MEDIA
Mysterious Vermont Top Prescriber Faces Prescription Investigation
Burlington Free Press Vermont doctor faces prescription investigation By Sam Hemingway May 6, 2012 A doctor identified by the Department of Vermont Health Access as one of the top Medicaid prescribers of narcotic and other federally regulated medications in the state is under investigation by the Medical Practice Board for excessive prescribing of some of the drugs. “We looked at specific prescribing practices and identified something that was far enough outside the norm that we felt it warranted further investigation,” Mark Larson, the department commissioner, said last week. The decision to refer the doctor to the board for investigation was [...]
Michael Applebaum, Nampa Psychiatrist, Sentenced
Michael Applebaum The Idaho Statesman (Boise) Nampa doctor sentenced for Medicaid fraud November 22, 2011 -- Excerpt Michael Applebaum, a former licensed psychiatrist in Nampa, has been sentenced to two to five years in prison for Medicaid provider fraud and obstruction of an investigation. A jury convicted Applebaum in August of two counts each of provider fraud and obstructing an investigation... The jury said Applebaum altered documents before giving them to investigators for the Idaho attorney general's office and told the investigators that certain records were out of the office for dictation...
Vladimir Rajkovic, Zimbabwe psychiatrist, arrested
Vladimir Rajkovic NewsDay ‘Psychiatrist wanted woman to have sex with dog’ By The NewsDay June 30, 2011 -- Excerpt A psychiatric doctor, Vladimir Rajkovic, may well require mental examination himself after he was hauled before the courts for allegedly inserting an artificial manhood into a woman’s private parts before trying to force her into bestiality. He also allegedly took pictures of the woman in the nude before threatening her with a gun after she refused to engage in the act. The incident which is likely to shock some ladies of the night is said to have occurred on June 7 [...]
Sohail Punjwani, Broward County psychiatrist, arrested – cocaine
Sohail Punjwani The Miami Herald Boy’s county psychiatrist has other issues; Child welfare | Gabriel Myers’ psychiatrist April 23, 2011 By Carol Marbin Miller and Diana Moskovitz -- Excerpt In the two years since the death of Gabriel Myers, the boy’s Broward County psychiatrist, whose prescribing practices drew the ire of state regulators and children’s advocates, has found himself in ever-deeper hot water. On July 18 of last year, Sohail Punjwani was arrested by Miami Beach police officers for driving under the influence and cocaine possession. In August, Punjwani entered into a pretrial diversion program and will not be [...]
Kimberly Hammes Frank, Mequon psychiatrist, charged
Kimberly Hammes Frank Journal Sentinel Mequon psychiatrist charged with child abduction attempt in Florida April 08, 2011 By Bruce Vielmetti -- Excerpt A Mequon psychiatrist has been arrested in Florida on charges of child abuse after sheriff's officials there say she tried to abduct two children from a beach north of Naples. Kimberly Hammes Frank, 47, was arrested Wednesday, according to Collier County Sheriff's Office records. A sheriff's spokeswoman said Frank was later released on $30,000 bond. She is scheduled for arraignment on the charge of child abuse without great harm, a felony, on May 2. An arrest report [...]
Richard Adamson, Seattle Psychiatrist, accused of sex with 2 patients
Richard Adamson Seattlepi.com Woman sues Seattle psychiatrist accused of sex with patients By Vanessa Ho April 7, 2011 -- Excerpt A Seattle psychiatrist accused by the state of having sex with two patients has been sued by one of his patients, who said his actions caused her "severe psychological and emotional injury." Last week, the state's Medical Quality Assurance Commission suspended the license of Richard T. Adamson, after accusing him of having sex with two female patients and disclosing the contents of their therapy sessions to other patients. Much of the woman's lawsuit, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, [...]
Arturo Hernandez-Pena, Orange County Psychiatrist, arrested
Arturo Hernandez-Pena Orlando Sentinel (Florida) Jail psychiatrist is arrested over billing December 11, 2010 By Jeff Weiner -- Excerpt A psychiatrist who saw patients at the Orange County Jail before his arrest last week is accused of ripping off an insurance company by billing for unnecessary treatment, court records show. Dr. Arturo Hernandez-Pena, 52, an employee of the Orange County Department of Health and Human Services, was arrested at the jail Dec. 1. He was fired the next day, records show. Court records show Hernandez-Pena's arrest stemmed from treatment he provided outside his jail job, at a business referred [...]
EDITORIAL: Why are doctors writing so many prescriptions?
Tuscaloosa News November 5, 2010 No doubt, Robert Bentley\'s \'to do\' list is growing daily as he prepares to become Alabama\'s next governor, but we hope he will add this: getting the state\'s Medicaid agency to release information on prescriptions written for expensive drugs. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been gathering information from across the nation to see why some doctors are writing stunning numbers of prescriptions that are paid for by taxpayers. Most states have provided this data; Alabama has not. It is important because, as it turns out, some doctors are writing far more prescriptions for psychiatric [...]
