MEDIA
Arthur Reider, Brookline psychiatrist, “experienced delusions”
Arthur Reider The Boston Globe Medical board acts against 3 doctors By Betsy Q.M. Tong December 5, 1992 ...In separate disciplinary matters, the board announced actions taken against two other doctors for sexual misconduct with patients. Arthur E. Reider, a psychiatrist in Brookline, was allowed to continue practice on probation after admitting to the misconduct during a period of mental illness. Dr. Richard Shader, chairman of psychiatry at the New England Medical Center, reached an agreement with the board to confine his practice to research and consultation as well as to perform community service... Reider experienced delusions that resulted in [...]
Tobias Friedman, Psychiatrist (Shreveport & Salem) – Prosecution mulled
Tobias Friedman The Boston Globe Prosecution mulled in '70s abuse claims By Tom Coakley October 27, 1992 -- Excerpt In the wake of decades-old sexual assault charges filed against James Porter in Bristol County, Salem and Peabody police are investigating a former Massachusetts psychiatrist to determine if he can be prosecuted for allegedly molesting at least two young female patients in the 1970s. The women making the charges against the psychiatrist, Tobias Friedman, hope to take advantage of the same exception to the state statute of limitations that allowed prosecutors to gain indictments of Porter in September for allegedly molesting [...]
Scott Orens, Bradenton psychiatrist “something was wrong” with him
Scott Orens Tampa Bay Times Psychiatrist loses license By Carol Gentry October 3, 1992 -- Excerpt Other doctors knew something was wrong with Bradenton psychiatrist Scott Orens. They reported him to authorities, but little was done until one night in June 1991. According to police reports, that's when Orens grabbed a little girl in a restaurant parking lot, dragged her 20 yards in a hammerlock, yanked her head back by the hair and slapped her forehand and backhand until horrified witnesses intervened. On Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine indefinitely suspended Orens' license after an expert on mental illness [...]
Case Beukenkamp, NY Psychiatrist – “extreme misconduct”
Newsday (New York) The Secret World of Case Beukenkamp By Jamie Talan and Richard C. Firstman August 18, 1992 -- Excerpt FOR THREE MONTHS in the 1960s, a young woman from Roslyn named Sandy Schlager sat mute in a corner of her Manhattan psychiatrist's office, outside the circle of her twice-a-week therapy group. The doctor, a pioneer of group therapy, had banished Schlager for talking too much. One night, as a session was about to begin, the psychiatrist, a charismatic, authoritative man with black-rimmed glasses and a black goatee, turned to Schlager and said there was only one [...]
Felix Larocca, Missouri psychiatrist, sex with teen-age patients
Felix Larocca St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) PSYCHIATRIST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT LOSES LICENSE By Roger Signor August 13, 1992 -- Excerpt Missouri's agency that disciplines errant doctors has revoked the medical license of Dr. Felix F. Larocca, a St. Louis psychiatrist who the agency says had sexual relations with two of his teen-age patients in the mid-1980s. The agency, the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, announced its decision Wednesday. Larocca, medical director of Deaconess Hospital's Eating and Mood Disorders Program, resigned his position Wednesday because he no longer has a medical license, said Jerry W. Paul, hospital [...]
Melvin Wise, Florida psychiatrist, license revoked
Melvin Wise St. Petersburg Times Doctor's license revoked By Carol Gentry August 8, 1992 -- Excerpt ... Malcolmson told the board Florida needs to form a task force to ease the plight of sexual abuse victims who are getting chewed up by the system. While seven women brought complaints against Dr. Melvin Wise, two refused to testify after seeing the others skewered by Wise's attorneys. Only Malcolmson's case survived the legal process. It was the basis for the board's vote Friday to revoke Wise's license. Wise, who practiced child and adolescent psychiatry in Miami, did not appear at the hearing. [...]
