Psychological claims [in a court of law] have grown steadily in the last 20 years. Psychological claims include allegations of emotional distress, brain damage (neuropsychological deficits) and fear of future illness. A growing problem in these cases is the unwillingness of some psychologists to disclose their tests and test data to attorneys wishing to depose or cross-examine them.
Many psychologists produce their data promptly when asked to do so by litigating attorneys. Others refuse, claiming that it is unethical to disclose tests or test data to insurers, attorneys or jurors. It is irresponsible for the courts to permit psychologists retained by parties in litigation to determine what is relevant for juries to review. Doing so allows psychologists to displace the court. Without seeing the tests and test data, an attorney cannot possibly fully understand the methodology or the reasoning process used to draw conclusions from test data, and cannot possibly fully cross-examine the expert on the reliability and validity of the allegedly scientific methodology. Giving psychologists this power is not in the best interests of consumers and is against social policy.
To prevent psychologists from hiding and withholding evidence, there needs to be a generally accepted policy for temporary, controlled disclosure of tests and test data in court proceedings. These policies and procedures should be consistent with applicable law. Until psychologists are required to comply with a systematic protocol for handling test data, they will continue to mislead adjusters, judges and attorneys with contradictory and erroneous claims about what is ethical and legal. Is it ethical?
Psychologists who claim that the ethical code of psychologists prohibits disclosure of tests and raw test data to attorneys, judges and jurors are misinformed. There is no such prohibition anywhere in the ethical principles and code of conduct of psychologists and there never has been. On the contrary, in the currently applicable ethics for psychologists, set by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1992, Ethical Standard 1.23(b) specifies that psychologists involved in legal proceedings have the responsibility to create and maintain documentation in detail, of sufficient quality to allow reasonable scrutiny in court proceedings. Competent psychologists know from the outset that their work will be scrutinized in the context of trial proceedings.
[...]
In some states, psychologists have persuaded their legislatures to make it illegal for psychologists to release test questions and test data to non-psychologists. This is a bizarre achievement in light of the widespread disclosure of tests, answers to tests and sample test data to the public. Copies of copyrighted tests and test manuals are sent to the Library of Congress. There, they are available to any library patron who asks, and accessible to residents of other areas through inter-library loan services, consultants and professional research services. The contents of many of the most widely used tests are available to the public in texts that can be purchased through public bookstores or borrowed from libraries.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Are Psychologists Hiding Evidence?
How 'junk science' has put a lot of disorders into the DSM for dubious legal reasons
In 2005, David Feige explained in an article in Slate Magazine how "junk science" has put a lot of disorders into the DSM for dubious legal reasons. "[This syndrome] is part of an ever widening matrix of criminal-justice-related mental-health syndromes whose main goal seems to be to explain away otherwise damaging evidence." This was in the context of a variety of 'expert witnesses' during the Michael Jackson trial, which was taking place at the time.
Here are some bits from that article
Urquiza, called earlier in the trial as an expert witness for the prosecution, testified about something called "child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome," or CSAAS.
He had never examined Mr. Jackson's accuser. He didn't need to.
As it turns out, CSAAS … explains everything.
CSAAS is part of an ever widening matrix of criminal-justice-related mental-health syndromes whose main goal seems to be to explain away otherwise damaging evidence. Rape trauma syndrome (or RTS), battered-woman's syndrome (or BWS), and CSAAS are all examples of this burgeoning field.
Etiologically, all three syndromes are the stepchildren of post-traumatic stress disorder (first diagnostically validated by inclusion in the 1980 version of the psychologist's bible — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition). And, much like their parent, they all share flexible criteria easily applied to … well, pretty much everything.
And that's the whole problem.
Unlike diseases or disorders in which signs (physical phenomena like bruises) or symptoms (subjective complaints like "my elbow hurts") imply a specific cause (you injured your elbow), syndromes (which are also groups of signs and symptoms) may—but don't necessarily—imply a specific cause. As a consequence, although syndromes may sound scientific, their diagnostic value varies wildly.
CSAAS is, simply put, not diagnostic. First named and described in 1983 in an article by Dr. Roland Summit that described five general attributes of child sexual victims (secrecy, helplessness, denial, delayed disclosure, and retraction), Summit himself has conceded the lack of compelling empirical research support for the syndrome. And when lawyers start importing these scientific curiosities into the courtroom, we all have a serious problem.
[...]
CSAAS is a prosecutorial silver bullet and a fabricator's best friend. Every mistake you make is consistent with it; every mistake you don't make further confirms your credibility. No wonder prosecutors rely on it to bolster disintegrating cases. By making credibility tautological, CSAAS makes it nearly impossible to present a defense or attack an incredible witness. To make matters worse, CSAAS testimony is deeply appealing to jurors because of its soothing reassurance that otherwise inexplicable or incredible behavior is merely a manifestation of the actual trauma they all expect to see in a victim.
According to CSAAS experts, not reporting abuse is consistent with suffering from child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. So is bad behavior, trouble in school, the failure to tell an accurate story, and even the recantation of the entire allegation of abuse. In other words, every criterion usually used by the defense to discredit a witness is actually transubstantiated into evidence that is perfectly consistent with abuse.
And here's the genius: Not exhibiting these signs of CSAAS doesn't mean a child wasn't abused—just that he or she didn't get the syndrome. In other words, a noncredible witness is suffering from the syndrome, but a credible one is merely a credible witness who was legitimately abused.
[...]
Ultimately, though, damage from this pseudoscientific syndrome testimony undermines far more than the fairness of Michael Jackson's trial. By creating the ability to explain away any behavior, syndrome testimony threatens to erode our ability to hold both the alleged victims and the alleged perpetrators to account for their actions. With syndrome testimony we find ourselves in a frictionless world where up is down, falsehood is truth, and there is an excuse for everything.
Ultimately, the problem with the Orwellian world of syndrome testimony is that anything goes, and everyone goes to jail. Don't like my tone? Blame angry author syndrome. Fail to follow my argument? Maybe you have an abstract reasoning deficit disorder. Getting angry? Want to stab me? Fear not, I'm sure a doctor (maybe even Urquiza himself) will be willing to testify that you are simply suffering from overreactive reader's syndrome.
And so it goes
Can a psychiatrist really tell what's wrong with you?
In 1973, academic psychologist D.L. Rosenhan sent himself and seven friends and colleagues to the psychiatric emergency rooms of 12 different hospitals. Each told ER workers that for several weeks he or she had been distressed by voices saying "empty," "hollow," and "thud." The testers gave false names and occupations but otherwise accurately reported their histories, which did not include mental illness. In all 12 instances they were admitted to a psychiatric ward. At that point, they stopped pretending to have symptoms.
Nonetheless, they were held for an average of 19 days (their stays ranged from seven to 52 days) and were all released with a diagnosis of "schizophrenia, in remission," or something like it. Rosenhan titled his study "On Being Sane in Insane Places" and argued that psychiatric diagnosis has more to do with the presumptions of clinicians, and their tendency to treat ordinary behavior as pathological when it occurs on a psych ward, than with a rational assessment of symptoms.
The sweeping conclusions that Rosenhan drew from his elegant hoax are debatable. But in her 2004 book, Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the 20th Century, journalist Lauren Slater claimed to have replicated Rosenhan's results to some degree. She said she visited nine psychiatric ERs incognito and reported having the same auditory hallucinations mentioned in Rosenhan's study. Although she was never admitted as an inpatient, she says she received multiple prescriptions and was diagnosed with "depression with psychotic features" every time.
This was not supposed to happen. In 1980, the field had overhauled the manual used to classify mental disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Speculative Freudian theories of disease etiology were discarded in favor of straightforward descriptions of pathological behavior and checklists of behavioral symptoms for each diagnosis. The goal was to increase the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis.
In response to Slater, psychiatrists struck back with their own study. A team led by Columbia University's Robert Spitzer, who spearheaded the revision of the DSM in 1980, sent a survey to 431 ER psychiatrists. The survey presented a Rosenhan-model vignette—a person without a history of mental illness says she is bothered by a voice saying "thud." Of the 74 psychiatrists who responded, 80 percent said they would not give a firm diagnosis without more information, 82 percent said they would send the patient to an outpatient clinic rather than recommend hospitalization, and 66 percent said they would not prescribe medication. The study was published last November in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The editors gave Slater space to respond, and she belittled Spitzer's reliance on surveys rather than real testers.
