Woman seeks penalty for therapist who molested her.

A Horror Story in which a woman cannot get her justice against the psych who molested her

GREENSBORO NC -- On the surface, it appeared to be a case against all odds: a woman who suffered from mental illness and said she had 80 personalities suing a respected therapist and college professor and challenging the state board assigned to watch over him.

Even the lawyer who took Angela Spell's case originally had trouble believing her claim: From 1996 to 1999, Greensboro psychotherapist and licensed nurse Daniel Longenecker had sexually exploited her. And the N.C. Board of Nursing had taken no disciplinary action in response to her complaint.

But Spell's story never changed -- that Longenecker had sex with her, that he made her eat feces, that he confessed their relationship to a friend of Spell's, that the nursing board never interviewed her for its investigation. The deeper attorney Phyllis Lile-King looked, the more convinced she became that Spell was telling the truth. Spell won her lawsuit when a jury found Longenecker liable for violating a state law called the Psychotherapist-Patient Sexual Exploitation Act

Now Spell is taking on another fight: trying to convince the nursing board about her allegation that it has a sexual predator in its midst. Seven months after Spell won a $176,000 civil court judgment against Longenecker, neither the N.C. Board of Nursing nor UNCG, where he teaches nursing, has done anything to limit his professional contact with the public. A nursing-board official says there was no credible evidence of Spell's claim in 2000, when she filed her first complaint. Since that time, Spell won her court victory, and, along with her current therapist, filed a new complaint urging a new investigation. But Donna Mooney, the board's director of discipline, said that the board's position hasn't changed.

She said the board takes all complaints seriously. But she wouldn't discuss details of its investigation or whether investigators contacted Spell, who said she was never interviewed about the complaint.

UNCG hasn't launched an investigation either. A lawyer for UNCG said the school won't discipline Longenecker -- who didn't return numerous phone calls -- unless the nursing board takes action. So, Longenecker continues to teach. One of his classes this semester concerns treating patients with psychosocial problems. He continues to supervise students working as interns. And he continues to have UNCG's permission to treat psychotherapy patients in his office on campus -- permission the university could withdraw at any time. UNCG attorney Skip Capone called Longenecker an exemplary faculty member who has received good evaluations from students and no complaints of wrongdoing. Because Spell isn't a student and because the exploitation that was the subject of the lawsuit didn't take place on campus, there's little the university can do, he said.

Spell, who lives in Trinity, wonders whether anyone will punish Longenecker. She fears he will harm others if someone doesn't discipline him. "He has issues he needs to deal with before he treats patients who have psychiatric diseases," said Spell, 45, who agreed to let the News & Record publish her name.

Longenecker's attorney said last week that he will try to appeal the jury's verdict, even though the deadline for filing an appeal passed in September. Randy James of Winston-Salem said he will ask the N.C. Court of Appeals for a provisional appeal because Longenecker's previous lawyer let the deadline pass. James said Longenecker strongly denies Spell's claims. "She has a history of (medical) issues herself," James said. "There's nothing else in his background to suggest these allegations are true."

The jury ruled unanimously that Spell was entitled to $60,000 for sexual exploitation, $16,000 for personal injury and $100,000 in punitive damages. The jury agreed, however, that she didn't suffer severe emotional distress. Spell has seen none of the money. Longenecker's malpractice insurer, the Chicago Insurance Company, says it isn't responsible for the verdict because his policy doesn't cover sexual abuse.

If the insurance company doesn't pay, Lile-King said she will try to collect the money from Longenecker.

Spell and Lile-King say no one representing the board has contacted them. Neither woman is satisfied that the board has taken the complaint seriously or that the board has properly investigated the original complaint, filed in 2000. The board closed the case without taking action. Spell insists she never was interviewed by investigators.

Despite Spell's frustrations that no one has punished Longenecker, she said she's the healthiest and happiest she has been in years. She's working as a pharmacy clerk in a drug store, and though she has maintained her nursing license, she's taking a refresher course to catch up on medical developments in the 12 years since she practiced.

County mental health department further in the red

After cutting 45 jobs and setting up a special fund to deal with a $1.7 million deficit last year, the Mendocino County Mental Health Department is reporting that it will likely be almost $1 million further in the red this year. Mental Health Director Beth Martinez will ask the county supervisors to allow her to make more cuts in the department right away.

Infighting in the Field of Psychiatry

They have been called assassins and parasites. They receive hate mail from the proponents of a variety of popular psychotherapies. The president-elect of the American Psychological Association has accused them of being overly devoted to the scientific method. But the ire of their colleagues has not prevented a small, loosely organized band of academic psychologists from rooting out and publicly debunking mental health practices that they view as faddish, unproved or in some cases potentially harmful.

In 1988, a group of researchers, concerned that the American Psychological Association, the dominant professional organization, was not placing enough emphasis on science, split off and formed the American Psychological Society. The society now counts close to 15,000 members.

"These guys are sort of the Ralph Naders of psychology," said Dr. David Barlow, director of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University.

Dr. Richard McNally, a professor of psychology at Harvard who has conducted research on repressed memories, E.M.D.R. and other problems, said he had received threatening letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls from angry practitioners.

Read the full article from the New York Times.

Psychiatric Survivor to Receive Prestigious Disability Leadership Award

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is pleased to announce that international human rights lawyer and disability rights advocate Alison Ashley Hillman will receive a prestigious 2003 Paul G. Hearne/AAPD Leadership Award for emerging leaders with disabilities. The award presentation, which includes a $10,000 cash award, will take place at AAPD's Third-Annual Leadership Gala on March 16, 2004, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans and Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta will deliver keynote remarks, and a host of Congressional leadership will also be part of the program.

After receiving her bachelor's degree with distinction from Cornell University, Alison Ashley Hillman was handcuffed and taken to the psychiatric ward of her local hospital. She was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder and rotated in and out of a locked ward for five months. Allison faced bankruptcy and was on food stamps, Medicare and SSI -- she also was forced to abandon her dream of becoming an international human rights lawyer. For two more years, she struggled and experienced first-hand the vast barriers that people with psychiatric disabilities face, including obstacles in finding employment, accessing healthcare and suffering debilitating stigma and discrimination.

Allison struggled, but survived. She also received her law degree cum laude from American University's Washington College of Law in 2002, and fulfilled her dream of becoming an international human rights lawyer. After graduation, she was awarded a New Voices Fellowship to work with Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI). New Voices is a national leadership development program that helps nonprofit organizations recruit creative and diverse "new voices" in the field.

Through this fellowship, Alison now manages MDRI's Americas Advocacy Initiative, where she works for the international recognition and enforcement of the rights of people with mental disabilities. In this capacity, she confronts and addresses the very barriers she experienced.

Allison hopes that the groundbreaking cases she is currently working on will establish legal precedent in the Inter-American system that recognizes and enforces the rights of people with mental disabilities, and also help illustrate that community alternatives are needed for people with mental disabilities and effortless detention in psychiatric facilities is inappropriate.

Alison's goals are to empower consumer-driven support and advocacy organizations through workshops in advocacy, human rights of people with mental disabilities, documentation of human rights violations, and the establishment of a small grants program for consumer-run advocacy organizations. Ultimately, she hopes to end the institutionalization of people with mental disabilities and aims to establish their right to appropriate treatment in the community.

Oregon doctor's license suspended for signing marijuana cards

A doctor who signed nearly half of all the medical marijuana cards in Oregon was suspended from practicing medicine on Thursday.

Dr. Phillip Leveque, 81, said Thursday he has signed more than 4,000 cards for people with crippling disorders who want to smoke pot to alleviate their pain. He had two offices in Portland and traveled frequently along Interstate 5 to mass meetings in hotel conference rooms with patients seeking the card.

By the time of his suspension Thursday, Leveque had authorized roughly 40 percent of all the cards issued in Oregon since the state became one of nine in the country legalizing pot for medicine in 1998. Leveque was under scrutiny since 2002, when the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners suspended his license for 90 days and fined him $5,000 for signing cards without first seeing patients face-to-face. Sometimes, he reviewed descriptions of patients ailments sent by fax.

Several Oregon physicians hired by the board as consultants raised concerns about Leveque's practices, according to board executive director Kathleen Haley. They found he approved cards for patients with psychiatric disorders and prior histories of drug addition for whom marijuana was not appropriate, and recommended smoking pot for conditions that could in no way benefit from the drug, Haley said.

Psychiatrist's Husband molested Wife's patients

The husband of a Trumbull, Conn. psychiatrist has admitted impersonating a doctor to molest his wife's patients, and now faces five years in prison. Barry Lichenthal, 59, plead guilty earlier this week to fourth-degree sexual assault, practicing medicine without a license, and reckless endangerment. Police say Lichenthal worked under the name of Doctor Michael Taylor at his wife's Bridgeport drug clinic, the Noah's Ark Foundation. He will be sentenced March 26.

