Widow sues Prairie St. John's Mental Hospital for husband's death by suicide

As reported on the InForum Website

A Fargo widow is suing the mental health hospital here where her husband’s body was discovered after he hanged himself hours after being admitted in April, alleging the hospital was negligent in failing to monitor him.

Jennifer Waagen filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Cass County District Court against Prairie St. John’s Psychiatric Hospital.

Scott Waagen used a bed sheet fastened over the top of the bathroom door to try to hang himself. He was found by a psychiatric technician April 26 and died a week later at Sanford Medical Center.

He left behind his wife and three young daughters, all under 8 years old.

Jennifer Waagen’s lawsuit states her husband was admitted to Prairie St. John’s about 13 hours earlier for continuous surveillance after being diagnosed with a brief psychotic disorder.

The lawsuit accuses Prairie St. John’s of being negligent in failing to document and complete accurate assessments of Scott Waagen, and for failing to watch him and prevent his death by hanging.

Lawyers for Prairie St. John’s filed a response to the lawsuit stating no one at the facility was negligent in caring for Waagen, and that his suicide attempt was not reasonably foreseeable.

Instead, as a suicide victim, Waagen’s death was his own fault, the answer states.

Both sides have explored alternative dispute resolution, according to court documents filed with the case.

Jennifer Waagen is asking for at least $50,000 in economic and non-economic damages.

Another case where the shrinks screwed up, and then blame the patient.

The Decline of Psychiatry, Part 5

As seen in a comment by a reader made earlier on this blog:

Psychiatry residency programs now are happy if they get 55% U.S. medical school graduates, that's an increase over what it has been.

What do you call the U.S. medical school graduate who places last in his class? A psychiatry resident.

We have this news report on shortages of psychiatrists in Minnesota. Seems people are not signing up for the field. of course, we have to supply some snippets from the report as seen in The Daily News (of the Wahpeton, ND - Breckenridge, MN area).

A shortage of psychiatrists in Minnesota has caused a strain on current workers and left cities struggling to replace them. Some reasons behind the shortage include low pay in comparison to other jobs in the field and public stigma of the position. In 2004, a Minnesota Public Radio report revealed the state had one psychiatrist for every 10,000 people.

There is little evidence the problem will cease, especially in rural areas. Stefan Gildemeister, assistant director of the health economics bureau at the Minnesota Department of Health, said present calculations for the state are the same.

"A recent study we did, which looked at surveys in greater Minnesota, showed the vacancy rate for psychiatrists was higher than for any other specialty," he said. Breckenridge faces its own significant ratio. A maximum of 136 psychiatric patients walk through the doors of the Hope Unit at St. Francis Healthcare Campus per week, but there is only one psychiatrist to help them. "Many people who attend medical school do not plan on going into psychiatry," said Nancy Torson, MD, at the Hope Unit. "Historically, it has been difficult for programs to fill residency slots, and often they can't fill them."

[...] As psychiatry is one of the lower paying jobs in the field, Torson said "the patient population doesn't appeal to many med students."

[...]

Let's see, could there be lower esteem in the eyes of the public? Would all those news stories about shaky and suspect practitioners have anything to do with this? It sounds like you really have to want to be a psychiatrist to become a psychiatrist.

State board bans psychiatrist from prescribing meds to children

From a Report in the Grand Forks Herald

Dr. Thomas Peterson, a Grand Forks psychiatrist who is CEO and medical director of the Richard P. Stadter Center, cannot prescribe psychotropic medications to children after the North Dakota State Board of Medical Examiners found he overprescribed doses to two children younger than 12.

“Peterson was found to have prescribed excessive amounts of atypical antipsychotic medications to two children under his care,” according to Duane Houdek, executive secretary for the state board. The stipulation to Peterson’s license was made during the board’s regular meeting Friday in Bismarck.

These atypical antipsychotic medications include Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon and Seroquel.

[...]