Edmundo Chirinos, Venezuela Psychiatrist, Sentenced
Edmundo Chirinos Associated Press Venezuelan psychiatrist sentenced in slaying September 29, 2010 -- Excerpt A prominent Venezuelan psychiatrist who once ran for president has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the murder of a young woman who was his patient. The attorney general's office said Wednesday that Edmundo Chirinos was convicted of killing 19-year-old Roxana Vargas, whose body was found with a blow to the head in 2008 in a park on the outskirts of Caracas. Chirinos had pleaded innocent to the intentional homicide charge. The attorney general's office says investigators found some 1,200 photographs of nude [...]
Yolande Lucire, New South Wales Psychiatrist, banned
Yolande Lucire The Sydney Morning Herald Psychiatrist banned from treating patients By Kim Arlington and Bellinda Kontominas August 28, 2010 ''JULIA'' is detained indefinitely in a hospital psychiatric unit after stabbing her father and teenaged sister to death while in the grip of psychosis in 2007. Her psychiatrist, Yolande Lucire, was yesterday banned from treating any more patients after the NSW Medical Tribunal found there were serious shortcomings in the way she managed the 25-year-old's illness. Under conditions imposed by the Medical Board to protect the public, Dr Lucire has not been permitted to treat patients since December 2008. Yesterday [...]
Leonard Friedman, Mass. Psychiatrist, arrested
Leonard Friedman Boston Globe Middleton psychiatrist arrested By Julie Balise July 14, 2010 -- Excerpt A Middleton psychiatrist was arrested yesterday morning and charged with writing prescriptions for cash payments. Leonard Friedman, 73, was held on $50,000 bail and faces 14 counts of issuing prescriptions for Class B and Class C substances, according to a statement from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. The crimes are punishable by up to 10 years in prison for Class B substances or five years for Class C substances. “A doctor who trades addictive drugs for cash makes a mockery of the [...]
Psychiatrist Sohail Punjwani Warned by FDA
Psychiatrist Sohail Punjwani The Miami Herald FDA warns psychiatrist who treated dead foster child By Carol Marbin Miller March 16, 2010 -- Excerpt A South Florida psychiatrist who was treating a 7-year-old foster child before the boy committed suicide last year has received a warning from federal drug regulators who say he failed ``to protect the rights, safety and welfare'' of children enrolled in clinical drug trials. In a strongly worded letter dated Feb. 4, regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Dr. Sohail Punjwani over-medicated children who were enrolled in clinical trials for undisclosed drugs. One [...]
Igor Magier, Chesapeake psychiatrist, license revoked
Igor Magier The Virginian Pilot State board strips psychiatrist of license after series of run-ins By Elizabeth Simpson March 03, 2010 -- Excerpt A Chesapeake psychiatrist who was first investigated for improperly prescribing drugs more than two decades ago has lost his medical license. The Virginia Board of Medicine's decision last week to revoke the license of Igor Magier, who once had a practice on Cedar Lakes Drive, was unusual. In 2009, the board took this action against only three of the 31,200 medical doctors licensed in the state. Magier was first put on probation by the board [...]
James Edgar, South Tampa psychiatrist, arrested
James Edgar Tampa Bay Times DOCTOR ACCUSED OF PULLING A GUN The Tampa psychiatrist got a shotgun after arguing with a pool cleaner, officials say. By Robbyn Mitchell September 11, 2009 -- Excerpt A South Tampa psychiatrist told police he was only trying to get a pool service man off his property when he went to the trunk of his car and pulled out a shotgun in June, say police reports. Dr. James Roy Edgar, 64, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon Thursday after the State Attorney's Office issued a warrant... Edgar told police he [...]
Leo D’Souza, Cincinnati child psychiatrist, loses license
The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio) Psychiatrist loses medical license May 16, 2008 By Dan Horn --- Excerpt A Cincinnati child psychiatrist who is facing sex crime charges lost his medical license this week. The Ohio Medical Board permanently revoked the license of Leo D'Souza after reviewing a 50-page report on the accusations that several former patients made against him. A Hamilton County grand jury indicted D'Souza in February on four charges of gross sexual imposition and one charge of sexual imposition. The charges involve four patients, now ages 14 to 21, who accuse the doctor of molesting them. The indictment does [...]
Eric Schwietering, Wisconsin Psychiatrist, sentenced
Eric Schwietering Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin) Psychiatrist charged again; He's accused of sex assault involving adolescent patient October 31, 2007 By David Doege -- Excerpt Waukesha - A psychiatrist serving four years of probation for having a large collection of child pornography in his downtown Milwaukee apartment was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting an adolescent patient in a Brookfield counseling center where he formerly practiced. Eric B. Schwietering was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with sexual assault of a child under 16, a felony, in a criminal complaint that says the assault occurred between September 2005 and November [...]
Larry Anderson, Penticton psychiatrist, More Jail
Larry Anderson Castanet Psychiatrist Gets More Time November 22, 2006 -- Excerpt A former Penticton psychiatrist has been given an additional jail sentence. Larry Anderson is currently serving an 18-month sentence on charges of sexual and indecent assault against former female patients between the late 70's and 90's. On Tuesday, he plead guilty in Penticton provincial court to assaulting his wife at their home near Princeton in 2005. The assault took place while Anderson was out on bail awaiting sentencing on sexual and indecent assault charges...