Anti-depressants 'cause bleeding'

Elderly people and those with a history of bleeding disorders have been warned of the risk of taking certain types of anti-depressants. Experts say a group of anti-depressants called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs may predispose some people to internal bleeding.

Writing in the Drug and Therapeutic Bulletin, they said the drugs should not be given to 'at risk' groups. Britain's Department of Health has said clearer warnings were being considered.

See the full report in this BBC News item

Johns Hopkins University settles Lawsuit for overbilling pychiatric research

The Johns Hopkins University and one of its teaching hospitals have agreed to pay more than $2.6 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that they overbilled the National Institutes of Health for addiction research and other projects.

The settlement, announced yesterday by the U.S. attorney's office, came six years after an employee told federal authorities that researchers at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center had inflated the amount of time required to carry out studies on therapies for drug dependence.

"The United States must maintain the integrity of the grant application and funding process for research," U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio said in a prepared statement. The university and Bayview agreed to pay $2.1 million in addition to $587,000 already refunded, but they did not admit any wrongdoing.

Drug Makers Face an angry Public

Pharmaceutical companies would be sufficiently challenged just dealing with the many internal pressures facing them today. Plagued by patent expirations on key drugs and late-stage disappointments for products in the development pipeline, major drugmakers are struggling to deliver the kind of earnings growth that was typical in the 1990s.

But at the same time, they are being buffeted by a number of external pressures on the public, political, and regulatory fronts. Taken together, these strains are increasing costs, holding down pricing, and creating additional barriers to profitability. Under growing pressure from patient groups and public officials, U.S. pharmaceutical producers must invent new ways to address these antagonistic outside forces.

Many of these problems stem from the public's deteriorating opinion of big drug companies.

Meaning that folks aren't trusting them like they used to. I wonder why?

New Jersey Superior Court OKs Psychiatrist's License Revocation

A panel of state Superior Court judges ruled that the license of accused sexual predator and Princeton-area psychiatrist Dr. Don Henry Wijaya should be revoked. Wijaya had been accused of having sex with a female patient identified only as F.B. from shortly after he began treating the divorced mother of two in 1981 until 1984, and again from July 1993 to August 1994. Wijaya disputed that, but an administrative law judge who heard the case "determined that the charges were supported by credible evidence and recommended revocation" of his license.

The ruling by a three-judge panel in the Superior Court appellate division affirms the decision of the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, the body that regulates doctors. The board revoked to Wijaya's license in March 2002, but the appellate division issued a stay allowing Wijaya to continue practicing while his appeal proceeded.

The doctor's lawyer said he will appeal.

Psychiatric patient tells of ordeal in treatment

When Elizabeth Gale sought psychiatric treatment in 1986, she suffered from depression, the most common of psychiatric illnesses.

But Dr. Bennett Braun and his colleagues convinced her that her family indoctrinated her as a child so she would make babies for sacrifice in a satanic cult, Gale charged in a malpractice suit she settled Wednesday for $7.5 million. The therapists, she alleged, told her she needed their help to recover memories hidden beneath layers of rare multiple personalities that she had developed as a psychic guard against her childhood trauma.

Gale's attorney Todd Smith said that under the settlement, entered Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court, Rush North Shore Medical Center, where Braun was director of the dissociative disorders program, will pay $3.6 million. Psychologist Roberta Sachs will pay $3.1 million, and a corporation affiliated with Braun will pay $500,000. Dr. Corydon Hammond will pay $175,000, and Rush University Medical Center must pay $150,000. No wrongdoing was admitted by the hospitals, the doctors or the psychologist.

In 1997, west suburban resident Patricia Burgus received a $10.5 million settlement in a suit filed against the hospital, then known as Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's, and two therapists, including Braun. Burgus and her sons were hospitalized at Rush in the late 1980s. Braun later sued his insurance company for allegedly settling the case without his consent.

Burgus, under Braun's care, said she came to believe she had more than 300 personalities and had cannibalized children as part of a satanic cult.

Full Details here

Unauthorized state bank account for mental health officials draws ethics scrutiny

Two pharmaceutical companies paid nearly $14,000 into an unauthorized state bank account that was used by state mental health officials for travel, meals and other expenses at a time when the drugmakers were courting state business, records show.

Janssen Pharmaceutica and Pfizer Inc., also paid at least $10,000 to two state officials who helped win approval for a mental-health treatment plan that uses drugs manufactured by the companies, according to interviews and a review of documents from the state Office of Inspector General. Those payments - some of which went to charity and the general state fund - were for speaking engagements and attendance at company meetings.

State and federal officials are examining the connection between the payments and the state's program.

Detailed article. Any appearance of corruption is merely a coincidence. yeh, right.

The Torture of Auckland's Behavioural Management Regime

From the ongoing trial for psychiatric abuse in New Zealand

Prison bosses invented a new "super maximum" security class in a hidden system that avoided normal rules for prisoners, a New Zealand High Court judge has been told.

Nine past and present prisoners say they were subject to psychological torture while being held on the "behavioural management regime" (BMR) at Auckland's Paremoremo prison, or while in solitary confinement.

Lawyer Tony Ellis began closing his case for the prisoners in Wellington yesterday.

During more than a month of evidence, prisoners said they were held in solitary for up to two years without regular review of their classification, or medical assessment, without access to natural light, or the chance to associate with other prisoners.

BMR amounted to a higher than maximum security classification, a kind of "super-maximum", Mr Ellis said.

"It is essentially a security classification that was not approved and was invented by the department."

Psychiatric evidence showed one prisoner developed post traumatic stress disorder within weeks of being put on the programme.

Mr Ellis said alleging torture was one of the most serious allegations it was possible to make, and he was trying to be responsible and not overstate the position.

The system was an experiment in behaviour modification when it began in April 1998, he said. It breached the prisoners' rights not to be subject to scientific or medical experimentation without consent.

More than 50,000 Australian children are being hand-fed antidepressant drugs that have been banned overseas.

More than 50,000 Australian children are being hand-fed antidepressant drugs that have been banned overseas. A British medical authority, The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, told doctors in December not to prescribe the drugs to patients under 18 because they can increase the risk of suicide.

The warning covers five of the six drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned doctors to proceed with extreme caution in prescribing any SSRI other than Prozac to children. However, the Australian federal health department has done nothing to warn patients and doctors of the dangers, or moved to ban the five varieties of SSRI.

More than 90 per cent of American Women use prescription medication

New research shows that women could be running unnecessary risks by not fully disclosing to their doctors which medications they use, even when repeatedly prompted.

The study, published Tuesday in the United States, shows that women they examined are heavily medicated, relying on a potpourri of prescription and over-the-counter medications, topped up with herbal supplements.

The researchers said that they were surprised at the rates of medication use they found. Among the 567 women studied, more than 90 per cent used prescription medication and more than half used herbal supplements. A whopping 96.5 per cent used over-the-counter medications, almost two-thirds of them using four or more regularly.

Is the condition of being Female becoming a medical condition?

Antidepressants hazardous to health care coverage

As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle

With nearly 19 million Americans under a diagnosis of depression, antidepressant use is skyrocketing in the United States. The newer antidepressants are the second most commonly prescribed class of drugs in the country, according IMS Health, a firm that tracks the pharmaceutical industry.

However, people with individual insurance are vulnerable to rejection or higher rates due to any number of pre-existing conditions because, unlike group plans, they must answer detailed questions about their medical history to qualify.

Those with pre-existing conditions such as serious heart problems or a history of cancer may not be surprised to be rejected, but millions of Americans taking antidepressants for a variety of reasons -- from anxiety to a bout of minor depression following a divorce or even to smoking cessation -- may be shocked to have that prescription come back to haunt them.

The Insurance Companies remain skeptial of the wisdom of such wide spread prescriptions of such expensive medications, as well they should, and this is back firing of people who have been prescribed the drugs

Hospitals say chief psychiatrist 'out of touch'

Victorian hospital administrators in Australia have publicly accused the state's chief psychiatrist, Amgad Tanaghow, of failing to grasp the extent of the crisis in the mental health system.

The accusations, dating back to October last year, came to light yesterday amid warnings that large numbers of mentally ill patients are committing suicide after receiving inadequate care in the state's hospitals.

Psychoanalysis Is Dead ... So How Does That Make You Feel?

As seen in an article published in the LA Times

We now know that Freud compulsively fudged the historical record. This tendency is evident in Freud's backsliding statements on his advocacy of cocaine, his opportunism concerning the case of Anna O., his flip-flops on the seduction theory, and in almost every instance where he mentions a patient.

Just ask the "Wolf Man," Sergius Pankejeff, whom Freud supposedly cured but who was, in truth, consigned to psychoanalysis for an additional 60 years. Not surprising, Pankejeff considered Freud's effect on his life a "catastrophe."