Spitzer relied on a survey for practical reasons—these days, sending pseudo-patients to ERs would be expensive and ethically dubious. But the survey method conveniently sidesteps many of the variables that continue to plague psychiatric diagnosis. I was a social-work clinician in a community mental health center in Seattle for nearly two years. Most patients coming through my office had received more-or-less consistent diagnoses, from many different clinics, over the course of their illness. But a significant minority had not.
Perhaps the most important reason for a wrong diagnosis is the lack of time most clinicians have to do the job. The initial interview with a patient usually lasts less than an hour. Many are defensive or show ambiguous symptoms. Yet the rules of insurance reimbursement are relentless—you have to come up with an immediate diagnosis and treatment plan, which usually means a medication trial. Often follow-up "med checks" last only 15 to 20 minutes and occur just every few weeks or months. Even if patients are admitted to a hospital, they rarely stay longer than a few days. In these circumstances, a hasty initial diagnosis may never get revisited. [...]
Of course, doctors in other specialties face time constraints and other threats to accurate diagnosis. But unlike psychiatrists, they usually have a molecular definition of disease to go on and biological tests to administer. [...]
But it cannot be denied that the DSM is not a collection of diseases so much as syndromes — groupings of symptoms that may have many different molecular causes. Because the molecular causes are largely unknown, biological tests don't exist, and a psychiatrist making a diagnosis is left without the lab results that in other areas of medicine help correct doctors' subjective impressions. [...]
The Rosenhan study, which is still mentioned in undergraduate textbooks, continues to be an albatross for psychiatry. [...]
State fines psychiatrist for dating patient
As seen in The Morning Call Online
A psychiatrist who once ran the psychiatry department at Lehigh Valley Hospital was put on probation for having dated a patient and failing to record medicines he prescribed for her.
Dr. John F. Mitchell, who lives in Zionsville [Pennsylvania] and has a private counseling practice in Salisbury Township and an outpatient clinic in Emmaus, agreed to pay a fine of $7,000 and take a course in ''boundary violations'' to avoid losing his license for three years, according to the State Board of Medicine, which ruled on the violations in March and published its ruling on Wednesday.
The order alleged that Mitchell engaged in a personal and romantic relationship with a female patient and prescribed medicines to a patient without recording the prescriptions. State officials did not identify the patient or the person who filed the complaint.
Mitchell, 54, has been a psychiatrist for 24 years. He came to Allentown in 1984 and was chief of psychiatry at the former Allentown Hospital, which became Lehigh Valley Hospital-Allentown, from 1985 to 1988.
Mitchell said he had stopped treating the patient for more than a year before the relationship started, but that regulations require at least a two-year wait. He said he did not record the prescriptions he wrote for the woman because at the time she was no longer his patient.
Psychiatry and disease mongering: Road Rage Disorder is latest spontaneously 'discovered' disease
It's good to see some good sense starting to make it's way around the internet
Disease mongering has reached a new level of ridiculousness with the widely-reported announcement that millions of American now have undiagnosed Road Rage Disorder, also sometimes called Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Desperate to scrounge up new diseases that can be treated with high-profit prescription drugs, Big Pharma and its disease-pushing sidekick, psychiatry, is now pulling diseases out of thin air, making them up as it goes along, and hoping enough impressionable consumers (and journalists) can be hoodwinked into thinking every fictitious disease is actually real.
Road Rage Disorder is merely the latest disease quackery drummed up by the pharmaceutical industry. Many people don't know this, but Big Pharma actually hires psychiatrists to invent, then publicize new "diseases." They actually sit around in rooms, brainstorming new disease ideas and figuring out how to convince the public that those diseases exist. That's where they come up with junk science statements like, "This is the most common disease you've never heard of!"
The psychiatric community has now become the disease invention branch of Big Pharma. Psychiatrists dream up disorders, and drug companies market the "treatment" that just happens to have been recently FDA approved. Notice how new diseases or disorders only get publicized and advertised after the FDA approves a Big Pharma drug to treat them? These diseases apparently spontaneously afflict huge numbers of Americans only in the days following the FDA approval of any drug that might treat such diseases. Imagine the odds.
To think, all these years, we've all been running around with Intermittent Explosive Disorder and we didn't even know it! The horrors!
The crooks running this medical scam are, of course, the drug company executives and psych doctors who have apparently decided they will now do absolutely anything to sell more drugs, including labeling perfectly healthy people as sick. As the number of truly ill people in society is limited, Big Pharma evil geniuses have figured out that the only way to increase their customer base is to start selling drugs to people who aren't sick. And the quickest way to do that is through disease mongering -- inventing, then marketing non-existent diseases to a gullible population that has grown far too comfortable with the idea that every human behavior is now a disease.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Psych Magazine gets Psychiatric Human Rights Movement History Wrong
An American Psychiatric Association official magazine, _Psychiatric Services_, has published an odd article (see below) in their June 2006 issue attempting to analyze the origins and history of the movement to challenge psychiatric human rights violations, especially the part of that movement led by psychiatric survivors.Here is a partial list of the errors
The authors of the essay, entitled "Evolution of the Antipsychiatry Movement Into Mental Health Consumerism," fail in many strange and curious ways. Their perspective and facts just do not match reality.
Examples of Bizarre Bias in _Psychiatric Services_ ArticleFull text of the original article, along with the full compiled list available at the above link
2. ORIGINS: The authors try to place the origin of our social change movement solely in the books of a few campus intellectuals and theoreticians, while many of us actually credit the civil rights movement and other grassroots movements as inspiration for grassroots psychiatric survivor and mental health consumer organizing. Believe it or not, we can and do start our own organizations.
3. BIOPSYCHIATRY PROVEN? The authors claim that studies now prove that "schizophrenia [is] at least biologically based." That is editorializing. Of course the authors' footnotes omit any citation to sources or scientific studies on this point for a simple reason: There are none.
4. LESS NEUROLEPTICS? The authors outrageously claim that psychiatry has "defused grievances" such as, "psychiatrists markedly reduced dosages of neuroleptics prescribed." As just one example that refutes this from this week's headlines, 6/6/06, the _NY Times_ revealed that neuroleptic prescriptions have gone up more than five-fold on youth. That's not a "reduction" for those youth. More neuroleptics are being given to more people than ever, along with polypharmacy where five or even ten psychiatric drugs are prescribed at the same time.
5. SHOCK AND PSYCHOSURGERY INCREASING! The authors also claim psychiatry has "defused grievances" because "electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery became marginalized." Marginalized? He means "gone undergrouund," because shock and psychosurgery have both experienced a huge resurgence in popularity within the profession, without adequate media scrutiny.
6. COMMITMENT STANDARDS ARE LOOSENING! The authors claim "compulsory commitments came under close judicial scrutiny," whatever that means. The reality is that countless US states have loosened and expanded commitment to such an extent, that disagreeing with one's psychiatrist is practically grounds for commitment today (such as "likelihood to deteriorate in the future without treatment," i.e., drugging).
12. MYTH OF "OUTSIDE AGITATORS": The authors try to portray a tiny group of antipsychiatrists as somehow subverting mental health consumers. It's the old divide-and-conquer trick of claiming there are "outside agitators." The reality is that the vast majority of the mental health systems' own clients, and all the organizations that truly represent them, speak out against human rights viololations on their own, and oppose practices like expanded outpatient commitment.
The authors claim that the National Council on Disability report somehow came out of the mouths of "antipsychiatrists," when actually dozens upon dozens of grassroots people who had experienced the mental health system testified to the NCD at a meeting of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy. Note how the authors change "advocacy" to "antipsychiatry" as a way to marginalize us.
13. APA CLOSED TO DIALOGUE: The authors claim that the American Psychiatric Association has found it difficult to dialogue with psychiatric survivor and mental health consumer critics. The reality is that the APA and similar groups have refused countless efforts to dialogue. A number of us even did a several-week hunger strike mainly asking for real dialogue. It's not as if the American Psychiatric Association can't find our office phone numbers. Difficult to dialogue with us? How about being _closed_ to dialogue?
15. LET US TELL OUR OWN STORY: And finally, in the big picture, the authors essentially try to impose a story, narrative, world view and paradigm upon us... without asking us what we think about our own lives. This explains the petty factual errors.
In the authors' view a few antipsychiatry intellectuals gave birth to antipsychiatry psychiatric survivor groups, and then faded away. Now these subversive antipsychiatry psychiatric survivors are supposedly manipulating mental health consumers to fight psychiatric power. It is almost as if the authors got their bizarre perspective on this point from extremist American Enterprise Institute psychiatrist Sally Satel... and there indeed Sally sits in the authors' footnotes.
