequately trained staff in place for the change.
  
  
• Seven patients were admitted with criminal records. The facility was unable to produce records showing it had notified the state as required.
  
  
• The facility failed to do background checks on 15 of the 19 residents with criminal records.

Magence declined to respond to the charges individually but called them "inaccurate."

State officials are not the only ones threatening the nursing home.

Medicaid and Medicare withheld five days of reimbursements for 66 eligible patients who were at the home in April, according to federal and state officials. Magence said he plans to contest that action.

A relative of Betty Saal, the 81-year-old woman who died after falling, is suing the facility.

The Tazewell County coroner also said he plans to soon convene an inquest into Saal's death to decide whether to file homicide charges.

"We don't know if she was pushed or fell down," said Coroner Dennis Conover. "We do know this was a nursing home gone wrong and that neglect led to her death."

The state also cites neglect in the case of 72-year-old Donald Utech, who died in April after eating breakfast. According to a preliminary autopsy, Utech died of choking. A Peoria County coroner's inquest concluded last week that the death was accidental.

But there is still conflicting testimony in Utech's case; home staffers say no food was in the man's mouth, while paramedics said food was trapped in his airway. The coroner's finding does not address the issue of neglect, according to Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll, who has jurisdiction because Utech was taken to a hospital in her county.

Officials from the Department of Public Health have called three other deaths in the last two years suspicious, but Magence said the facility bears no responsibility in any deaths.

"Absolutely none," he said.

Last month's $100,000 citation and report mark the second time the facility has faced stiff fines and sanctions.

In 2005, the facility was fined $20,000 by the state and faced weekly monitoring after two residents died following choking incidents.

The facility is again being monitored, this time twice a week, state officials said.

"The question is why was this allowed to go on for months unchecked?" asked Steven Levin, a Chicago personal injury attorney representing Saal's relative in a civil suit.

Illinois judge approves $64,000,000 settlement over drug Paxil

Via Forbes online

Parents who bought the antidepressant Paxil for their children can begin seeking reimbursements under a $64 million class-action deal settling claims that the drug's maker misled consumers about the medication's safety.

Under the deal, announced in April and granted final approval last week by a judge in Madison County, Ill., parents with proof that they bought GlaxoSmithKline (nyse: GSK - news - people ) PLC's Paxil and Paxil CR, a controlled-release version of the drug, can recoup out-of-pocket expenses.

Parents who no longer have pharmacy records or receipts can get up to $100 refunded by signing a claim form that carries penalties for lying.

In settling the 2004 lawsuit, Britain-based GlaxoSmithKline denies claims it promoted the drug to children while withholding information about negative side effects, including increased suicidal behavior.

"We believe we were responsible and admitted no wrongdoing," Mary Anne Rhyne, a U.S. spokeswoman for the company, said Thursday. "This case was settled to bring closure."

Plaintiffs' attorneys can claim more than $16 million in fees, which will be deducted from the settlement fund, with the remaining money available for payments to consumers.

The settlement does not require GlaxoSmithKline to notify those who may be eligible for reimbursement. Any money left over in the settlement fund is to be returned to the company.

Anyone with a personal injury claim, including the parents of teenagers who killed themselves while taking Paxil, still can sue GlaxoSmithKline, as can insurers and governmental agencies who actually paid the bulk of the money.

In a letter to doctors last year, GlaxoSmithKline and the Food and Drug Administration warned that clinical trial data on nearly 15,000 patients revealed a higher frequency of suicidal behavior in young adults treated with Paxil. The FDA reported 11 suicide attempts - none of which resulted in death - among patients given Paxil in the trials. Just one of the patients who took a placebo attempted suicide.

Given that small number, the FDA said the results "should be interpreted with caution." The trial patients suffered from psychiatric disorders, including major depression.

Rockford Psychiatrist In Trouble For Filing False Tax Returns

From WIFR in Illinois

A Rockford psychiatrist is in big trouble with the federal government tonight, he's accused of filing false tax returns.

Imad Al-Basha allegedly under reported his income by more than 1.7 million dollars from 2000 to 2003.

Al Basha will be arraigned in Rockford on Tuesday. If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail and 250 thousand dollar in fines for each of the 8 counts against him.

UPDATE: Psychiatrist charged with not reporting millions in income - An additional story with many more details

A Rockford psychiatrist who also operated a dermatology business with his wife has been charged by a federal grand jury with allegedly filing false tax returns to the tune of more than $3 million.

Dr. Imad Al-Basha faces the possibility of at least one year in prison, a $250,000 fine and paying restitution if he is found guilty of the charges.

In announcing the indictment Tuesday, the U.S. attorney’s office said Al-Basha acted as vice president of Edgebrook Dermatology, which is owned by his wife, Maria, and filed tax returns that underreported the business’s earnings for four years beginning in 2000. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Verseman said Al-Basha’s wife, Maria, who is the owner of the dermatology office, has not been charged.