We also know that Freud never seriously dealt with the problem of "suggestion," which totally compromised his clinical findings and, by extension, his theories. Already, by the 1890s, few believed in Freud's convenient claim that suggestion — the undue influence of the psychoanalyst over the patient — was possible only in the biologically predisposed and was thus of no consequence to his findings. Amazingly, these critical insights were buried under Freud's rhetoric of denial and by his growing fame. Now we've come full circle.

Austin Psychiatrist On Trial For Sexual Assault

An Austin psychiatrist is on trial for sexually assaulting seven of his male patients. Doctor Gregory Vagshenian is charged with seven counts of sexual assault.

Assistant District Attorney Joe Maida argues Vagshenian, a psychiatrist, was performing physical exams, which turned out to be sexual acts on a number of men at a South Austin Veterans Affair Outpatient Clinic said. A former patient says the doctor sexually exploited him on this table. But he did tell somebody: an Austin police detective and an Austin attorney. Defense argues what he told the police only proves that this is all about money.

It's a crime many of Vagshenian's patients says happened to them, but they felt powerless against the doctor, and many prosecutors say had the power to send them to the psychiatric ward.

A video report is currently available

Legislator claims Mental Illness cased his ethical lapses

A 23-year-old New Hampshire state representative facing possible expulsion from the Legislature says he will sue to stop ethics proceedings against him. Bedford Rep. John Kerns failed to show up at a hearing Monday on three ethics charges against him: passing a bad check with “State of New Hampshire” written on it; using his title to get a parking spot reserved for school officials; and threatening them when told to stop parking there. He also faces four criminal charges of passing bad checks.

Kerns claims he has a medical condition that caused his behavior.

Kerns said private e-mails he sent to the chairman of the committee, state Rep. Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, were improperly disclosed. The ethics committee’s own rules say its proceedings must be suspended if certain violations of confidentiality have occurred, he said.

Jasper recommended that Kerns be expelled from the Legislature. If he is, it would be the first expulsion of a state lawmaker since 1913. The committee meets again next week to resume its debate.

“He claims to have a mental illness. Before that it was a physical illness,” Jasper said. “He won’t tell anyone what it is. He led people to believe at one point he was diabetic.”

Woman participating in Lilly trial hangs self

A toxicology test will determine whether narcotics played a role in the suicide of a 19-year-old woman who was participating in clinical trials for a new drug that Eli Lilly and Co. hopes to launch this year. Traci Johnson, Bensalem, Pa., hanged herself Saturday night in the Lilly Laboratory for Clinical Research by tying a scarf to a bathroom shower rod, according to the Indianapolis Police Department.

While the toxicology test is standard procedure in the investigation of suicides by the Marion County coroner, it could have huge implications for Lilly if it is determined that the trial drug -- or removal from it -- played a role in the woman's suicide. Lilly said Monday it does not believe the drug, duloxetine, was related to the death of Johnson, who was a former student at Indiana Bible College. Toxicology test results are expected in about a month.

Duloxetine is key to future business prospects of Lilly. It is the main ingredient in Cymbalta, an anti-depressant drug, and in a stress urinary incontinence treatment, both of which are moving toward final approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, incidents such as the suicide of a clinical trial participant often draw questions from the FDA and can delay the federal approval needed to bring a drug to market.

In earlier statements, Lilly has said it expects the FDA to approve duloxetine to treat both depression and incontinence in 2004. Analysts have predicted sales of each could near $200 million this year. They bill Cymbalta as a potential blockbuster that could top $2 billion in sales by 2008.

Lilly spokesman Rob Smith would not say which use of the drug was the subject of Johnson's trials. However, the trial cycled the participants between doses of duloxetine and a placebo. At the time of her death, Smith said, Johnson was taking placebo.

Lilly Claims that "there's nothing to suggest that this is anything but an isolated incident."

right. Much more to the story at the link

Antidepressant Makers Withhold Data on failed drug trails

As seen in this story in the Washington Post

Makers of popular antidepressants such as Paxil, Zoloft and Effexor have refused to disclose the details of most clinical trials involving depressed children, denying doctors and parents crucial evidence as they weigh fresh fears that such medicines may cause some children to become suicidal.

The companies say the studies are trade secrets. Researchers familiar with the unpublished data said the majority of secret trials show that children taking the medicines did not get any better than children taking dummy pills.

Although the drug industry's practice of suppressing data unfavorable to its products is legal, doctors and advocates say such secrecy distorts the scientific record.

"Conflicts of interest and the company control of the data have thrown out the scientific method," said Vera Hassner Sharav, a critic of the drugs and a patients' rights advocate. "If hundreds of trials don't work out, they don't publish them, they don't talk about them."

Psychiatrist arrested for Fraud

Chief State’s Attorney Christopher L. Morano announced the arrest of Trumbull doctor and psychiatrist Liasne Leedom, age 42, of 140 Old Dyke Road, of Trumbull in Conneticut, who is charged with putting patients at risk and defrauding the Medicaid program.

Leedom was arrested on warrant charging her with one count each of Larceny in the First Degree, Conspiracy to Commit Larceny in the First Degree, Conspiracy to Commit Practicing Pharmacy Without a License, Conspiracy to Commit Use of the Title "Doctor", Vendor Fraud in the Second Degree and Conspiracy to Commit Vendor Fraud in the Second Degree, and four counts of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree.

She faces a maximum possible sentence of 69 years incarceration if convicted of all charges.

A Suicide Side Effect? What parents aren't being told about their kids' antidepressants

As reported in the San Fransisco Chronicle

At the emergency room, the staff administered charcoal to absorb the drugs, then transferred Angela to a psychiatric hospital. The next day, the hospital psychiatrist called Reich. "He told me it was a drug-induced suicide attempt," she said, related to the increased dosage of Paxil.

Neither Angela, Sara nor her husband, Jim, an internal medicine doctor, knew Paxil might carry a risk of triggering suicidal thoughts or actions. Aside from a generic statement that depressed people are more likely to attempt suicide, there is no mention of such a risk in Paxil's prescribing information.

A long sad tale. check out the link for the full horror story

The Disapperance of a teenpsych patient in Florida

When state social service workers asked a judge to hold their son Franklin against his will at Sunland Center, a North Florida institution for disabled people, Eddie and Charlotte Weekley handed him over voluntarily. ''They said it's a secure facility,'' Eddie Weekley said. ``They said my son would be safe there.'' Instead, they lost him. That was more than a year ago.

Franklin's medical records for 2001 show he was on two psychiatric drugs, Paxil and Topamax. The purpose of the drugs, records show: ``For behavior control.'' ''He stuttered,'' Eddie Weekley said. ``He couldn't talk.''

The Weekleys, and some caregivers, say they nevertheless understood what Franklin wanted. ''Franklin always wanted to go home,'' said Donna Fassett, executive director of The ARC Gateway in the Florida Panhandle, which offered services to Franklin before he was sent to Sunland.

On the evening of Dec. 5, 2002, a noticeably anxious Franklin called home, but was unable to reach his father, Charlotte Weekley said. When the father called back an hour or two later, workers at the institution refused to allow him to speak to Franklin. The next morning, Sunland administrators reported that Franklin was missing. They say he simply wandered out of the campus, which is surrounded by woods and does not have a fence. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office dispatched deputies on horseback, all-terrain vehicles and a helicopter in search of the teen.

Fassett said one Pensacola television station reported Franklin's story, but local newspapers showed little interest.

See this report to find out more about the story of this missing child.

3,000 Scots children on 'zombie' drug

Prescriptions of the psychiatric drug Ritalin to children have increased by almost 70% in the past four years in Scotland, heightening fears that a generation of ‘zombie’ youngsters is being created. Despite these fears, Scottish GPs are prescribing Ritalin and its generic equivalents to ever-increasing numbers of children. The latest Scottish Executive figures suggest there are 30,000 annual prescriptions of Ritalin-type drugs annually, up 68% on 1999.

As reported in the story at the link, MSP Adam Ingram, who asked health minister Malcolm Chisholm for the latest figures, said: "What is the reason for this huge increase? Is it an outbreak of ADHD, which I would doubt? Or is it just that people are saying let’s go down this road of managing children’s behaviour in this way?"

Glaxo Chief: Our Drugs Do Not Work on Most Patients

A senior executive with Britain's biggest drugs company has admitted that most prescription medicines do not work on most people who take them. Allen Roses, worldwide vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said fewer than half of the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually derived any benefit from them.

It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. His comments come days after it emerged that the NHS drugs bill has soared by nearly 50 per cent in three years, rising by £2.3bn a year to an annual cost to the taxpayer of £7.2bn. GSK announced last week that it had 20 or more new drugs under development that could each earn the company up to $1bn (£600m) a year.

Drugs for Alzheimer's disease work in fewer than one in three patients, whereas those for cancer are only effective in a quarter of patients. Drugs for migraines, for osteoporosis, and arthritis work in about half the patients, Dr Roses said. Most drugs work in fewer than one in two patients mainly because the recipients carry genes that interfere in some way with the medicine, he said.