David McWhirter, San Diego Psychiatrist, sued
David McWhirter Los Angeles Times SEX THERAPIST SUED BY MALE EX-PATIENT By Nora Zamichow July 30, 1992 -- Excerpt A male former patient is suing the medical director of the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, alleging that Dr. David McWhirter took advantage of his emotional problems to seduce him, and another former patient has filed notice that he intends to sue on similar grounds. McWhirter, an expert in human sexuality and head of the county's mental health facility for five years, invited the first patient to his home for dinner, where the patient said he was "forcibly dragged across [...]
Thomas Morris, Mass. Psychiatrist, accused of misconduct
Thomas Morris The Boston Globe Panel likely to clear doctor of sex abuse; Critics decry handling of women's complaints By Alison Bass, Globe Staff July 3, 1992 -- Excerpt In the latest turn in a byzantine case that has triggered bitter complaints from patient-advocates, the state medical board is expected next week to drop charges against a psychiatrist accused of sexually abusing two women patients during the 1970s. Advocates for sexual-abuse victims charge that the process was stacked in the doctor's favor because the board refused to hold a joint hearing on the two women's complaints; following separate proceedings, [...]
Edward Daniels, Boston Psychiatrist, license revoked
Edward Daniels The Boston Globe Board votes to strip psychiatrist of license By Alison Bass and Luz Delgado June 25, 1992 -- Excerpt The state medical board voted unanimously last night to revoke the medical license of Dr. Edward M. Daniels, one of the most influential psychiatrists in the Boston area, for allegedly sexually abusing four female patients over the last three decades. "Indeed, the pattern, nature, extent and severity of misconduct, including the number of patients involved and the harm" to the patients "is so egregious that we can think of no circumstances whereby the respondent could satisfactorily demonstrate [...]
Eric Burstein, Columbus psychiatrist, license revoked
Eric Burstein Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) SEX WITH PATIENT COSTS PSYCHIATRIST OHIO LICENSE May 15, 1992 By Laurie Loscocco -- Excerpt A former Columbus psychiatrist has lost his license to practice medicine in Ohio for having a three-year sexual relationship with a patient. The State Medical Board of Ohio on Wednesday permanently revoked the license of Dr. Eric Burstein, who now practices in Albuquerque, N.M. Burstein was associated with Riverside Methodist Hospitals from 1980 to 1989 and a local health maintenance organization from 1984 to 1989. The board charged that Burstein had a sexual relationship with a psychiatric patient from July [...]
John Hamilton, Columbia psychiatrist – guilty of unprofessional conduct
John Hamilton The Washington Post Psychiatry Official From Md. Had Sex With Patient; Columbia Doctor Quits as Officer of National Association After His License Is Suspended By Stephen Buckley March 6, 1992 -- Excerpt A Columbia psychiatrist resigned as an officer of the American Psychiatric Association Wednesday night after Maryland's medical disciplinary board suspended his license for a year because he had a sexual relationship with a patient. John Hamilton, 68, stepped down as a deputy medical director of the APA after the state Board of Physician Quality Assurance found him guilty of unprofessional conduct toward a 40-year-old woman being [...]
Robert Willis, psychiatrist (NY & NJ) – sentenced
Robert Willis Los Angeles Times INSIDE-TRADING PSYCHIATRIST IS SPARED JAIL; SECURITIES: A NEW YORK MAN WHO OBTAINED STOCK INFORMATION FROM A PATIENT -- THE WIFE OF A TOP EXECUTIVE -- GETS PROBATION AND A $150,000 FINE. January 8, 1992 -- Excerpt A psychiatrist who traded stocks on inside information about BankAmerica Corp. that he learned while treating the wife of financier Sanford Weill was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and fined $150,000. The sentence was surprisingly light, as the presiding judge had been highly critical of the psychiatrist, Robert Willis, 52, of Tenafly, N.J., for betraying the trust [...]