Psychiatry falsely labeled many of us as clients... and now tries to falsely label us when we organize to speak out about inherent, rampant, severe and deadly human rights violations within their profession. How about honest dialogue, discussion, listening and communication... isn't that supposed to be mentally healthy, for everyone?
Exposure of Richard Cohen ex-gay 'cuddling therapy' causes rift
Another weird therapist with his bogus techniques, link include video from CNN
Cohen's methods have raised some questions, however; and he has lately taken sharp criticism over a May 23 appearance on Cable News Network (CNN), in which he demonstrated a technique that involves cuddling a male client in his lap. Another of the unusual therapy techniques depicted involved a client hitting a pillow with a tennis racket while shouting the name of a parent or other individual who elicits painful childhood memories.Of course, there's in fighting between the various celebrities in this arena. Oh joy.
Of course, the witty folks ar Fark.com described the original story this way:
"Formerly" homosexual Christian psychotherapist cures patients' unwanted homosexual tendencies with cuddling. Nope nothing suspicious about thatThere is a major controversy regarding Christian Psychotherapists and their claims to "cure" people of homosexuality. Both sides of the discussion have a loaded agenda.
Psychiatrist appeals his conviction for sex with patient
A psychiatrist who was found guilty in Launceston, Tasmania of having sex with a patient has appealed against the finding of professional misconduct and lengthy ban in the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart.
Ian Anthony Martin appealed on the grounds that a DNA sample match used as evidence should have been inadmissible as it breached the rules of evidence.
Dr Martin's counsel Dyson Hore- Lacey said that the match of DNA taken from vaginal swabs from the complainant and Dr Martin had been passed on to the Medical Complaints Tribunal by police illegally.
Mr Hore-Lacey also said that the complainant could have "planted" the DNA sample, as the sample was not semen but another substance.
In September, the Medical Complaints Tribunal found Dr Martin guilty of having a six-week sexual relationship with his client that was sexually predatory.
Dr Martin denied the claims, but the tribunal was told there was a one in 1.1 million chance that DNA found from the complainant's vaginal swabs were not from Mr Martin.
Dr Martin was deregistered for 15 years, which meant he could not practise anywhere in Australia for that period.
Tribunal counsel Philip Jackson said that the tribunal was not bound by the rules of evidence and had a right to inform itself in any way.
He said that the DNA sample "almost certainly" did not affect the outcome, which would have been guilty even without that evidence.
Mr Jackson also quoted Dr Martin that the idea the complainant planted the sample was a "flight of fancy" and "pure speculation".
Justice Peter Evans has heard the arguments and will hand down his decision soon.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Another Side Effect: REM Sleep Behavior Disorder at Young Age Linked to Antidepressant Use
As seen in this report on the Armenian Medical Network
A Mayo Clinic study has shown that the onset of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) at a younger age appears to be connected to antidepressant use.
RBD is a sleep disorder where patients act out their dreams, which are often unpleasant and violent, according to Maja Tippmann-Peikert, M.D., sleep medicine specialist, neurologist and study investigator. This acting out results from a loss of normal muscle paralysis in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the dream stage of sleep, which normally prevents enacting one’s dreams. RBD patients generally act out their dreams in a defensive posture, as if fending off an attacker, says R. Robert Auger, M.D., Mayo Clinic sleep medicine specialist, psychiatrist and primary investigator. The disorder is often recognized by a bed partner.
Although previously published case reports and a more recently published study have suggested the association between antidepressants and RBD, this study represents the first systematic demonstration of the relationship. Findings will be presented June 19 at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies’ SLEEP 2006 meeting in Salt Lake City.
"Our findings suggest that RBD in younger patients—in the 30s instead of the usual age of the 50s or older—is frequently linked to antidepressant use,” says Dr. Auger. “I’d interpret this to mean one of three things: 1) in younger patients, antidepressants can cause RBD, or 2) in younger patients, RBD results in psychiatric diagnoses that then result in antidepressant prescriptions, or 3) a common factor is causing both the RBD and the psychiatric diagnoses, which in turn results in antidepressant prescriptions. If medications are implicated in a direct manner, it may be an idiosyncratic effect, it could be related to the dose of medication, or the medications simply may be unmasking an underlying predisposition to RBD.”
To conduct this study, investigators reviewed records of patients consecutively diagnosed with RBD at Mayo Clinic between 2002 and 2005, removing those with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or dementia at the time of RBD diagnosis. Twenty patients diagnosed when they were less than 50 years old (average age 34) were age- and gender-matched for comparison to a group of patients without RBD.
Equivalent comparisons were performed in patients diagnosed with RBD over age 50. After looking at all groups, the investigators found that the younger RBD patients were unique with respect to greater use of antidepressants than those without RBD (80 percent versus 15 percent use). Antidepressants prescribed for these patients spanned all types: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), venlafaxine, mirtazapine and tricyclic antidepressants. The investigators also found a higher prevalence of females in the early-onset group of RBD (45 percent female) patients than in older-onset RBD (13 percent female). RBD is known to be largely a male disease.
A link between antidepressants and RBD is not completely surprising, according to Dr. Auger, as the neurotransmitters affected by these medications are involved in REM sleep regulation, and a recent study shows that they diminish the muscle paralysis associated with normal REM sleep. [...]
There are no treatments available for those prescribed antidepressants to prevent them from later developing RBD, but the condition is generally quite treatable once identified, he says. It is uncertain whether this younger group of patients possesses the same risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease later in life, as has been described in previous studies involving patients with older-onset RBD.
Currently, 10 million Americans take antidepressants.
Drug Companies Still Peddling Risperdal and Zyprexa For Off-Label Use
As seen in this report from New Zealand
According to Kelly O'Meara, author of the newly released book, Psyched Out, America has a drug problem. "It's not as covert as those illicit and illegal "Just Say No" drugs," she says, "but, rather, Americans have become drug users by way of being diagnosed as suffering from one or a number of alleged mental disorders."
"Sharing one's feelings with a doctor," she warns, "more often than not is all it takes to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and prescribed a mind-altering drug to "treat" the disorder."
According to O'Meara, "scattered data from a variety of sources provide a shocking glimpse at not only the direction the drugging of America is heading, but also," she says, "the number of Americans being labeled as mentally ill."
One of the top classes of over-prescribed drugs are the new generation of atypicals antipsychotics that were adopted because of claims by drug makers that they were safer, more effective and produced fewer side effects than the older antipsychotics.
However, over the past several years, drug companies have been forced to admit to misleading the FDA, physicians, and consumers about the deadly side effects associated with these drugs including an increased risk of suicide.
According to Harvard trained psychiatrist, Dr Stefan Kruszewski, “the new generation of antipsychotics substantially increase the risk of obesity, diabetes type II, hypertension, cardiovascular complications, heart attacks and stroke.”
"The drug causes both a severe metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular problems,” he explains, “at the same time that they continue to cause neurological side effects like the older typical antipsychotics."
Dr Kruszewski says the drug makers knew of many of these side effects but withheld the data from the FDA. "So, what we have now are drugs,” he advises, “whose massive revenues and promotion are based upon faulty disclosures by the manufacturers.”
The new drugs are far more expensive than the older antipsychotics. “A dose of haloperidol” Dr Kruszewski notes, “might sell for 6 pennies while Zyprexa might sell for over $6 per pill.”
Data unveiled March 2006 by investment firm CIBC World Markets verifies the massive amount of spending going for these drugs. CIBC found that in the previous 12 months, of the top 20 drugs by managed care spending, psychotropic drugs accounted for nearly 20%, or $13 billion. The drugs that made the list were Zyprexa ($2.6 billlion), Seroquel ($2.5 billion), Risperdal ($2.2 billion).
Part of a much longer article, very much worth reading.
Drugging Children: A Cruel Sign of the Times
From a column by W. GIFFORD-JONES, M.D.
Would I allow Ritalin or other similar drugs to be prescribed to my children because they fidgeted, squirmed in their seat or were inattentive? Hell would freeze over a thousand times before I'd submit to such idiocy. But today an estimated five million Canadian and U.S. children are prescribed medication for this condition.
This year, a committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that a "black box" warning should be placed on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications, warning about heart attack and other risks. It's the strongest warning possible before a drug is removed from the market. A second advisory panel disagreed, so no decision has been reached.