Sheldon Zigelbaum, Mass. Psychiatrist, five women testified against him
Sheldon Zigelbaum Boston Magazine Head Games May 15, 2006 By Gretchen Voss -- Excerpt An alarming number of Massachusetts psychiatrists have gotten caught again and again having sex with some of this society's most vulnerable people: their own patients... Dr. Sheldon Zigelbaum lost his license in 1992 after five women testified before the medical board that he engaged in a variety of sexual acts with them in his office, hotel rooms, his car, and, in one case, a hot tub. Some said he shared marijuana, and one woman said he did cocaine with her. Zigelbaum denied having sex [...]
George Frimpong, Ghana Psychiatrist, convicted
George Frimpong GhanaWeb Psychiatrist fined for arson August 26, 2005 -- Excerpt George Frimpong, a Ghanaian psychiatrist based in London was on Friday fined two million cedis by a circuit court in Kumasi for setting a house on fire. Frimpong, who was convicted on his own plea of guilty... She said sometime in 2004, neighbours saw signs of smoke coming out of Madam Ofori's house but managed to put it under control. Madam Ofori made a report to the police but before the suspects could be traced Frimpong had gone back to London, the prosecutor said. Chief Inspector Oseiwaah [...]
Jean Eric Gassy, Aussie Psychiatrist, Sentenced for Murder
Jean Eric Gassy The Australian 'Cool, calculated' psychiatrist killer gets life By Jeremy Roberts October 29, 2004 -- Excerpt A FORMER psychiatrist has been sentenced to at least 34 years behind bars for the execution of mental health boss Margaret Tobin after a judge yesterday ruled he was "profoundly dangerous" and should probably die in prison. In handing Jean Eric Gassy, 48, the second-longest non-parole period for a single murder in South Australian history, the judge described the murder as a "cool, calculated and clever crime". Gassy, 48, shot Tobin four times in the back as she stepped from [...]
Justin Psaila, Nanuet psychiatrist, Charged
Justin Psaila The Journal News (Westchester County, NY) Doctor charged in $1 million insurance fraud case By Nancy Cacioppo September 10, 2004 -- Excerpt A Nanuet psychiatrist has been accused of defrauding government insurers of more than $1 million by billing for services never rendered, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday. Dr. Justin Psaila, who has a private practice in his home, was arraigned Wednesday before Rockland County Court Judge Kenneth Resnick on a 23-count indictment. Psaila was charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of first-degree scheme to defraud and 20 counts of first-degree offering [...]
Param Shukla, Brookline Psychiatrist, sentenced in sex assault
Param Shukla The Boston Herald Psychiatrist sentenced in sex assault January 15, 2004 By Marie Szaniszlo -- Excerpt A psychiatrist was sentenced to two years' probation yesterday for sexually assaulting a girl he had treated at Children's Hospital three years ago, prosecutors said. Param Shukla, 38, of Brookline pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. During a 2000 therapy session, Shukla offered to take the 13-year-old victim for a walk and touched her buttocks for several seconds when she bent [...]
Bennett Braun, Chicago Psychiatrist, license suspended
Bennett Braun Chicago Tribune CONTROVERSIAL PSYCHIATRIST SUSPENDED; RECOVERED MEMORY CASE SPURS STATE MOVE By Lisa Donovan October 8, 1999 -- Excerpt State officials have suspended the medical license of Chicago psychiatrist Bennett Braun, considered a leader in the controversial field of recovered memory and multiple personality therapy. Starting Thursday, Braun is prohibited from practicing for two years. After the suspension, he faces a minimum 5-year probation period that precludes him from treating patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. The Department of Professional Regulation's disciplinary action comes a year after the state agency filed a nine-count complaint [...]
Allan Umar-Khitab, Cambridge Psychiatrist, Suspended
Allan Umar-Khitab Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada) HOSPITAL SUSPENDS PSYCHIATRIST FOLLOWING SEX CHARGES By Prithi Yelaja and Liz Monteiro July 28, 1999 -- Excerpt A prominent local psychiatrist charged with 11 counts of sexual offences against boys has been suspended from Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Dr. Allan Umar-Khitab, who was commonly known as Allan Khitab, had been practising in Cambridge since June 1989. He was the only full-time psychiatrist on staff at the hospital's mental health clinic. Khitab's arrest leaves hundreds, and possibly thousands, of patients in the lurch and hospital officials scrambling to find help. Reached at his home in [...]
Ramesh Vemuri, Crystal Lake psychiatrist, accused of molesting patient
Ramesh Vemuri Chicago Tribune SERVING OF COMPLAINT UPHELD IN MOLESTATION CASE July 17, 1998 -- Excerpt A former Crystal Lake psychiatrist accused of molesting a female patient was properly served with a civil complaint and must answer the charges, even though he has moved to India, a McHenry County judge ruled Thursday. Judge James C. Franz ruled that Dr. Ramesh B. Vemuri still had a legal residence at 7606 Crystal Spring Rd., Crystal Lake, when the complaint was left for him in March. Vemuri had left the country two months before. Attorneys for Vemuri had argued that the complaint had [...]