"The vast majority of drugs - more than 90 per cent - only work in 30 or 50 per cent of the people," Dr Roses said. "I wouldn't say that most drugs don't work. I would say that most drugs work in 30 to 50 per cent of people. Drugs out there on the market work, but they don't work in everybody."

This goes against a marketing culture within the industry that has relied on selling as many drugs as possible to the widest number of patients - a culture that has made GSK one of the most profitable pharmaceuticals companies, but which has also meant that most of its drugs are at best useless, and even possibly dangerous, for many patients.

Baughman Dispels The Myth of ADHD

Insight Magazine has an excellent interview with Dr. Fred A. Baughman Jr, on the subject of ADHD

Retired California neurologist Fred A. Baughman Jr. fired off a letter in January 2000 to U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher in response to Satcher's Report on Mental Illness. "Having gone to medical school," Baughman wrote, "and studied pathology — disease, then diagnosis — you and I and all physicians know that the presence of any bona fide disease, like diabetes, cancer or epilepsy, is confirmed by an objective finding — a physical or chemical abnormality. No demonstrable physical or chemical abnormality: no disease!

"You also know, I am sure," Baughman continued, "that there is no physical or chemical abnormality to be found in life, or at autopsy, in 'depression, bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.' Why then are you telling the American people that 'mental illnesses' are 'physical' and that they are due to 'chemical disorders?'"

Good article as a resource

Canadian psychologist stripped of licence faces misconduct charges in Ohio

A disgraced Canadian psychologist who lost his licence to practise in the 1980s after having sex with anorexic patients is now facing charges of sexual misconduct in the United States.

David Garner, 56, considered one of the world's leading experts on eating disorders, has been accused by the Ohio Board of Psychology of 15 ethics violations. They include multiple counts of negligence, impairment and engaging in sexual misconduct since September 2001 with a woman Garner supervises at the River Centre Clinic in Sylvania, Ohio. He's also accused of buying a $108,000 US condominium for the woman, who says their relationship was consensual.

Ontario regulators stripped Garner of his licence in 1989 for having sexual relations with a patient while he operated an eating disorder clinic in Toronto. At the time, Garner was already serving a two-year suspension after having sex with an 18-year-old anorexic patient. The suspension was one of the most severe penalties handed out by the Ontario Board of Examiners of Psychology, forcing him to resign from the Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto.

Garner is now a director at the River Centre Clinic, which specializes in treating eating disorders, but he's stepped down in light of the newest accusations.

Ritalin use in preteen children may lead to depression later in life

Ritalin use in preteen children may lead to depression later in life, studies of rats suggest.

It's an open question whether what passes for depression in lab rats has anything to do with depression in humans. But early use of Ritalin and other stimulant drugs seems to permanently alter animals' brains. That raises concerns that the same thing might be happening in children who take these drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The findings come from a research team led by William A. Carlezon Jr., PhD, director of the behavioral genetics laboratory at McLean Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School. The study appears in the Dec. 15 issue of Biological Psychiatry.

See the NIH Press Release here

Drug firms pay doctors to sign 'independent' clinical studies

A British psychiatrist was doing research on possible dangers of antidepressant drugs when a representative of a drug manufacturer came to him with an offer of help. You're a busy guy, the company rep said. Here's some background on our product.

He e-mailed Dr. David Healy a finished 12-page review paper with graphs and footnotes, ready to present at an upcoming conference. And for convenience, Healy's name appeared as the sole author, even though the psychiatrist had never seen a single word of it before.

The drug company wanted its advertising to look like an independent study -- a "massive" scientific fakery that top medical journals condemn because it prevents doctors from getting the straight facts on medicines they prescribe.

Healy looked a gift horse in the mouth. Fearing the drug company was too easy on its own multimillion-dollar product, he did his own writing. But the ghostwritten paper appeared verbatim at the conference and in a psychiatric journal anyway -- under another doctor's name.

The drug industry is quietly paying "independent" doctors to sign their names to work they never did -- and keep their mouths shut.

"That of course is unbelievably corrupt and horrible," said Dr. Drummond Rennie, deputy editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Psych in Fued vs Injured Neighbor

Jean Pierre Villar, a man in a fued with his neighbor, psychologist Holli Bodner, has run into financial problems when Bodner tried to have Villar commited for a forced mental exam under Florida Law.

On Nov. 14, Villar filed a complaint with the Sheriff's Office, alleging that his neighbor, psychologist Holli Bodner, lied on the form she filed to have him committed under the state's Baker Act. Deputies took him to Manatee Glens and then to Blake Medical Center, but he was released before being evaluated. Since then, he's hired a lawyer to prepare a suit against the Sheriff's Office and Bodner.

Jean Pierre Villar moved to Florida more than a year ago to get surgery and rehabilitation for a long-ignored work-related back injury. The incident with sheriff's deputies took place within weeks after the surgery.

After he was committed through the Baker Act, Villar's workers' compensation payments were cut off. The insurance company said his new injuries do not appear to be related to his construction work-related injury, but appear to be caused by the commitment, Bruce Zeidman, Villar's workers' compensation lawyer, said last month.

Villar says the deputies bent him over to restrain him, further damaging his back. The nerve damage spread from one leg to two and is attacking his left arm, causing uncontrollable shaking and "horrible pain," he said.

One wonder's watch the psych said to the cops to have a man in such obvious pain treated so roughly.

New Zealand's black market for children's Ritalin

New Zealand parents of children prescribed methylphenidate for ADHD are selling it to supplement their state benefits. There is anecdotal evidence that children had been selling it at school. "There's quite a brisk illegal market for Ritalin. Methamphetamine and Ritalin are the biggest trend in drug use, and would be second behind cannabis."

New Zealand's use of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs such as Ritalin is spiralling. Figures from government drug-buying agency Pharmac show 17 per cent more methylphenidate – commonly known at Ritalin and Rubifen – was dispensed in the 12 months ended July than in the previous year. Thirty-three times more methylphenidate is now dispensed to treat children with ADHD than there was a decade ago when estimates suggested only 242 patients were receiving the drug. Many patients are now likely to be prescribed both short- and long-acting strengths and hold two prescriptions. Now Pharmac estimates 5550 patients are taking ADHD drugs – up 15 per cent on last year.

Health experts spoken to by The Press are unconcerned at the increased prescribing of methylphenidate but do worry about its illicit use through the black market. Parents selling drugs prescribed for their behaviourally troubled children are fuelling the black market trade in Ritalin.

National Addiction Centre director and psychiatrist Associate Professor Doug Sellman said the more methylphenidate was used for ADHD, the more families would trade it. "The temptation to sell Johnny's medication is stronger in poorer families, and ADHD tends to be found more in lower socio-economic families."

Psychopaths twice as likely to re-offend after treatment

According to this article in the Telegraph, psychopaths such as serial killers are twice as likely to reoffend after treatment in British prison rehabilitation programs as psychopaths who do not take part in such programs.

Dr Robert Hare, a Canadian professor of psychology who has studied psychopaths for 35 years, believes that participating in such courses actually increases the chances that a psychopath will reoffend when he gets out.

Within two years of their release, psychopaths who go on such courses reoffend at almost twice the rate as those who do not. More than 80 per cent of the psychopaths who complete therapeutic courses reoffend soon after release. However, fewer than half of those who do not undergo such courses go on to reoffend.

Yet the offenders who had been on the therapy courses had convinced prison and psychiatric staff that they had "genuinely addressed their own offending behaviour", and were "responding positively to therapy". Indeed, those offenders who were most successful at convincing their therapists that they had gained insight into their own behaviour and changed for the better actually went on to reoffend at the highest rates.

{...}

"The psychiatric profession and its associates are very reluctant to admit they are wrong or that they have made a mistake, let alone to accept that they have been conned by a psychopath," says Dr Hare. "Therapists tend to insist that their diagnosis was right at the time and on the evidence they had - even when that is manifestly disproved by subsequent events."

So it looks like they just get really good at learning the psycho-babble jargon, and thus are more expert at manipulating the therapists.

This speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the therapists and the "science" they practice.

New Expensive Drugs no better than Old Inexpensive Drugs

As seen in the New Hampshire Telegraph

An older, inexpensive drug is as effective/ineffective at treating the symptoms of schizophrenia as a newer, more popular drug that costs about 100 times more, according to a new report. The study, published in Wednesday’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, also found no difference in quality of life between those given the newer drug, olanzapine, and those given the older drug, haloperidol, plus another drug to control side effects. Haloperidol treatment was $3,000 to $9,000 cheaper per patient in annual costs, depending on how expenses were measured.

So we see that the major advantage to the newer drugs is their benefit to the corporate profit margin.

Health Workers kept silent due to fear for their lives

Five workers who made false accounting entries during a huge fraud at HealthSouth Corp. kept silent out of fear after realizing the company was buying guns, grenades and spy equipment, according to testimony Wednesday at the first sentencing in the case.

While not specifically a psychiatric fraud case, it does reveal the criminal nature of some in the health care industry. Read the full story here.