Why the need for a black box warning? It depends on who is giving the opinion. For instance, a report from the Mayo Clinic agrees that ADHD medications can cause heart attack, stroke, hypertension, heart palpitations, an irregular heartbeat, psychosis, mania, aggressive behavior and hallucinations. Some deaths have also been linked to these drugs. This should scare the hell out of any parent. But Mayo claims the risks are small and benefits outweigh these potential problems.
Others, such as Dr. Peter R. Breggin, a renowned researcher in this field, say doctors have become "oblivious to the fact these drugs cause manic and schizophrenic-like disorders." He cites a Canadian study in which a staggering nine percent of children on this medication developed psychotic symptoms.
He argues that when children on ADHD medication become paranoid and have delusions, they're diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Rather than weaning them off the drug they are prescribed more drugs to treat these problems.
Dr. Colleen Clements, a psychiatrist at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, N.Y., writes in The Medical Post that ADHD is a disease with "dubious scientific merit." She worries that "long-term psychoactive medication does not allow the developmental process to continue normally and children may be causally put in this illness category with the implied degrading of their normality and worth."
Adding to these concerns, Dr. Nadine Lambert, a developmental psychiatrist at the University of California, reports that children on Ritalin are three times more likely to develop a taste for cocaine.
So what should parents do when either their doctor or school suggests this medication? I'd bet if these drugs had been available years ago, they would not have been required in the one-room schoolhouse. I'd also bet there was more discipline in those days when teachers were treated with more respect by parents and children.
As a teenager, I had a habit of tapping my pencil on my desk. One day my teacher tossed me down the aisle, then across the room, and finally out the door. I never tapped my pencil again! Nor did I complain I had "rights." Or mention it to my parents. No one suggested Ritalin or medication. And I easily survived this encounter, and in fact the teacher became one of my favorites.
Remember that just because drugs are prescribed, it does not make them safe. And shouldn't we ask why 90 percent of ADHD drugs manufactured in the world are used in Canada and the United States? Isn't it strange that the rest of the world can manage children in the classroom without drugging them?
We should question how and why doctors make the diagnosis of ADHD. There's no test to do so. They may say the child fidgets. Or maybe taps his pen on the desk! But these annoyances are all a matter of degree, so where do you draw the line and start to drug a child?
Dr. Breggin says that, "Many facts make a child behave in this manner such as a spirited nature that defies conformity, inconsistent discipline, boredom, oversized classrooms, overstressed teachers, anxiety due to abuse or home problems."
Dr. Laurence Diller, author of the book, "Running on Ritalin" writes, "We prefer to locate our children's problems in their brain rather than in their lives."
Surely it makes more sense to treat the cause, rather than expose children to powerful drugs with drastic side effects. Hell should freeze over before we allow this to happen.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
N.Y. report denounces school which punishes troubled and disabled students with electric shocks
Students can be shocked for behaviors including 'failure to maintain a neat appearance', 'stopping work for more than 10 seconds', 'interrupting others', 'nagging', 'whispering and/or moving conversation away from staff', 'slouch in chair' ''From the report:
Many of the students observed at JRC were not exhibiting self-abusive/mutilating behaviors, and their IEPs had no indication that these behaviors existed. However, they were still subject to Level III aversive interventions, including use of the GED device. The review of NYS students' records revealed that Level III interventions are used for behaviors including 'refuse to follow staff directions', 'failure to maintain a neat appearance', 'stopping work for more than 10 seconds', 'interrupting others', 'nagging', 'whispering and/or moving conversation away from staff', 'slouch in chair', as well as more intensive behaviors such as physical aggression toward others, property destruction and attempts to hurt/injure self. ...
It was reported by a JRC staff member that one of the behavioral rehearsal lesson (BRL) episodes involved holding a student's face still while staff person went for his mouth with a pen or pencil threatening to stab him in the mouth while repeatedly yelling 'YOU WANT TO EAT THIS?' The goal was to aversively treat the student's target behavior of putting sharp objects in the mouth. ...
One student stated she felt depressed and fearful, stating very coherently her desire to leave the center. She is not permitted to initiate conversation with any member of the staff. She also expressed that she had no one to talk to about her feelings of depression and her desire to kill herself and told the interviewing team that she thought about killing herself everyday. Her greatest fear was that she would remain at JRC beyond her 21st birthday. ...
A student interviewed stated that she had entered JRC at the age of 19 with the expectation that she would receive vocational training while she resolved her emotional and behavioral problems. She had not received any vocational training and still remained in the most restrictive settings offered by JRC. This student wept as she asked the team to bring her back to New York.
New York education officials issued a scathing report yesterday on a Massachusetts school that punishes troubled and disabled students with electric shocks, finding that they can be shocked for simply nagging the teacher and that some are forced to wear shock devices in the bathtub or shower, posing an electrocution hazard. The report, based in part on an inspection last month of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, portrayed a school in which most staff lack training to handle the students and seem more focused on punishing bad behavior than encouraging good acts. The investigators said some forms of discipline, such as a device that delivers shocks at timed intervals, appear to violate federal safety regulations, and students live in an atmosphere of ``pervasive fears and anxieties."
* Read the report on the Rotenberg Center (.pdf)
The report, denounced by Rotenberg officials as biased, is expected to play a key role next Monday when education regulators in New York are scheduled to vote on whether to severely restrict the use of painful punishment on students from New York.
ADHD - Politics, Money, or Science?
As a medicinal chemist I've had the opportunity to see a shockingly different side of Ritalin (methylphenidate) and ADHD than the media exposes.
The Experimental Pharmacology Department of the American Cyanamid Company and the Merck Index report that Ritalin is no less toxic or safer than amphetamine and methamphetamine. They continue, by stating that upon administration of these drugs, motor activity decreases. Often time's tremors and convulsions occur. Further studies on these amphetamine derivatives show that short-term clinical doses produce brain cell death. Long-lasting and sometimes permanent changes in the biochemistry of the brain are also a result. Toxicological studies cited by the Merck Index showed that Ritalin was more toxic when administered to grouped mice. Moreover, researchers showed that increased excitement observed by maintaining mice in groups while under the influence of Ritalin and other methamphetamines was the cause of death, but the exact mechanism of lethality was unknown. Lastly, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classify commonly prescribed drug such as Ritalin, Adderall, and Dexedrine in the same Schedule II category as methamphetamine and cocaine.
Logic says, end of story regarding Ritalin use. Unfortunately, the most typical response from parents when confronted with toxicity facts is as follows:
"I'm sure that Ritalin is prescribed improperly in many cases. But, my son definitely has a chemical imbalance. Without Ritalin he is a total mess and it has made his life so much easier! Without it he can't focus, he talks out of turn, he's moody, and he won't listen to anybody. So don't tell me ADHD doesn't exist and that my kid doesn't need Ritalin."
My fist question is what chemical imbalance?
To date, no medical or scientific paper or research group has elucidated the cause of ADHD! With our expensive and all-important college and medical degrees professionals have ostensibly hypothesized a cause (brain chemicals) and advocated a cure (stimulants) for ADHD. To back it up we have listed dozens of symptoms of ADHD while at the same time sacrificing a few billion brain cells. How can we administer a toxic stimulant to treat a "disorder" that doesn't exist according to a 100 years of research?
Daily, schoolteachers tell us "yes, Ritalin is a great drug".
School nurses assure us that, "Ritalin would be great for little Johnny!"
And doctors assert, "yes, ADHD is a real disease".
When we trace back the history of Ritalin (say 40-60 years) we see that medicinal chemists originally derived this synthetic stimulant from natural stimulants, most notably caffeine (isolated from guarana) and ephedrine (isolated from Ma Haung). Scientists found that when given stimulants, rats were more focused, calm, attentive and manageable when large groups were crowded into small cages.
Ma Huang and caffeine however, are not good stimulants due to their very short half-lives and inability to "patent". To remedy this, scientists experimented, and still are, with longer lasting synthetic stimulants. To date, a conglomeration of long lasting synthetic stimulants like Ritalin (methylphenidate), Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine), Desoxyn (methamphetamine), and Adderal (a mixture of Ritalin, Dexedrine, and amphetamine) have been encapsulated and administered to millions of children. Perhaps one day they will simply infuse a Ritalin gas into classrooms.