Jason Richter, Denver psychiatrist, loses lawsuit
Jason Richter Hartford Courant PBS examines issue of sex on therapist's couch By Frank Spencer-Molloy November 12, 1991 -- Excerpt That decided minority of Americans who believed Anita Hill's version of events will appreciate the blame-the-victim strategy that largely succeeds tonight when PBS's "Frontline" explores the subject of sex between therapists and patients. "My Doctor, My Lover" (9 p.m., CPTV, Channel 24 in Hartford area) shows how rape begets rape as the courtroom tactics of lawyers for a 35-year-old Denver psychiatrist accused of sexual malpractice take up where the psychiatrist, Dr. Jason Richter, left off. Canadian documentary-makers John Zaritsky and [...]
James Tyhurst, Vancouver psychiatrist, sentenced
James Tyhurst The Globe and Mail CANADA IN BRIEF Psychiatrist sentenced By CP June 26, 1991 A Vancouver psychiatrist found guilty of sexually enslaving four former patients was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison. Dr. James Tyhurst, former head of the University of British Columbia psychiatry department, was convicted earlier this month.
Michael Gilbert, Miami Psychiatrist – Gets Year for Bribe
Michael Gilbert The Miami Herald Famed Psychiatrist Gets Year for Bribe By Don Van Natta Jr. May 1, 1991 -- Excerpt Famed criminal psychiatrist Michael Gilbert stood up one last time in a Dade courtroom Tuesday and asked a judge to go easy on a mentally deficient defendant. Only this time, the defendant was Dr. Gilbert. "I regret terribly what I did, and I know what I did was an aberration," said Gilbert, 75, who was convicted in March of bribing a Metro-Dade police officer to concoct a cocaine bust against a Miami lawyer. His plea for leniency [...]
Jean Claude Pierre Hill, psychiatrist, sentenced to life
Jean Claude Pierre Hill Orlando Sentinel DOCTOR SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER April 29, 1992 Jean-Claude Pierre Hill, the Virginia physician whom a jury found guilty of first-degree murder but mentally ill in the random shooting death of an insurance executive, was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday. The verdict "guilty but mentally ill" means that Hill, 30, will receive psychiatric treatment for his illness until a doctor determines he is well enough to go into the general prison population. It took a jury less than two hours Monday to find Hill guilty of the murder of Cigna [...]
Edward Askren, Georgia Psychiatrist, “disciplined in sex case”
Edward Askren The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Psychiatrist is disciplined in sex case; License suspended a month for intimacies with patient in 1981 By Steve Sternberg April 4, 1991 -- Excerpt The medical license of Dr. Edward L. Askren III, a psychiatrist who had admitted having sex with a patient, was temporarily suspended Wednesday by the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners. The one-month suspension will be followed by five years of probation during which Dr. Askren must undergo psychotherapy, must be supervised by another psychiatrist - and may not see any patient without a licensed therapist in the [...]
Marc Talisman, Ca. Psychiatrist, accused of sex with 17-year-old
Marc Talisman Los Angeles Times Psychiatrist Accused of Sex with Two Patients By Lanie Jones February 26, 1991 -- Excerpt The Medical Board of California has accused a longtime county Health Care Agency psychiatrist of gross negligence for allegedly having sexual relations with two patients, one only 17 years old. The board, which monitors the professional conduct of the state's physicians, is seeking to revoke or suspend the license of Marc Z. Talisman, 45, a part-time psychiatrist in the county's Mission Viejo mental health office for 10 years. Under ethical cannons, psychiatrists are not supposed to have any personal relationship [...]
James White, Newport Beach psychiatrist, sentenced
James White Los Angeles Times PSYCHIATRIST SENTENCED FOR MOLESTING PATIENT;CRIME: THE JUDGE GIVES DR. JAMES WHITE SIX YEARS AND TACKS ON EIGHT MONTHS FOR HIS FAILURE TO APPEAR AT AN EARLIER SENTENCING. HE WAS ARRESTED LATER IN TEXAS. By Jerry Hicks January 10, 1991 -- Excerpt A judge sentenced Newport Beach psychiatrist James Harrington White to six years and eight months in prison Wednesday for sexually molesting a 29-year-old patient while the man was unconscious. White, 48, pleaded guilty last spring to two counts of sexual molestation stemming from one incident, which he had preserved on videotape. But the day [...]