“I can’t really comment on the reasons why, just that she was not charged,” Verseman said.

Specifically, the indictment alleges that Al-Basha reported that Edgebrook’s income was:

• $106,014 in 2000 when it was “more than $500,000.”
  
  
• $73,314 in 2001 when it was “more than $600,000.”
  
  
• $71,680 in 2002 when it was “more than $600,000.”
  
  
• $47,854 in 2003 when it was “more than $500,000.”

In total, the indictment alleges that Al-Basha under-reported personal income tax returns of $1.5 million and business tax returns of $1.7 million.

According to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, Al-Basha’s license was suspended once in 1998 for billing a patient for services that were not rendered.

Department spokeswoman Sue Hofer said Al-Basha paid a $1,000 fine and no further action was taken by the department.

A receptionist at Al-Basha’s office said the doctor was not available Wednesday to comment.

Verseman said Al-Basha was not arrested but has been notified that he is to appear for an arraignment at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in federal court.

3rd time is charm for psychiatrist and girlfriend

From the Gillete News Record

Lyndon Steinhaus and Darcy Bogenrief were able to dodge fate once. They were even able to do it a second time.

But three times turned out to be pushing their luck too far.

That's how many times law enforcement caught up with the on-the-run former Campbell County Memorial Hospital psychiatrist and his live-in girlfriend before the couple was held for good.

Steinhaus and Bogenrief, 46 and 41 respectively, were originally arrested in November after they allegedly tried to use the identity of Steinhaus' ex-wife to order jewelry, pay off overdue debt and make bank transfers. The couple made an initial appearance in Circuit Court in December on charges of identity theft and conspiracy to commit identity theft and were released on bond.

Soon afterward, deputies tried to serve Steinhaus with an eviction notice for the hospital-leased apartment he and Bogenrief had been living in, hospital lawyer Tom Lubnau said Thursday at a Circuit Court eviction hearing.

Bogenrief, an Illinois lawyer, had asked for permission to spend Christmas in Mound City, S.D., but neither she nor Steinhaus were where they said they'd be.

Several days before Christmas, deputies tracked Steinhaus down at a Belle Fourche, S.D., motel room, Lubnau said. However, the psychiatrist skipped town before they were able to serve him with the eviction notice.

“Mr. Steinhaus was on the lam and in violation of his bond at that point,” Lubnau noted at Thursday's hearing.

The couple popped up again Dec. 23 when they tried to cross the Canadian border near Shelby, Mont., Lubnau said. Canadian authorities noticed that Bogenrief was drunk, searched the couple's car and found the Campbell County bond papers.

The Canadians detained the couple and notified Shelby and Campbell County authorities, at which point Bogenrief was also arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, Lubnau said.

Steinhaus was released on bond, he said. However, Campbell County faxed Shelby a new warrant against Steinhaus for prescription drug fraud, and they rearrested him and then released him on a $10,000 bond.

Steinhaus was scheduled to appear for a hearing to determine whether to extradite him back to Wyoming, Lubnau said. But he never showed at the hearing.

Brownsville, Tenn., police came across the couple Thursday for the third - and final - time. Officers stopped the couple on suspicion of reckless driving, and their names popped up on a national crime database, said Brownsville Assistant Chief Johnny Blackburn. The couple has waived extradition back to Wyoming, he said.

Campbell County Investigator Duane Peyrot said Bogenrief and Steinhaus are now being held on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

Meanwhile, Steinhaus is facing added drug charges locally, with the possibility of federal drug charges.

The state Pharmacy Board's records show that Steinhaus wrote about two dozen separate prescriptions to Bogenrief between May 18 and Nov. 27. The prescriptions were for methylin and methylphenidate hydrochloride, which are generics for the attention deficit disorder drug Ritalin.

In all, Steinhaus allegedly issued about 3,000 tablets, or about 64,800 milligrams of the drugs, according to court documents. If Bogenrief had taken the maximum recommended dosage every one of the 193 days between May 18 and Nov. 27, that would have totaled only 11,580 milligrams.

Steinhaus is now charged with 27 counts of unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance.

Peyrot and Lubnau said investigators also were told about a package of prescription drugs that was mailed to Steinhaus' workspace from Pakistan. Hospital staff notified Campbell County investigators about the package soon after.

Peyrot did not want to comment on the details of that case because it is international in nature and could eventually be turned over to another agency.

Magistrate Kenneth DeCock agreed at Thursday's hearing that deputies and the hospital could go ahead and kick Steinhaus out of the hospital-leased apartment.

Hospital Interim CEO Andy Fitzgerald said the hospital fired Steinhaus in November but gave him until Dec. 15 to move out. When they checked the apartment after his arrest, though, they found the “significant damage to every room in the house, including the furniture.”

“I just, assumed, being a medical doctor, a psychiatrist, that he would clearly move out when he indicated he would,” Fitzgerald said.