Obviously, the goal is to get kids more focused, calm, attentive and manageable when in large groups. The federal govt. wants to aid in this endeavor. Jon Rappaport, writing for Stratiawire.com, shows that in 1991, federal rules were adopted which granted US schools $400 for each child diagnosed with ADHD. Furthermore, in 1991, the US Dept. of Education issued a formal recognition of ADHD as a debilitating condition and ordered state education departments to screen students and give ADHD cases special treatment. Guaranteed, if the govt. offered increased funding for every redheaded student, your student teachers would soon be convincing you that Johnny has red hair, not brown.
No doubt, ADHD symptoms exist. I could walk into any classroom in America and find a hypothecated victim. And yes, there is a spectrum as to the suffering of the aforementioned symptoms. For those rare cases on the extreme end, here is a partial list of factors that can cause a child to have these "ADHD symptoms": chemicals and dyes in food, excess sugar intake, vaccines, FDA approved drugs, heavy metals, poor teaching, failure to grasp basic subjects (e,g., reading), head injuries, parents who aren't home, parents who don't care, unsafe schools, street drugs, poor nutrition.
This list is a result of the profound discoveries that have been made about the benefits of proper diet and natural supplements. It is also the result of the horrific discoveries that have been made by intelligent and truth-seeking parents and professionals regarding the use of FDA approved drugs and vaccines. To date, it is possible for anyone to live a happy normal life FREE of toxic drugs. As knowledge of health, nutrition and the effectiveness of natural supplements moves forward our own attitudes and ways of thinking must do the same.
Be warned however, accurate information regarding the use of natural supplements will be hard to come by from medical doctors. The scientific study of medicinal uses of plants has not been part of the American medical curriculum for at least 75 years! Conversely, medicinal chemists have derived almost every synthetic drug from nature. The only difference between the two is life-threatening toxicity.
This is not an attack on western medicine. In fact, the latest technology in emergency medicine has been an asset to the longevity of human life. Endeavors made by emergency room doctors are admirable to say the least. This is an attack on the ignorance and greed of the American people, including doctors, patients, and pharmaceutical companies. The reliance of drugs, surgery, and high-tech equipment for healthy living is killing us and according to the latest statistics, most of us will be overdosed on FDA approved drugs before we will ever need the expertise of an emergency room doctor. Take the power back! Start with a war on FDA approved drugs by learning about natural alternatives and proper diet.
State investigates 7 at Canton, MA, school
As reported in the Boston Globe, and also seen here
State regulators yesterday launched an investigation of seven employees of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, part of a broadening inquiry into whether the controversial school for students with special needs has overstated its staff's qualifications to the government agencies that pay the school more than $200,000 per year for each child.
Already, 14 other clinicians at the school -- the only one in the country that routinely uses electric shock to punish misbehavior -- are facing a hearing next month to determine whether they should face criminal charges for calling themselves psychologists when they did not have state licenses. School founder Matthew Israel also is under investigation by the Board of Registration of Psychologists for his role in supervising the unlicensed psychologists.
``We're taking this matter very seriously and intend to investigate it vigorously," said George Weber , director of the Division of Professional Licensure, an agency that includes both the psychology board and the Board of Registration of Social Workers. ``You have to have sufficient training to engage in activities that affect families' lives."
Yesterday, the psychology board opened investigations into two of Israel's top aides for their role in supervising unlicensed psychologists and three more staff members for the unlicensed practice of psychology. Meanwhile, the social workers' board started investigations of two other employees, one for falsely claiming to be a licensed social worker and the other for performing services such as psychological counseling that aren't permitted by his license.
Kenneth Mollins , lawyer for three former Rotenberg students from New York, has asked New York's attorney general to investigate whether the school defrauded the state and school districts there. Mollins, who himself is suing the state of New York for $10 million over treatment of one Rotenberg student, argues that New York isn't getting it s money's worth from the school.
``New York sends students based on what they expect, and the expectation clearly had to be that these students would be instructed by licensed psychologists," Mollins said. ``People came to my clients' homes with . . . tapes that indicated some of these employees were psychologists and would be working with their children, and that is a fraud."
Officials at the school deny that they have misrepresented anyone's qualifications, noting that the people who claimed to be psychologists had substantial training in the field. They also note that they immedately changed the title of unlicensed psychologists to the more generic clinician after the state pointed out the mistake last month.
``There is not one shred of evidence that anybody did anything intentionally or anybody was defrauded," said Michael Flammia , attorney for the school, which is often a last resort for students with autism, mental retardation, or emotional problems.
The broadening investigation comes on the heels of a report on student safety from investigators in New York, where two-thirds of the center's students come from, that was critical of the school. The New York Education Department found that children are often given shocks for minor misbehavior, such as swearing, and that some students are kept in physical restraints for long periods or denied food. The report said staff training is insufficient, and called for the school to make drastic changes or risk losing students from New York. That state's education regulators are scheduled to vote Monday on whether to sharply restrict the use of painful punishments on students from New York.
In response to the New York findings, two Massachusetts education agencies promised to conduct their own investigation of conditions at the Rotenberg school. ``There is no question that this is a very disturbing report," said Heidi Perlman , spokeswoman for the Department of Education, which will carry out the investigation along with the Department of Early Education and Care.
Yesterday, Rotenberg officials fired back with a 74-page response to New York officials that says their report was ``completely inaccurate."
Though half the 250 students do wear shock devices, school officials point out that the treatment is approved in each case both by the parents and a probate court judge and overseen by psychological consultants.
Rotenberg officials said the New York investigators left out information showing how much the shock treatment had helped children .
Controversy surrounding the school has been heating up since March when a New York teenager accused teachers of torturing him. This year, the number of abuse complaints against the center has skyrocketed to 22.
At least three other complaints under investigation allege that students suffered serious burns as a result of electric shocks. Rotenberg officials say the shocks leave only a small red mark, not a burn.
Can the death of Steve Howe be connected to Ritalin?
From Ritalin to Cocaine - Steve Howe's Untold Story - By FRED GARDNER
Howe grew up in Pontiac, Michigan and his social group was "pretty tough guys." He told me he didn't do drugs or alcohol as a teenager, although all his friends did. He laid off because he thought pot might take the edge off his athletic skills (he knew he was great) and alcohol reminded him of his dad, whom he did not admire.
He first did coke one night in New York City after pitching against the Mets. A woman offered him a hit and thought it might be okay for him because "it reminded me of all the Ritalin I'd done as a kid. I said, "But you just said you didn't do drugs or alcohol as a kid." He repeated that he hadn't. Ritalin, in his view, was "medication" because it had been administered by a school nurse and prescribed by a physician!
Ritalin is the brand name for methylphenidate HCl, a form of speed designed by chemists to be just different enough from amphetamine for exclusive licensing by Ciba-Geigy, the drug company now known as Novartis.
Ritalin use had flattened in the late 1970s after Peter Schrag and Diane Divoky published their brilliant expose, The Myth of the Hyperactive Child; but by the mid-1980s it was being pushed successfully in the schools, its use justified by a pharmacological falsehood, i.e., that it had a "paradoxical effect" on the young, calming them down.
In fact Ritalin has the classic effect of speed --riveting one's attention on whatever is directly in front of one's face, and causing all the expected side-effects, such as sleeplessness, loss of appetite and increasing jitters as it wears off.
Of course, there is more to the story are the weblink above.
Steve Howe was a promising young reliever when he broke in with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1980. But although he had the presence and poise to become a star in the bigs, his quick success with the Dodgers was tempered by his even quicker spiral into the world of substance abuse. Howe ended up battling his inner demons as much as opposing batters, and at the end of his career, his most impressive statistic was his record-number of drug-related suspensions (seven).
Steve Howe died at age 48 on April 28, 2006 when his pickup truck rolled over in Coachella, California. There have been no official toxicology statements at this time.
In Australia, the poor are up to ten times more likely to be put on ADHD drugs
Poorer children are more likely to be prescribed drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because they can not access alternative treatments, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says.
Medicare figures show kids in lower socio-economic areas of NSW [New South Wales] are up to ten times more likely to be put on ADHD drugs than those in affluent areas.
In the state's poorest areas, scripts [prescriptions] for the two major ADHD drugs available on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) were issued at a rate of about one for every 25 children under 14.
AMA vice president and child psychiatrist Dr Choong-Siew Yong said the trend was likely to be true for Australia as a whole.
It was not surprising given that families in poorer areas generally presented with more problems than in affluent areas, Yong said.