Norman Ackerman, Manhattan psychiatrist, arrested
Norman Ackerman Newsday (New York) Psychiatric Clinic Charged In $ 1.3M Fraud By Gale Scott December 7, 1990 -- Excerpt A Roslyn psychiatrist and his two Manhattan partners were arrested yesterday and charged with $ 1.3 million in Medicaid fraud in connection with a defunct psychiatric clinic they operated on 121st Street in Harlem. Dr. Nathaniel Lehrman, 67, of Roslyn, Dr. Norman Ackerman, 65, who practiced psychiatry in Manhattan until his license was revoked for sexual misconduct, and their office manager, Robert Cohen, 51, are charged with fraudulently billing the state for 50,000 "phantom" psychotherapy sessions at the Lenox Psychiatric [...]
Leonard R. Friedman, Massachusetts Psychiatrist – “sexual activity with patient”
Leonard R. Friedman The Boston Globe SJC rule backs medicine panel NEW ENGLAND NEWS BRIEFS November 2, 1990 The state's highest court ruled yesterday that the state Board of Registration in Medicine did not abuse its powers when it decided three years ago to revoke the license of a Boston psychiatrist for engaging in sexual activity with a patient. The Supreme Judicial Court said there was "substantial evidence" for the board to conclude that Dr. Leonard R. Friedman of the Back Bay had "engaged in gross misconduct in the practice of medicine." The board revoked Friedman's license on June 24, [...]
Simon Sanchez, West Islip psychiatrist, sentenced
Simon Sanchez Newsday (New York) Psychiatrist Gets Jail WEST ISLIP June 12, 1990 -- Excerpt A 62-year-old West Islip psychiatrist has been sentenced to 6 months in jail, 850 hours of community service and a $ 1,000 fine for overbilling Medicaid by exaggerating the amount of time he spent with Medicaid patients. The psychiatrist, Dr. Simon Sanchez, appeared yesterday before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Kenneth K. Rohl. He was jailed April 12 after pleading guilty to the crime of offering a false instrument for filing in the second degree, according to a news release from the Office [...]
Velma Powell, College Park psychiatrist, sentenced
Velma Powell The Washington Post College Park Psychiatrist, 2 Aides Sentenced in Prescription Case By Paul W. Valentine May 11, 1990 -- Excerpt A College Park psychiatrist and two of her assistants have been sentenced on charges of improperly prescribing drugs to scores of patients. A social worker and an unlicensed therapist working for the psychiatrist, Velma E.L. Powell, illegally wrote prescriptions on slips signed in advance by Powell, prosecutors said. The assistants also switched patients' medications and dosages for powerful tranquilizers and pain killers such as Valium and Demerol, often with little supervision by Powell, according to the prosecutors. [...]
George Hayter, California psychiatrist, accused of kissing and fondling one of his patients
George Hayter Los Angeles Times PSYCHIATRIST CHARGED WITH FONDLING A FEMALE PATIENT By LANIE JONES May 9, 1990 -- Excerpt The Medical Board of California has accused an Orange psychiatrist of kissing and fondling one of his patients and continuing that intimate conduct for 3 1/2 years. Dr. George M. Hayter, 52, vehemently denied the charges. "That's totally untrue," he said. A 1966 graduate of Duke University Medical School, Hayter has been licensed to practice medicine in California since 1968 and has served on staff at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange for 18 years. In an April 12 civil [...]
Henry Spitzer, Ca Psychiatrist, house seized
Henry Spitzer The Associated Press Marshals Seize Home of Drug-Issuing Psychiatrist January 17, 1990 -- Excerpt U.S. marshals, acting under a federal law aimed at stripping drug dealers of their means of doing business, seized the house of a 73-year-old psychiatrist accused of illegally writing prescriptions there. Tuesday's seizure of the home of Henry Spitzer marked the first use of the forfeiture statute against a doctor in California, authorities said. Spitzer surrendered his license to practice last year after he was charged with 16 felonies in 1988. Undercover agents had concluded he was prescribing Valium and an amphetamine in cases [...]