Utah State Psych Hospitals Unsafe?

The Deseret News has this report on the safety issues at state psychiatric hospital facilities in Utah. One on the major elements is that the facilities are not really trying to help people, but are acting more like prisons in disguise instead. The story offers extensive details on the horror story. This is about dangers to both the patients and the staff. Do they even know what they are doing?

More clinical and counseling psychology practices are going out of business than ever before

According to this new article on About.com, more clinical and counseling psychology practices are going out of business than ever before. This, combined with increasing numbers of graduates in the filed, leads the website to offer cautionary advice to people looking to psychology as a career path. While the author is not ready to recommend people avoid studying psychology as a career path, he recommending that people look at other areas to help keep their career options open.

Psychiatric Malpractice in Hawaii

This special report in the The Honolulu Star-Bulletin just came to our attention

Robert Kratzke initially believed that psychiatrist Martin H. Stein was "trying to do the best" for him, his wife and family. But less than five years after Stein began treating them with dozens of psychiatric drugs, Robert's wife, Anita, was dead, Robert had gone from a top engineer to "a vegetable on the couch with a chemical lobotomy" and Chris, his youngest son, had been on 23 prescribed drugs in five years.

Mr. Kratzke and his sons are recovering, and have filed a malpractice lawsuit against Stein over Anita's death.

Asia's mental heath centers

Asia's mental heath centers look more like prisons than hospitals. Everyone should check out the Time Asia photoessay which exposes this travesty.

Read the story here

It is truly a hell hole.

Psych Drugs of 4 patients switched without OK

A follow up to the earlier story:

A doctor at a state mental health facility changed patients' medications last year so that they would be eligible for a study of a new psychiatric drug, violating basic guidelines for research on human subjects and causing dangerous side effects in a 43-year-old man with schizophrenia, a state investigation has found.

The Disabled Persons Protection Commission uncovered numerous ethical violations at the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center by Boston Medical Center physicians contracted to treat patients there.

According to a DPPC report, patients' medications were switched without informed consent and without a clear medical need, the changes were made more than two months before the human-studies review boards approved the research protocol, and the patients involved were clearly not eligible under the criteria for the study, which specified that subjects be outpatients.

One of the four patients whose medication was switched, a man who had been stable for 10 years on the drug Clozaril, became so ill and acutely psychotic that he spent months in and out of hospital wards. He was diagnosed with neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a rare, sometimes lethal side effect of medication changes, according to the commission's report.

The names of doctors involved were deleted from the commission report, but Department of Mental Health officials and Hughes acknowledged their identities. According to the Globe story the Doctors involved are Dr. Douglas Hughes and Dr. Valentina Jalynytchev.

The rapid decline of a patient under psych care

This story in today's Boston Globe cite the rapid decline of a patient under psych care

Medical records from the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center tell the story of a profoundly disabled patient who was ushered into a clinical trial during a single conversation: On Oct. 31, 2002, Dr. Valentina Jalynytchev sat down with the 43-year-old patient and, as she noted in a progress report, "discussed . . . clinical trial of [Risperdal]," and agreed that he would participate, according to a state report. [...]

In her notes of Oct. 31, Jalynytchev concludes that the patient was enthusiastic about starting Risperdal, which does not require regular blood tests, as Clozaril does: "He will start Risperidone . . . any time soon [it is his treatment plan], but for the study his guardian . . . needs to sign a consent form."

In fact, his treatment plan included other antipsychotic medications but not Risperdal. No call was made to his guardian. But he was started on Risperdal five days later, on Nov. 4, 2002. [...]

Which was just the start of a long, sad, horror story.

The switch in medications was the beginning of a long slide. [...] When the patient returned to the Fuller [after a trip to the emergency room] in March, he was so sensitive to antipsychotic medication that he could take only tiny doses. Doctors prescribed electroconvulsive therapy.

A Look at the Mental Health Agenda

Berit Kjos has an interesting collection of of well documented articles investigating the agenda of the mental health crowd. She entitles it the Does Your 'Mental Health' Meet Global Standards? Series.

Article One: Legalizing Mind Control
Article Two: Legalizing Mind Control 2

Therw are links to other articles as well. While you may not agree with her particular biases, the quotes are well documented, and raise the interesting question of whose global standards are they, anyhow? As she notes:

Good medical doctors naturally encourage prevention. They would want their patients to maintain health and strength. But when socialist "change agents" step into the picture with their psycho-social brainwashing strategies -- calling their agenda "prevention" in order to gain your approval -- they bring oppression instead of peace.

It gets into questions like: What agenda are they pushing. and whose should it be? She introduces one of her articles with a quote from Betrand Russle, from a book published back in 1953:

"...the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology.... The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen. As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician's paradise."[2] -- Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1953); page 30.)

So whose agenda is it?

Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection

As seen in the SF Chronicle

the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little-known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing. [...]

Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists from such prestigious universities as Stanford, Yale, Harvard and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.


a worthy read

Nearly one in four French people on Psych Drugs

Nearly one in four French people are on tranquillisers, antidepressants, antipsychotics or other mood-altering prescription drugs, according to an alarming report published this past week. It revealed that an average of 40% of men and women aged over 70 in France were routinely prescribed at least one of this class of dependence-creating drug, as well as some 4% of all children under nine. The French are plainly not sicker than anyone else: according to recent survey, while 9% of them were prescribed antidepressants in 2000, only 4.7% could be clinically diagnosed as suffering from depression.

So what gives?

Psych reverses murder testimony

A psychiatrist who helped prosecutors sentence a Charlotte, NC man to death for killing his aunt has retracted her testimony. Las Vegas psychiatrist Cynthia White said her testimony was erroneous and that the state withheld information from her. White testified against convicted murderer John Daniels. Her latest statements were from an affidavit released by Daniels' lawyer on Thursday.

Psych Center Worker faces 27 charges of Sexual Assualt

A former worker at a Las Vegas psychiatric center has plead innocent to fondling a teenage girl under his care. Police say 29-year-old Barry Bergmann faces 27 charges of sexual assault after a girl transferred from the Spring Mountain Treatment Center to another facility and told counselors there that Bergmann fondled her and had her remove her clothes. Authorities say the girl is under 16 years old. A Spring Mountain official says Bergmann no longer works there.

Eli Lily and Walgreen's sued over promo packages of Prozac

A marketing scheme that involved sending unsolicited fluoxetine (Prozac) in the mail has led to a lawsuit in the US state of Florida against a local hospital, the drug’s manufacturer (Eli Lilly), and Walgreen, a major US pharmacy chain. We missed this in the states. This report is via the British medical Journal

Forcing Psychiatric Treatment on Individuals Not Successful

Forcing individuals to undergo psychiatric treatment in and of itself will not lead to use of fewer health services or reduce the risk of readmission, reported researchers at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, held October 30th to November 2nd in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The study, which included all community-based and inpatient psychiatric services in Western Australia, examined whether community treatment orders (CTOs) had any effect on the use of mental health services. Study participants were matched on discharge date, socio-demographic factors, clinical features and psychiatric history.

End result? The researchers found that CTO cases (forcebly treated) had significantly higher readmission rates (73%) compared to the other two groups (57% and 65%),

So if the commitment is forced, the readmission rate is much higher.....

Psych charged in another sex attack

A psych jailed for a depraved sex attack has been charged with indecent assault weeks after being freed pending his appeal. Psychiatrist Darren Holdsworth was arrested after being released from prison where hewas serving three years for attacking a teenage girl.

Holdsworth, 37, is alleged to have carried out thelatest assault in a Glasgow pub. Hewas let out of jail in August after launching anappeal against the sentence he received last November. Hewas jailed for three years andtold hewould beplacedundersupervision for two years after his release.

Marketing reps targeting doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label

This story in the Tallahassee Democrat details the efforts of marketing reps to expand the markets of drugs like Prozac by handing out samples to regular physicians who are not familar with the side effects. By offering specialty drugs to nonspecialists, sending salesmen to doctors' offices and medical conventions, and touting their drugs' benefits on the slimmest of evidence, pharmaceutical companies have sent off-label retail sales soaring. Documented is one case where a heart specialist gave a man Prozac, with the man committing suicide less than 2 weeks later, to the horror of the heart specialist.

Australian Psychologist accused of inmate sex

Australian Psychologist Susan Maureen Robinson, of Sherwood, has been referred to the Health Practitioners' Tribunal by the Psychologists Board of Queensland to answer allegations of unsatisfactory professional conduct. As a former prison psychologist, she could have her licence cancelled or suspended after being accused of having an improper sexual relationship with a former inmate. The Australian Psychological Society code of ethics states a minimum of two years must pass between the end of a professional client-practitioner relationship before the start of an intimate relationship, and the psychologist must prove the relationship does not exploit the former client.