Australian doctors issue about 250,000 prescriptions for ADHD drugs a year, but Yong said the country was not one of the biggest prescribers.
Prescribing rates for this sort of medication were much lower in the eastern states compared to Western Australia, which has figures in line with the United States, he said.
Why I Took My Child Off Ritalin
Goonellabah woman Alison Martin has pulled her school aged son off Ritalin, seeking alternative therapies in the belief that the drug is having an adverse impact on him.
AAP in Sydney reports parents are saying ADHD drugs have caused terrible reactions in their children: Notably heart palpitations, shortness of breath, hair loss, muscle spasms, severe abdominal pain, depression and paranoia.
Medicare figures show kids in lower socio-economic areas of New South Wales were up to 10 times more likely to be put on the drug than those in affluent areas.
Alison Martin’s son Liam, 11, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, and had been taking three 10mg tablets every school day for three years.
Ms Martin has taken her son off the drug as a trial, but Liam has already said he doesn’t want to go back on it. She is concerned about the long-term physical and psychological consequences of his reliance on the drug.
"It’s like getting your kids hooked on drugs. It’s pretty full-on. I can see why some kids sell it to their mates, and that really scares me."
[...]
Dr Ingall admitted Ritalin was a ‘downstream solution to an upstream problem’, with the real culprit the education system. "School is for girls, not boys." he says. "Usually once my patients leave school they leave their Ritalin behind. Ask these boys to dismantle an engine and they have no trouble. Just don’t ask them to read about it!
Friday, June 16, 2006
Bethel therapist sentenced for sexual assaults
As reported in the News-Times of Danbury
For more than 15 years therapist John E. Thorson has provided counseling for people dealing with situations from abuse to marital and sexual problems. In a few years he will get treatment himself.
Thorson, 63, a counselor with a private practice in Bethel, was sentenced Wednesday in Danbury Superior Court 20 years in prison, suspended after three and a half years, for having sexual encounters with a female patient in 2004 and 2005.
He also received 20 years probation to begin after serving his prison sentence, at which time he must register as a sex offender and seek evaluation and treatment.
The victim, a 38-year-old woman who has a 13-year-old son, had family-violence victim's advocate Kristen Selleck read a statement in court. It told how the patient's sexual relationship with Thorson left her emotionally in a worse state than before she spent five years in therapy with him.
She started seeing Thorson in April 2002 to deal with a rocky life of mental and physical abuse and sexual assaults. Their sexual relationship began in December 2004 and ended in July 2005.
Thorson, a gray-haired man with a beard, was accompanied by his wife, Babette Thorson, and one of their grown daughters when he was sentenced Wednesday.
Judge Douglas Mintz sentenced Thorson and said that after 15 years of probation the counselor may petition the court to have the probation modified, said defense attorney Jeffrey Jowdy.
Other conditions include that Thorson have no contact with the victim and that he pay her $20,000 in restitution for money she paid him and for her future professional treatment.
Peter Bekker of New York City, a family friend of the victim, said the sentencing was "not a victory."
Rather, Bekker said, "It is not anything other than the truth. It is pretty clear (Thorson's) behavior demonstrates a disregard for the welfare and well-being of his patients."
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Where is the Voice of Sanity?
Paul Levy had the following comments in his column
A little while ago I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for awhile. He asked me what I had been up to. I told him that I was writing a book about the collective psychosis that was wreaking havoc on our planet. He asked me what made me think there was a collective psychosis going on. His question left me speechless, literally not knowing what to say. What made him think that there wasn't a collective psychosis, I wondered.
You could look in any direction and find endless examples which proved that our species has gone out of our minds. There was so much overwhelming evidence for the collective psychosis that I didn't even know where to start.
To see our collective madness, all we have to do is simply look at what we're doing to each other, not to mention the very planet we depend upon for our very survival. We seem to have gone so crazy that many people haven't even noticed, as our madness has become normalized, which is just further proof of our collective psychosis.
Where is the voice of the psychiatric establishment in pointing out the obvious situation: not only that our leader is mad, but that Bush's madness is a reflection of the fact that we, as a species, have fallen into a collective psychosis?
In a personal conversation I had with the late Harvard psychiatrist John Mack about exactly this point, he expressed his opinion that the psychiatric community doesn't see it as their job to deal with collective pathological situations such as we are in. Amazingly, Mack was pointing to the fact that the psychiatric community doesn't see it as their responsibility to track collective psychic epidemics.
[...]
The evil that is being enacted on our planet could only happen because of a sufficient number of people who are passively standing on the sideline and doing nothing about it. Not doing anything about the evil we see being acted out in the world is to ourselves become an unwitting instrument of evil, as our in-action allows, enables, and feeds the further propagation of evil in the field. Evil is truly calling us to pick up an empowered role, whatever that is, and "act," as if we are actors in a play or characters in a dream. Recognizing our responsibility for the collective situation we find ourselves in, we access our ability to respond creatively in the world and act-ively do something about it.
Something is being revealed to us about ourselves by the fact that we are being ruled by people who are mad. Imagine, what would we do if we truly recognized that our government is being run by people who have collectively gone mad?
What would we do if we realized that the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet, the person with his finger on the button, is a genuine psychopath? This is not a make believe question: How would we respond if enough of us not only recognized that our leaders were truly insane, but that we urgently needed to do something about it? What do we imagine we would do? This is a very relevant question, as this is the true nature of our current situation.
Do we go belly-up, imagining that there is nothing that we could possibly do about our insane situation? Do we imagine ourselves collapsing into impotence, being totally dis-empowered, unable to do anything about being ruled by a bunch of psychopaths? Or do we imagine that enough of us, realizing the gravitas of our situation, connect with each other and access our collective genius so that we can truly make a positive change in the world?
The question is: Will the darkness that is manifesting in our world destroy our species or wake us up to our true nature? The choice, and responsibility, is truly ours.
While there may be some debate over the political issues, this guy seems to be on to something. The symbolic and psychoanalytic jargon that is found in the middle of his column I could very much live without, but the several paragraphs above are gold, indicating a fundamental limitition in the psychiatric view of the world.
Psychologist's License Suspended
In this news time that slipped between the cracks (go to the 2nd story):
The Michigan Department of Community Health has suspended the license of an Ann Arbor psychologist who faces federal charges of traveling to another state to molest an 11-year-old girl.
Dr. Charles Bruce Fraelich, who has an office in Livonia, remains jailed in Atlanta, where authorities said he went believing he was going to engage in sex acts with an 11-year-old girl and her mother.
The state community health department announced this week that it suspended Fraelich's license to practice. An administrative hearing will be scheduled to address the status of his license.
A federal grand jury indicted the 58-year-old man last month on charges of aggravated sexual abuse of children and traveling interstate for illegal sexual activity. Fraelich has a routine pretrial conference scheduled in Atlanta, but no trial date has been set, according to the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Northern Georgia.
Federal documents charged that Fraelich began communicating with the undercover agent in late February through a chat room called "openminded mom'' and believed he was speaking with a 33-year-old mother with an 11-year-old daughter. He repeatedly and explicitly described sex acts he wanted to engage in with the young girl and made arrangements to visit them in Atlanta, the documents allege.
Fraelich was arrested in late April outside the restaurant where he had made arrangements to meet the mother and daughter. Fraelich said in court that he had a practice in Livonia and treated patients of all ages, including children.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Unsealed court documents say therapist downloaded child porn, molested terminally ill children in his care
As reported in the San Diego Area
A male nurse accused of molesting a comatose 4-year-old girl at Children's Hospital in San Diego downloaded electronic files of young girls engaging in sex acts with adult men, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
Christopher Alan Irvin, 32, pleaded not guilty in April to two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and multiple counts of distributing child pornography. If he is convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Christopher Alan Irvin told police when they arrested him and searched his City Heights apartment in April that he had molested the semi-comatose girl twice while she was under his care at the hospital, and that he had sexually abused a terminally ill 4-year-old patient “to see if he liked it,” all according to court documents released Tuesday.
Irvin, who worked in the hospital's intensive care unit from October 2004 until his arrest in April, remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bond.
Investigators said in court hearings Monday that the case has expanded to include planned interviews with children at a facility in Tallahassee, Fla., where Irvin worked as a registered nurse before moving to California. Files and documents seized at Irvin's home include the names of children he met there, said Detective Susan Righthouse.
According to an affidavit for a search warrant, a San Diego police officer said authorities seized documents related to adoption and foster care programs.