The board found, and Peterson agreed, that he’d prescribed to one child “such an excessive amount of atypical antipsychotic medications (that) are beyond the acceptable standards of prescriptive practice for a child in this age group.” For the other child, the board found he prescribed a “particular combination of medications” that was “injudicious and an excessive use of atypical antipsychotics.”

Specific information, such as who filed the complaints, is not publicly available. Both complaints are from incidents that occurred in 2006, but Houdek declined to say when the complaints were filed with the board. “We act on them as soon as we get them,” he said.

On Tuesday, Houdek provided the Herald with a copy of an amended complaint filed Jan. 25 detailing specific medications and dosages each child was prescribed. The complaint asked for Peterson’s license to be revoked, but the parties reached an agreement Feb. 19 to place the restriction on Peterson’s license until he can show he attended the class on how to dose children.

Houdek said the board “didn’t have information of immediate harm” to the two children, identified in the complaint only as Patient A and Patient B.

Details, According to the complaint:

Patient A — whose birth date is redacted from the complaint, but who officials say is younger than 12 — was admitted to the Stadter Center under Peterson’s care and diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder. The child had “suicidal threats, physical aggression toward his mom and trouble sleeping at night,” and medication sheets indicated the child’s diagnosis as nonspecific depression.

“During (Patient A’s) hospitalization, he continued to struggle with aggression and other behavior issues, but at no time was there any documentation of psychotic symptoms, hallucinations, delusions, paranoia or any other symptoms suggestive of manic spells.”

But the child was prescribed antipsychotics, including Seroquel, Risperdal and Zyprexa.

Patient A continued to take the medications during hospitalization and when discharged from the center.

Patient B, whose age also was redacted from the complaint, was admitted to the Stadter Center under Peterson’s care after “exhibit(ing) agitation, aggression and behavior issues at home and in the school setting.”

This child was diagnosed with “bipolar disorder, mixed, severe, pervasive developmental disorder and borderline intellectual functioning.”

The child already was taking two atypical antipsychotic medications and two mood stabilizers when admitted to the center for care. The child’s mother “called and complained to (Peterson) about (Patient B) being on too many medications, and on one occasion, even requested a transfer to a different facility.”

The child was discharged “on a high dose of Depakote” which equaled “1,375 milligrams, higher than commonly used for a 5 year old (sic)” and two separate prescriptions of Geodon (an antipsychotic medication). Peterson “in effect, sent (Patient B) home with two atypical antipsychotic medications, which is injudicious and an excessive use” of them, according to the complaint.

Peterson and the board agreed that his authority to prescribe these medications to children would be suspended at the end of February, according to the complaint. The board didn’t act on the agreement until Friday.

Peterson “looks forward to appearing before the board at a special telephone hearing on his petition to satisfy the board that he has complied with the agreement,” according to Schreiner.

The board hadn’t received a copy of the petition for review Tuesday afternoon, so it was hard to say when a special hearing would be scheduled, Houdek said.

Disciplined before

Peterson has been disciplined by the board before, Houdek said.

He received a “letter of censure” from the board after the 1997 flood “because he had put out an ad that implied the offices of other psychiatrists were closed,” Houdek said.

Once a review is complete, and if the board reinstates Peterson’s license with no restrictions, Peterson’s license will remain on probation for three years.

Peterson has been licensed to practice in North Dakota since 1991, according to Houdek.

Psychiatrist Pleads 'No Contest' to Charges of Sexual Misconduct. Was Medical Director of Local Hospital.

From a report in North Dakota

A Yankton doctor has been found guilty of having sex with a patient.

Dwight F. King was charged last spring with 15 counts of sexual penetration by a psychotherapist.

Authorities say two patients were involved.

As part of a plea agreement, King plead no contest to one count of having sex with a patient at his home in May of 2005. A plea of no contest has the same effect as pleading guilty.

Sentencing has been set for October 3rd.

King who is free on bond primarily practiced at the Yankton Medical Clinic, but he also saw patients at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital The neurologist and psychiatrist was medical director at the hospital's rehabilitation center.