Probe as 62 patients fall on Psych ward's 'slippy' floor

Health and safety experts have been called in at Wishaw General Hospital [in England] after 62 falls were recorded in one ward in just 10 months. The safety probe centres on Ward 3, which houses around 23 elderly psychiatric patients. Official hospital figures show 47 patients suffered falls on the ward during a five-month period in 2002.

A spokesman for Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said: "Discussions have been taking place with the Health and Safety Executive but there has been no instruction to remove the flooring in Ward 3, which is the same throughout Wishaw General."

One hospital worker said: "Most of the staff think there's a problem with the flooring. The patients there are extremely frail and I have lost count of the number of serious falls that have been recorded. It will cost the taxpayer a fortune if the flooring is found to be dangerous." An investigation has now been launched to find out whether the condition of the floor is putting patients and staff at risk.

Developmental problems in frogs and fish exposed to minute quantities of common antidepressants

University of Georgia researchers have discovered developmental problems in frogs and fish exposed to minute quantities of common antidepressants that can pass from humans through sewage treatment systems into rivers and streams. The scientists have been studying the toxicity of a widely used group of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are commonly prescribed for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders and social phobia. Some of the drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Celexa, have been found in low concentrations in surface water, particularly wastewater.

Widow blames Psychs for huband's murder at hand of schizophrenic.

The widow of a pensioner brutally killed by a schizophrenic yesterday said the "experts" who discharged her husband's killer from a mental hospital were as much to blame as the killer himself. A tearful Enid Dodd said Paul Khan should never be released.

She was speaking at a press conference after Khan was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Brian Dodd in March this year. Mr Dodd was walking his dog at a car park in Prestatyn, North Wales when he was attacked by Khan and stabbed more than 30 times in the head, leaving him unrecognisable to his wife. Mrs Dodd blamed her husband's death on the tribunal that set Khan free.

She said, "If any of these so-called expert committees ever think of letting this man or anyone like him out on the street again, they should seriously think about what happened last time. If it wasn't for them, my beautiful husband would be alive today and I wouldn't have to live the rest of my life alone. Every morning and every night before I go to sleep I think how my husband was killed. I shall have to live with that for the rest of my life. This was a crime that could have been prevented. The people who agreed to discharge him are as much to blame as Paul Khan."

Psych Center employee charged with patient neglect

Joanne Mallon, 40, was an employee at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center at the time of her arrest, has been charged with neglecting an 87-year-old Bayside [New York] woman under her care, leaving the Alzheimer’s victim in her own filth and her house in foul condition, according to the Queens DA’s office.

Mallon was arrested Aug. 22 and arraigned Oct. 13 on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of an incompetent person, said a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Mallon faces up to a year in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted, the DA spokeswoman said.

According to the district attorney’s criminal complaint, police responded to the home of the elderly woman on 56th Avenue and 214th Street Aug. 22 and found her house “in utter disarray, clothing piled throughout the residence from floor to ceiling, filth, stench and spoiled food.” The elderly woman, whom neighbors and friends identified as former St. Robert Bellarmine teacher Mary Rose Johnson, was found covered in feces, according to the complaint.

Mallon’s attorney, Maura Nicolosi, said she had worked for Johnson for several years. Nicolosi said the charges against her client would probably be dropped. “There is no medical proof to substantiate the claim that she was neglected,” the lawyer said.

yeh, right.

Former psychologist gets 30 days in sexual assault

A former Maine psychologist is going to jail for 30 days for having sex with a patient he was treating. Forrest Sherman, 54, of Rockport, was sentenced by Superior Court Justice John Atwood to two years in jail with all but 30 days suspended. He also was ordered to serve two years of probation. Sherman had pleaded guilty to one count of gross sexual assault for having sex with an adult patient. The victim said they had a sexual relationship between 1995 and 1997 in Sherman´s Rockport office and at his home. State law, citing the vulnerability of people seeking care from mental health professionals, stipulates that a psychiatrist, psychologist or licensed social worker can be charged for having sex with a patient. Sherman said in a state police affidavit that he had sex with the woman, who was 43 at the time, and that he received Medicaid reimbursements for the woman´s therapy visits. The victim won a settlement in a civil court case against Sherman.

Patients testify against therapist

According to an expert who testified Wednesday at a disciplinary hearing in Billings, Montana, psychologist Constance Reynolds not only broke laws and fundamental ethical guidelines, she put her clients' lives at risk by drawing them into a web of sexual and business relationships, according to an expert who testified Wednesday at a disciplinary hearing in Billings. The allegations against Reynolds include everything from having a sexual relationship with a client to buying a house from another client. The state wants to strip Reynolds of her license.

State administrative law judge Greg Hanchett is hearing evidence on the case this week. Despite objections from Reynolds' attorney, Hanchett kept the hearing open to the public. Following the hearing, he will issue a finding of fact, which will then be considered by the State Board of Psychology. The board has the ultimate power to revoke Reynolds' license and issue fines. Reynolds, who holds a doctoral degree, continues to operate her practice, Lifeworks, at 145 Grand Ave.

Many more details on this horror story at the link.

Attorney General suspends sex researcher's license

In Terre Haute, at Indiana State University, there are questions about a now defunct sex research lab run by former professor and psychologist Jerome Cerny. The Indiana Attorney General has suspended his license. "We felt that Dr. Cerny represented a clear and immediate danger to the public heath and safety become of the sexual allegations levied against him," said Deputy Indiana Attorney General Barclay Wong.

Professor Cerny was studying human sexual response in his male students but, according to civil lawsuits and state investigators, he stepped way over the line. He basically abuses his role as a supervisor and researcher towards these students," said Wong."The allegations are of both a physical and verbal nature." He allegedly touched the genitals of student subjects as he attached them to diagnostic machines. Even unwanted touching and grabbing in the hallways.


According to Wong, most of the people that Dr. Cerny molested were not official research participants. No consent forms had been signed. Cerny left Indiana State last year. He and the university now face civil suits.

Psychologist resigns over sexual imagery used in training seminar

As seen in these reports

The psychologist for a suburban school district has submitted his resignation following an uproar over a graphic image he showed during a presentation to a school training session in August. Psychologist Dan Pezzulo said the image of male genitalia, which also featured the superimposed head of Osama bin Laden, was intended to lighten the mood during a training session on confidentiality for about 350 teachers and administrators.

There were some snickers during the Aug. 21 presentation at the Gateway School District, but a number of teachers and members of the Family-Teacher Association said they were appalled. Pezzulo, who provided testing and counseling for kindergarten through 12th grade students, has been on unpaid leave since the incident. The school board will vote on his resignation Wednesday.

Pezzulo also has a private practice and has hosted a segment on a local cable television channel called "Tips From Dr. Dan." The segments featured messages to youths such as "Never Take a Guilt Trip Again."

"Never Take a Guilt Trip Again." [???] sounds like an under-developed sense of social responsibility to me. Another more detailed report here

Neuro-Marketing, researching mind control for profit

The New York TimeS (free reg required) has an excellent extended article on the efforts of psychiatrists and brain scientists to help marketers control your shopping impulses for fun and profit. They are using MRIs and every other tool to try to figure out how to make products more compulsively irresistable to the average consumer.

For all their admirable successes, neuroscientists do not yet have an agreed-upon map of the brain. ''I keep joking that I could do this Gucci shoes study, where I'd show people shoes I think are beautiful, and see whether women like them,'' says Elizabeth Phelps, a professor of psychology at New York University. ''And I'll see activity in the brain. I definitely will. But it's not like I've found 'the shoe center of the brain.'''

James Twitchell, a professor of advertising at the University of Florida, wonders whether neuromarketing isn't just the next stage of scientific pretense on the part of the advertising industry. ''Remember, you have to ask the client for millions, millions of dollars,'' he says. ''So you have to say: 'Trust me. We have data. We've done these neurotests. Go with us, we know what we're doing.''' Twitchell recently attended an advertising conference where a marketer discussed neuromarketing. The entire room sat in awe as the speaker suggested that neuroscience will finally crack open the mind of the shopper. ''A lot of it is just garbage,'' he says, ''but the garbage is so powerful.''

Doesn't stop them from trying

41 Deaths Linked to Anti-Depressants

A new study has linked anti-depressants to 41 deaths as use of the drugs soars to record highs. Of the 200 poisoning deaths in New Zealand in 2001, antidepressants were involved in 41 cases and caused 23 deaths, a Dunedin Medical School study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal found. Study co-author and National Poisons Centre medical toxicologist John Fountain said drug overdose was the suspected cause in most of the 23 deaths attributed to antidepressants. The drugs were potent and had nasty effects on the heart if taken in overdose, Mr Fountain said.

In 2001, there were more than 1.5 million prescriptions for antidepressants in New Zealand – enough to treat about 100,000 patients for one year, or 3 per cent of the total population. Latest Pharmac figures show antidepressant use has more than doubled during the past decade, from 360,000 prescriptions for an estimated 90,000 users in 1993 to 740,000 prescriptions in the year to June, for an estimated 187,000 users.