Prosecutors have said that Irvin fantasized in his journals about becoming a foster parent or adopting a child from San Diego, Florida, or the Ukraine. Documents were also seized relating to organizations where Irvin wanted to volunteer, including the YMCA. Prosecutors have said he did volunteer for Head Start and other San Diego children's' programs.
Righthouse said that officials from approximately 20 organizations named in those seized documents were also being questioned in the investigation.
Investigators also seized a journal from Irvin's apartment, along with a letter and photos from a 13-year-old girl and more than a dozen children's drawings. Prosecutors said in April that Irvin wrote in the journal, "I easily and often fall in love with young children."
Earlier Monday, Superior Court Judge Frederick Maguire ordered a second set of documents unsealed, but later gave Irvin's attorney, public defender Dawnella Gilzean, until Tuesday to seek a stay from the 4th District Court of Appeals. Those documents contain statements Irvin made to police.
Police also seized computers and electronic storage devices Irvin allegedly used to circulate child pornography over Internet file-sharing networks, according to an inventory list unsealed with the search warrant and affidavit.
Irvin was the second Children's Hospital caregiver to be arrested this year on charges of molesting patients and trafficking in child pornography.
Wayne Albert Bleyle, 54, a respiratory therapist, pleaded not guilty to charges that he molested five young patients, all of whom were unable to communicate because of brain damage or other severe conditions. He remains in custody in lieu of $5 million bond.
Both Bleyle and Irvin face preliminary hearings scheduled for September. Prosecutors say they do not believe the two cases are linked.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Psychiatrist pleads guilty to $200,000 Medicaid fraud
A Baltimore County psychiatrist pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding Medicaid of at least $200,000, billing the state-administered system for as many as 19 hours of therapy in a single day when he actually worked a fraction of that.
Roman Ostrovsky, 49, wiped his eyes and got a pat on his back from his attorney as Baltimore County Circuit Judge John Turnbull sentenced him to a year of home detention and to pay $400,000 to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Ostrovsky brought a $250,000 cashier’s check to court, attorneys said, and is expected to pay the rest within two years. “I just feel very sorry,” Ostrovsky told the judge. “I failed my patients. I failed my family.”
Ostrovsky was solely in charge of the billing. For more than two years starting in January 2002, he charged Medicaid thousands of times for roughly 45-minute sessions with his patients, according to court documents.
His carefully maintained calendar revealed that many of those sessions only lasted 15 minutes, or that the patient never came in at all, the documents say. His license is still active, and isn’t set to expire until 2007, according to the state’s Board of Physicians.
Monday, June 12, 2006
SEXTRA CREDIT: Sex and the female teacher
Virtually any attractive female teacher who knows how to be seductive, could short-circuit almost any boy’s brain and get her way. Granted, this is not a violent act like forcible rape, but it is no less overpowering and should not be tolerated by society. So why are these female pedophiles not taken seriously by our criminal justice system?All in commentary of a report in the World Net Daily which extensively lists out a large number of teachers, with their full names, who have taken up with one of their under age students
This story has been updated to prove the full names of the accused, along with links to the news items reporting the alledged crimes.
- accused, charged, and/or arrested for having sex with 17 year-old students.
- These Teachers had sexual relations with multiple students
- These teachers or school employees who were charged with having sex with 14 year olds
Some of the perpetrators violated victims who were even younger. School psychologist, Diane DeMartini-Scully (45) was accused of having intercourse and oral sex several times with her 13 year old daughter’s boyfriend. Elementary school teacher, Kelly Lynn Dalecki (28) was charged with having sex with a 13 year old, and over 50 sexually explicit e-mails and pornographic pictures, sent from the teacher, were found on his computer. Middle school teacher, Melissa Michelle Deel (32) had oral sex with a 13 year old student and Pamela Turner (27) an elementary school teacher, was arrested for having sex with a 13 year old boy over a period of three months. Middle-school teacher, Sherry Brians (41) and Gym teacher, Lynn Saunders (38) were arrested for molesting 12 year olds. Carol Flannigan (50), a music teacher, was alleged to have slept with an 11 year old and Elementary school teacher, Georgianne Harrell, (24) was charged with performing oral sex on a 9 year old boy.This summary is not exhaustive. Those who want to read about the rest can see the WorldNetDaily article.This summary is not exhaustive.
AMA Panel Says Physicians (including Psychiatrists) Cannot Ethically Participate in Prisoner Interrogations
As seen in this report on Medscape
Psychiatrists and other physicians should not help the military or police interrogate prisoners, according to a new report from the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA).
Helping with interrogations, including the planning of the interrogation or monitoring the prisoner with the "intention of intervening in the process" are actions that are outside the bounds of ethical behavior, CEJA said here Sunday.
Dr. Priscilla Ray of Houston Texas, who serves as chair of CEJA said, "Physicians must neither conduct nor directly participate in an interrogation, because a role as physician-interrogator undermines the physician's role as a healer and thereby erodes trust in the individual physician interrogator and in the medical profession."
The CEJA report follows closely action taken last month by the American Psychiatric Association, which ruled that psychiatrists should not participate in interrogations. The new CEJA ruling came in a report, which can be adopted by the AMA House of Delegates or sent back to CEJA for fine-tuning. The AMA house, which begins voting on this and other actions today, cannot, however, amend the report.
In addition to ruling that participation in interrogations is unethical, the CEJA report warns physicians that if they "have reason to believe that interrogations are coercive, they must report their observations to appropriate authorities. If authorities are aware of coercive interrogations but have not intervened, physicians are ethically obligated to report the offenses to independent authorities that have the power to investigate or adjudicate such allegations."
CEJA said that physicians may ethically "perform physical and mental assessments of detainees to determine the need for and to provide medical care," but when they do so they must tell the prisoner that others will have access to that medical information.
CEJA also ruled that it is permissible to "participate in developing effective interrogation strategies for general training purposes," but physicians can't develop a specific strategy for use with a specific prisoner, Dr. Ray said.
The CEJA report comes in response to a request from Burlington, Vermont child psychiatrist Dr. David Fassler who last November asked the AMA for an ethical ruling on involvement of physicians in prisoner interrogations.
Dr. Fassler thanked CEJA for the report, which he called "thoughtful and responsive."
The report was also praised by a number of military physicians who are members of the AMA House. Speaking for that group, Air Force Surgeon General Dr. George P. Taylor Jr. said, "This report provides valuable ethical guidance which is consistent with our commitment as military physicians to the practice of ethical medicine and to the defense of our great nation."
But Physicians for Human Rights, led by Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist and retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army, said the report was too soft and used too much qualifying language. The result, he said, was an ambiguous statement. He warned that the military would find loopholes and use those loopholes to make a case for physician involvement in interrogations.
Gee, y'think?
Not that such qualms have stopped ever governments before
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Psychologist's trial to begin on Tuesday
As seen in the South Bend Tribune
Associates in Clinical Psychology was supposed to be a safe place, where troubled teens could receive treatment for mental illness.
But prosecutors allege that the group home was the scene of improper physical examinations performed on patients, by a man who was not licensed to perform them.
On Tuesday, a jury in Marshall Superior Court will begin hearing the case leveled against psychologist Marc A. Zackheim, who is facing one Class C felony count of practicing medicine without a license and three Class B misdemeanor counts of battery for a series of incidents that reportedly took place at the home in 2004.
According to court documents, Zackheim, who is now 55, was running the home at 317 W. Monroe St. when he allegedly conducted a series of physical examinations on teen boys who were patients at the home.
During those examinations, police said, Zackheim touched the boys' genitalia while claiming to be checking for medical conditions, such as bloating and hernias.
However, as a psychologist, Zackheim was not licensed to perform any physical exams, according to authorities. Police were reportedly alerted to the incidents after the Fulton County Division of Family and Children contacted police in July 2004 with concerns about the home.
Zackheim, who lives in Lake Bluffton, Ill., was arrested and charged in October 2004 in conjunction with the allegations. He has been free on bond since shortly after being charged.
He also agreed to an indefinite suspension of his license to practice psychology after he was charged, court documents show.
Jury selection for the trial will begin Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Marshall County Courthouse.
Psychologist Pleads Guilty To Medicaid Fraud
As seen in this Maryland Attorney General press release
Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Dr. Oparaugo Ihentuge Udebiuwa has pleaded guilty to defrauding the Medicaid program by billing Medicaid for services that were never provided. Udebiuwa, 46, of the 400 block of West Central Avenue in Davidsonville, Maryland is a psychiatrist who was enrolled in the Medicaid Program as a Medicaid Provider.
Udebiuwa’s practice was located on Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore City. He pleaded guilty to 5 counts of misdemeanor Medicaid Fraud for defrauding the Medicaid program of $32,000 during a one year period. Dr. Udebiuwa admitted to fraudulently billing Medicaid by billing for services that he did not provide, by billing Medicaid for longer visits than he had actually provided, by billing Medicaid for medication management when patients were not on medication, and by billing Medicaid for family therapy when he did not provide family therapy. Medicaid is a joint state and federal-funded program that provides health services to the indigent.
The case was referred to Attorney General Curran’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from the Mental Hygiene Administration which administers mental health services for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Misdemeanor Medicaid Fraud is punishable by up to three years in jail and a $50,000 fine.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Lynn K. Stewart set sentencing for August 8, 2006.
More details here regarding the original charges
Ex-Utah psychiatrist who had child porn found dead
As seen in this report as well as here and here
A former Utah psychiatrist who fled the United States after being convicted for possession of child pornography was found dead Saturday in his jail cell in the Dominican Republic. The FBI said Bruce Guernsey is believed to have committed suicide.
Guernsey pleaded guilty in Utah to one court of possession of child pornography in March. The last time he was seen in the state was in April after he filed paperwork to surrender his license to practice psychiatry. After failing to check in under his court ordered supervised pretrial release, a new arrest warrant was issued.
Guernsey was found Friday at a hotel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republican National Police are investigating Guernsey's death.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 32 licensed physicians
Since its last Board meeting in April, the Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 32 licensed physicians. Actions included 14 violations based on quality of care; three actions based on unprofessional conduct; two actions based on nontherapeutic prescribing; one action based on inappropriate conduct involving physician-patient relationships; three actions based on inadequate medical records; two actions based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs; two actions based on violations of probation or prior orders; one action based on other state board actions; one action based on a criminal conviction; one action based on a peer review action; and two minimal statutory violations. Administrative penalties totaling $76,000 were assessed. At its May 19 board meeting, the Texas Physician Assistant Board took disciplinary action against one physician assistant.
Of special interest are the following actions
QUALITY OF CARE VIOLATIONS:
· ARREDONDO, ADAM GALLARDO, M.D., WAXAHACHIE, TX, Lic. #K7648
On June 2, 2006, the Board and Dr. Arredondo entered into an Agreed Order publicly reprimanding Dr. Arredondo and placing him on probation for five years with the following requirements: monitoring of his practice by another physician; modification of his Drug Enforcement Administration Controlled Substances Registration Certificate and his Texas Department of Public Safety Controlled Substances Registration Certificate to eliminate his authority to prescribe Schedules II and III; completing 50 hours per year of continuing medical education in pain management; no supervising or teaching residents or supervising or delegating prescriptive authority to a physician assistant or advanced practice nurse; and assessing an administrative penalty of $20,000. The action was based on allegations that Dr. Arredondo failed to meet the standard of care in treating 10 patients for the following reasons: failure to review past records; inadequate assessments prior to starting opioid therapy; failure to perform behavior evaluation prior to starting therapy; failure to perform drug screens prior to starting therapy; failure to perform a trial of physical therapy and/or non-opioids; failure to document a treatment plan; inadequate monitoring of patient responses to therapy; prescribing excessive and nontherapeutic doses of schedule II drugs; inappropriate follow up; prescribing inappropriate dose escalation; lack of attention to red flags for abuse; and performing procedures that were not indicated.
INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT INVOLVING PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP VIOLATIONS:
· HELLER, CARL STUART, M.D., KINGWOOD, TX, Lic. #F8154
On June 2, the Board and Dr. Heller entered into a 10-year Mediated Agreed Order publicly reprimanding Dr. Heller and requiring that he complete courses of at least 20 hours each in pain management and risk management and 10 hours in medical records; prohibiting him from engaging in the practice of pain management, requiring that he complete the “Maintaining Proper Boundaries†course presented by the Center for Professional Health at the Vanderbilt Medical Center or a similar course approved by the executive director of the board; requiring that he maintain adequate medical records on all patient office visits; requiring that his practice be monitored by another physician for a period of five years; requiring that he take and pass the Medical Jurisprudence Examination; prohibiting him from prescribing to family members or other persons with whom he has a personal relationship outside the physician-patient relationship; and assessing an administrative penalty of $3,000. Additionally, Dr. Heller’s license may be immediately suspended if he fails to comply with the terms of the order. The action was based on allegations that Dr. Heller treated a young man, previously homeless, who came to live with him and for whom he became an informal guardian, for complaints including anxiety, depression and chronic pain due to an accident, but did not meet the standard of care in keeping medical records for this treatment. Additional allegations were that Dr. Heller prescribed medications to the young man, who drank alcohol, that were dangerous to use concurrently with alcohol, and wrote prescriptions for excessive amounts of habit-forming medications and was refilling them early, even though the young man was a known abuser of medications. Dr. Heller also prescribed Fentanyl for the young man for the treatment of pain following dental surgery. The young man was later found dead in Dr. Heller’s home from an overdose of Fentanyl. No criminal charges were filed.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Sex attack Psych doctor banned for another year
As reported in the Craven Herald & Pioneer in Great Britain.
A psychiatrist jailed for a sex attack on a teenager, in which he thrashed her with a metal coat hanger, will be banned from practising medicine for another year for public protection.
Dr Darren Scott Holdsworth was working as a senior house officer at Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital, in November 2001, when he was arrested and charged with rape, indecent assault and possession of drugs by Strathclyde Police.
Holdsworth, of Tudor Cottage, Low Utley, Keighley, pleaded guilty to indecent assault and possession of cannabis at Glasgow High Court, in October 2002. The rape charge was not proceeded with. Sacked from his job at the hospital, he was jailed for three years in November 2002, but the sentence was later reduced on appeal and he has now been freed.
An interim suspension order preventing him from practising was due to expire this month, prompting a dash to the High Court by doctors' regulatory body the General Medical Council (GMC).
Holdsworth had initially opposed a continued ban on him practising and was due to do battle against the GMC, at London's High Court, last Friday. But, at the outset of the hearing, Mr Justice Langstaff said the parties had agreed by consent that the ban would be extended for a year and that Dr Holdsworth would not have to pay court costs.
USA Medical Licensing Board Web Pages
Here is a collection of links to the various medical boards found in the various states of the USA. This information is useful if you need to file a complaint against your doctor, your physician or other medical practitioner, or your psychiatrist.
Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners
Alaska Division of Occupational Licensing, State Medical Board
Arizona Board of Medical Examiners
Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery
Arkansas State Medical Board
Medical Board of California
Osteopathic Medical Board of California
Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners
State of Connecticut, Department of Public Health
Delaware Board of Medical Practice
District of Columbia Board of Medicine
Florida Board of Medicine
Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine
Georgia Composite State Board of Medical Examiners
Hawaii Board of Medical Examiners
Idaho State Board of Medicine
Illinois Department of Professional Regulation
Indiana Health Professions Bureau
State of Iowa Board of Medical Examiners
Kansas State Board of Healing Arts
Kentucky Board Medical Licensure
Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners
Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine
State of Maine Board of Osteopathic Licensure
Maryland Board of Physician Quality Assurance
Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine
Michigan Board of Medicine
Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery
Minnesota Board of Medical Practice
Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure
Missouri State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts
Montana Board of Medical Examiners
Nebraska Health and Human Services System
State of Nevada Board of Medical Examiners
Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine
New Hampshire Board of Medicine
New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners
New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners
New Mexico Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners
New York State Board for Medicine
North Carolina Medical Board
North Dakota Board of Medical Examiners
State Medical Board of Ohio
Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision
Oklahoma Board of Osteopathic Examiners
Oregon Board of Medical Examiners
Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine
Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine
Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline
South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners
South Dakota State Board of Medical & Osteopathic Examiners
Tennessee Department of Health
Tennessee State Board of Osteopathic Examiners
Texas State Board of Medical Examiners
State of Utah Department of Commerce
Vermont Board of Medical Practice
Vermont Board of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons
Virginia Board of Medicine
Washington State Department of Public Health
Washington Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery
West Virginia Board of Medicine
West Virginia Board of Osteopathy
State of Wisconsin Medical Examining Board
Wyoming Board of Medicine
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