While there was some recognition antidepressants could be associated with suicide, this had never before been quantified, Mr Fountain said.

Fraudulent Psychiatric Claims filed by Illinois agency

Youth Empire Services in Illinois is under investigation for inappropriately billing child psychiatric services billed under the medicaid ID numbers of psychiatrists working for them. Most of the children served by YES are wards of the state. The agency provides support for foster parents and children, including psychiatric and psychological counseling. "Probably half the people on here, I've never seen, I've never met, I've never heard of," said one psychiatrist, referring to the list of alleged patients.

Extensive report at the link.

Doctor Gets Five Years in Prescription Drug Conspiracy

As reported on KCTV5 news:

A doctor who admitted prescribing drugs illegally will spend five years in prison without parole. Bruce N. Parsa, 40, an osteopathic psychiatrist from suburban Leawood, pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to distribute several prescription drugs. In June he pleaded guilty to four counts of using a revoked registration number to obtain drugs. U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren said Parsa was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber, who also ordered three years of probation after Parsa gets out of prison.

At the plea hearing Parsa admitted that between January 2000 and mid-December 2001, while working as a psychiatrist in Leawood and Leavenworth, he conspired with others to dispense a large quantity of amphetamines and narcotics. He also admitted issuing more than 200 prescriptions "outside the score of his professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose," some of them for his own use. Parsa's wife, Angela J. Parsa, also 40, was sentenced last month to three years of probation and fined $1,000. In July she pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining a fraudulent prescription.

No Show Job cutting hair at the Psych Hosptial

Cosmo Cerrigone, barber to James Treffinger, was ordered yesterday to repay New Jersey's Essex County $57,000 for haircuts he never gave in a government job he rarely showed up for. Treffinger was sentenced last week to 13 months in prison on fraud and obstruction charges related to the investigation.

For nearly seven years, Cosmo Cerrigone, a popular 56-year-old Cedar Grove stylist, accepted a county salary that ranged as high as $17,000 to cut hair for psychiatric patients at the Essex County Hospital Center. The hospital is two miles from Vie Veneto, a men's salon where Cerrigone and his brother have wielded scissors, clippers and blow dryers for decades.

But Cerrigone rarely reported to the hospital. When confronted by the FBI in April 2002, he told agents the phantom job was a reward after he "agreed to use his substantial contacts in the community to secure votes for Treffinger," according to a presentencing memo prepared by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Perry Carbone and Nelson Thayer.

Hospital doctor misdiagnosed 618 children as epileptics

For three yeas a hospital ignored a flood of complaints and concerns about Dr Andrew Holton who misdiagnosed more than 600 children with epilepsy, an inquiry by Britain's Department of Health has found. During that time. Doctor Holton continued to diagnose children with epilepsy who did not have it and administer powerful and unnecessary drugs, the effect of which will leave permanent damage in some cases. Administrative records at the hospital were chaotic and there was no formal record of Dr Holton's training, allowing him to promote himself and be accepted as a paediatric neurologist even though he was not.

Nuerologists are not psychiatrists, but some come close enough to deserve scrutiny.

The Accutane Team: Lawyers helping the victims of Accutane

The Accutane team is at the cutting edge of accutane drug litigation. Our lawyers speak about Accutane cases to other lawyers at a national level. We believe your fight against Roche Pharmaceuticals is our battle. Three proven personal injury firms have joined forces for the sole purpose of helping accutane victims. Each of the distinguished law firms combine to form an effective adversary against a major pharmaceutical company.

They have an extensive collection of web pages giving information on the various side effects. Including, of course, psychiatric problems

FDA to investigate Antidepressant Reports Of Suicidality In Children

Reports of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in pediatric patients receiving antidepressants for major depressive disorder will be discussed at a Feb. 2, 2004 joint meeting of FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Pediatric Subcommittee of the Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee will review the reports of suicidality from clinical trials of antidepressants and consider optimal approaches to analysis of the data. The group will also consider what regulatory action may be needed for clinical use of these products in pediatric patients and what further research is needed to address questions on the topic.

Let Them Eat Prozac

Interesting review in the Globe and Mail of the book Let Them Eat Prozac by By David Healy:

Before Prozac, few people risked getting depression. Now, it seems, we are all at risk. Better pay close attention, then, to David Healy's wonderfully perspicuous account of how a treatment can manufacture disease.

Of course, depression has always been with us, and Healy presents some moving stories of how this disease can blight the lives of those affected. The great boom in depressive illness, however, dates back only to the discovery and marketing of Prozac.

Prior to the 1990s, comparatively few people were thought to suffer from depression: perhaps one person in 10,000. With the discovery of the Prozac family of drugs there came, not coincidentally, an explosive increase in diagnoses of depressive illness.

Current estimates claim that one in 10 of the population is clinically depressed. A thousand-fold increase. In barely a decade, depression has gone from being a rare disorder to being classed as one of the greatest afflictions of humankind -- requiring that millions of comparatively healthy people be treated with powerful medication.

An old cliche jumps irresistibly to mind: To the man with a hammer in his hand, everything looks like a nail.

As the reviewer says:

There may be only 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are at least 150 ways to design drug experiments so that they are skewed in favour of the sponsoring company's products. From my own research on the ethics of clinical trials, I thought I knew all the tricks of the trade. I was mistaken. Healy has taught me some new ones.

Want to eliminate evidence of dangerous side effects from your new anti-depressant? [...] when volunteers enrolled in the experiment become agitated (and potentially suicidal or violent), code them as "failing to respond to treatment." Amazingly, by this simple sleight of hand, the alarming side effects disappear. What isn't recorded doesn't exist.

Finding Prozac in the river water and in the game fish

How much Prozac is too much?

Researchers at Baylor University have found traces of the pharmaceutical antidepressant in the livers, muscles and brains of game fish in a Denton County [Texas] creek, raising concerns about the welfare of the popular sports fish and people who eat them. The chemical is fluoxetine -- the primary component in Prozac. It likely came from a city of Denton wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into Pecan Creek and flows into Lake Lewisville in North Texas. Traces of the drug that are not absorbed into the body can flow down the toilet and through wastewater treatment plants, which are not designed to filter out pharmaceuticals.

This latest research comes on the heels of similar recent studies involving other drugs in the water. Research, for example, found that some male fish in Denton County are developing female characteristics because estrogen from prescription drugs is winding up in the water. The estrogen -- from birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy and other sources -- could reduce the fish population by rendering some males unable to breed.

So much is being prescribed that it is showing up in the wildlife? talk about pollution ...

Mental Disability Rights International

Mental Disability Rights International [MDRI] is a non-governmental advocacy organization working for the international recognition and enforcement of the rights of people with mental disabilities.

As noted in this story on the increasing use of video journalism, a film co-produced with Witness, a group that has placed video cameras in the hands of human rights groups, recently led to the closure of several abusive psychiatric hospitals in Mexico.

They have a number of excellent publications available online

Illinois Psych Escapes to Montana

Dr. Bennett Braun, a psychiatrist who was disciplined in Illinois has resumed his medical practice in Helena, Montana. Dr. Braun was disciplined for allegedly using drugs and hypnosis to convince a family it was involved in satanic and cannibalistic cults.

He said two years ago that he was fed up with his profession and would not return to it, but has since received his state physician's license in June and began soliciting patients Oct. 1st. The former Chicago-area doctor agreed to a two-year suspension of his medical license in October 1999 and five years probation after accusations by a former patient.

The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation filed a nine-count complaint against Braun that led to his license suspension. The complaint accused him of "dishonorable, unethical and unprofessional conduct." Braun said he didn't contest his license suspension and $5,000 fine because he was exhausted financially, emotionally and physically. He said he spent about $500,000 to initially fight the disciplinary case.

His malpractice insurer agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement, and Braun has sued the company for $20 million, saying the deal was struck over his objections and in violation of his policy. Howard Brinton, Braun's attorney, said the case is before an Illinois appellate court.

Prozac may be hazardous to your health insurance

According to MSNBC, Individual health insurers may deny you coverage based on your medical history if it includes:

Use of prescription drugs to treat anxiety, depression or a physical condition, including Ativan, Klonipin, Paxil, Prozac, Serzone, Zoloft, Xanax and Wellbutrin.

Counseling for anxiety, depression, grief or an eating or sleep disorder. Even if you briefly sought counseling as a way to cope with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, you could be denied individual health insurance, according to researchers with Georgetown's Health Privacy Project.

As one doctor explained it: "People who've always had group health insurance are completely unprepared when they're forced to seek coverage in this (individual health insurance) market. They think they're going to get the same coverage they had in their jobs, except they'll just have to pay a little more money. It's absolutely not like that at all. The individual health insurance market is unpredictable, inconsistent and expensive."

An extensive article detailing the problems of individual health insurance. The costs for insurance for a fictional individual patient was all over the map.

Fake Shrink's evidence influencing appeals

A woman jailed for eight years for disposing of her murdered daughter’s body is to amend her appeal after it emerged her background court report was prepared by a psychologist who had lied about his qualifications. Lawyers acting for Tracy Reid are to raise questions about Gary Macpherson, a clinical psychologist whose report influenced the decision of the judge trying her case. He had falsely claimed to have a doctorate when he submitted court reports as an expert witness in other cases in 2000 and 2001. [...] Psychological reports on Reid were prepared by Macpherson, whose previous use of the qualification DClinPsychol has been investigated by Greater Glasgow Primary Care Trust, the State Hospital in Carstairs, where he is now employed, and by the British Psychological Society.

This guy is in trouble

Is Prozac, the wonder drug of the 1990s, just a jumped-up placebo?

As seen on the British website Spiked

At the height of the so-called Prozac Revolution in the early 1990s, fans of the drug made some grand claims for the new pharmaceutical marvel on the block. [...] Since those heady days, however, the reputations of Prozac and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) have taken a beating, not least when GlaxoSmithKlein was forced to abandon the claim that its SSRI, Seroxat, had no withdrawal symptoms. Worse might be on the way - a growing number of people is beginning to suspect that rather than being panaceas, these drugs might be no more than glorified placebos. [...]

It is worth noting that to register a drug, the FDA requires that two trials show it to perform better than placebo. One of the drugs needed nine trials to return two positive ones, the other seven being rejected. 'The whole thing is a pseudo-science', says Kirsch. 'These trials do not show that the drugs are significantly better than placebos.' This is not isolated evidence.

Good article, worth reading. The evidence is building up on the scam behind these drugs.

Taking Seroxat is increasingly being used as a defence for criminal behaviour

Taking Seroxat is increasingly being used as a defence for criminal behaviour. In one case in England, a man had charges dropped against him after claiming the drug turned him into a robber. The drug has been linked to a number of suicides and is currently under review. But its makers - the drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline say that millions of patients around the world have taken it without suffering any ill-effects.

See the extended interview here on the BBC.

[To investigate the doubts surrounding Seroxat, BBC Breakfast's Luisa Baldini talked to Mark Hamilton, who claims that the drug turned him into a violent robber. Full transcript at the link]

Scientists reconsiders position recommending psych drug

As reported in the Guardian

The scientist who led the latest trial of an antidepressant drug given to children, which claimed that it was effective and safe, has conceded to the Guardian that the drug's potential to cause suicidal thinking needs to be investigated. Last month the Journal of the American Medical Association published results from two trials of children treated with Pfizer's antidepressant drug Lustral, known in the US as Zoloft.

Seventeen children who were given the drug were pulled out of the trial because of side effects, compared with five who were given a placebo. Only 10% more children improved on the drug than improved on a placebo.

The researchers nonetheless concluded that "the results of this pooled analysis demonstrate that sertraline (Lustral) is an effective and well-tolerated short-term treatment for children and adolescents with major depressive disorder".

Obviously, they are right to reconsider their position. What are these people thinking? What are their priorities?

Parents of suicide victim sue Accutane maker

The parents of a 14-year-old Palo Alto boy who threw himself in front of a train last year are suing the manufacturer of Accutane, a popular prescription drug the freshman was using to treat his acne, but which the family claims led to his suicide. Barry and Laurie Wertheimer of Palo Alto filed the lawsuit this week in Santa Clara County Superior Court against Hoffmann-La Roche for negligence, fraud and deceit, and medical negligence, among other charges.

The family is seeking a jury trial and unspecified general and punitive damages. "Steven Wertheimer's suicide was yet another tragic consequence of the ingestion of the acne drug Isotretinion, more commonly known as 'Accutane,' which Steven had been prescribed and taken over a six-month period," the lawsuit reads.

Psychiatrist's license put on probation

Dr. Stephen Rodney Kirkham has had his psychiatrist's license put on probation for five years because of his history of alcohol and drug abuse, according to the state's medical licensing board.

Dismissed for inappropriate conduct

Dr Neil McQuire, 52, is under investigation by British Psychological Society conduct committee in central London for inappropriate conduct with a female domestic violence victim. He has said he did not believe his behaviour towards the patient was wrong in the context of therapy, but agreed some of his actions or comments could be “open to misinterpretation”. He says that many of the allegations made by the patient – referred to only by the initials SK – were simply “untrue”. He told the committee that from May 1998, he had been made aware that his approach and therapy had sometimes crossed personal boundaries.

Dr McQuire, an associate fellow of the BPS, was dismissed from his post as a consultant clinical psychologist with Rochdale Healthcare NHS Trust in February 2002 for gross misconduct after a series of complaints by female patients over “inappropriate touching and comments”.

Update

Dr Neil McQuire, has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

Among other things, he allegedly told a young Asian woman he could see her in a relationship with a “white man” and that he was sad it could not be with him.

The British Psychological Society’s conduct committee said the father-of-three, of Clay Lane, Norden, Rochdale, Lancashire, had “violated the boundaries of therapeutic relationships” with a number of woman, even after receiving oral and written warnings by his employers.

German Doctor denies mass euthanasia involvement

A German doctor under police investigation over the deaths of 76 people insisted in a newspaper interview that she was innocent. "I'm no angel of death," Mechthild Bach told the Neue Presse newspaper in Hanover, central Germany, where the investigation is being coordinated.

The 53-year-old denied allegations she had deliberately killed patients by injecting them with fatally high doses of morphine. "There is nothing true in these claims," she said, putting the blame on a health insurance company which she said wanted to close the clinic where she worked.

She said she had instead "accompanied people into death," but only after consultations with the patient and their family. The goal was to allow them to die "without pain, fear or suffering".

It is still not clear whether the patients had voiced any wish to die.

The prosecutor's office in Hanover has said it is unclear whether the high dosages were given deliberately or accidentally, or without Bach having told the patients of the potential deadly side-effects. Two bodies have been exhumed so far for further examination.

According to weekend press reports, several of those who died in her care had been admitted with ailments that were not terminal, and had not previously reported suffering. Helping someone to die at their own request is punishable under German law by between six months and five years in prison.

Over Medicating the USA

Lou Dobbs recent column raises questions about overmedicating in the USA.

American consumers, mostly children, account for more than 90% of global consumption of such stimulants. "If we have four or five times the learning disability or depression or other neurotic illnesses that the Europeans do," Caplan says, "then either we got a really bad gene pool through immigration or we're overmedicating."

and, of course, the other answer is that everyone else is crazy.....

yeh, that's the answer ....

right

Prozac blamed for suicide, again

As reported in many Newspapers

A woman who blames her husband's suicide on Prozac has filed a lawsuit claiming that Eli Lilly & Co. should have warned patients that some people's bodies cannot metabolize the drug's active ingredient. The lawsuit filed against the Indianapolis-based drugmaker Thursday in Marion County Superior Court is the second to make such a claim. Lilly, which contends the drug is safe, settled a similar case in Georgia this spring.

But Houston attorney Andy Vickery, who has filed more than 20 lawsuits against the drugmaker including the Georgia suit, said this case is different. "This is the first case involving Lilly that we have hard scientific proof that our client had a hard time metabolizing Prozac," he said. A blood test found high levels of fluoxetine, Prozac's active ingredient, in the body of Clarkston, Mich., police officer Daren Alli following his May 23, 2001 suicide, alleges the lawsuit.

Alli had taken Prozac for three days to alleviate a "mild" case of depression, but threw the pills in the toilet after they made him "jumpy" and "jittery," said his widow, Michele.

Four days later, the SWAT team captain shot himself in the head with a .38-caliber revolver.

Two Psychologists under the gun

Psychological testing for the Broward Public Defender's Office is in disarray after the procedures of two prominent psychologists in murder cases have come into question. Another psychologist, Sherrie Bourg Carter, alleged that William Vicary and David Shapiro either deliberately contaminated tests by coaching murder defendants or manipulated answers to help the defense attorneys who hired them. Also, Shapiro was criticized for using unlicensed student interns to conduct tests in first-degree murder cases such as Polanco's.

Drugs, lies, and half-truths

Good article in the Christian Science Monitor looks at the problems in fighting drug addiction, and the messages that get sent to kids.

"The whole psychiatry movement basically got hijacked by the pharmaceutical industry in the late '80s," he [Dr Lawrence Diller] charges. "The discovery of certain drugs and the power of certain drug companies actually altered the way we think of ourselves."

"I worry that Ritalin becomes a substitute for other important factors, such as parents parenting better and teachers teaching better," he says. When that happens, he says, "the doctor winds up being complicit with values that are not good for children."

Society is normalizing the use of self-improvement drugs, and kids are acutely aware of that, says Peter Kramer, a professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and author of "Listening to Prozac."

"There's a phenomenon of giving medication to people who are fairly healthy," he says, "and having them overshoot to a point where they are more culturally rewarded."

That may be one reason why it's hard for today's adolescents to absorb the message when adults want them to understand that drugs can also be dangerous.

well, duh ...