PsychSearch.net is a public service informational project of DataSearch, Inc., public records retrieval company founded by Ken Kramer in 1998 and located in Clearwater, Florida.
PsychSearch.net provides easily accessible public records on Florida psychotherapists.
"Psychotherapist" (psych) is defined as a psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health counselor, marriage & family therapist or clinical social worker.
Need to file a complaint with the Department of Health on a psych? Here you go: Complaint form.
If you have information that updates or corrects any public record found on the Psychsearch.net website, please contact us.
DataSearch,™ PsychSearch™ and the PsychSearch™ logo are trademarks and service marks owned by DataSearch, Inc.
The Miami Herald ACTION LINE ALERT - CHECK OUT EXPERTS IN MENTAL HEALTH
February 28, 2004
A new website, www.PsychSearch.net, has been launched to help journalists, law enforcement, insurance investigators
and citizens gain ready access to governmental reports on mental health practitioners in the state of Florida.
The website contains disciplinary records from the state Department of Health on psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage counselors and clinical social workers. These reports cover medical incompetence, misprescribing drugs, sexual misconduct, criminal convictions, ethical lapses and other offenses.
When this phase of report gathering is complete, the site will expand to include reports from various law enforcement agencies, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and Medicare/Medicaid.
The Florida Times Union STATE EYES PSYCH MISCONDUCT Older cases reviewed; prosecution possible
By J. TAYLOR RUSHING, Capital Bureau Chief
October 12, 2004
Excerpts:
TALLAHASSEE -- Several misconduct cases involving psychiatrists are being belatedly sent to state attorneys across Florida, years after the doctors were disciplined by the state but never referred for possible criminal prosecution.
Under Florida law, the cases should have been forwarded to prosecutors by a division of the Department of Health...
Clearwater resident Ken Kramer has been prodding state health officials into forwarding the cases and estimates through his research that there are about 75 statewide that have not been properly considered for prosecution...
"I found a lot of the discipline cases were about sexual misconduct, but there were minimal arrests by law enforcement, so something didn't add up," Kramer said. "I started asking the Department of Health about specific cases they had forwarded, and they couldn't find anything. ... The whole point is to have this available for consumers so they can research their doctors."...
Florida Statute 491.0112 outlaws sexual contact between psychiatrists and their patients -- and specifically bans the client's consent as a valid defense. Statute 456.066 also requires state departments "or the appropriate board" to report criminal violations to "the proper prosecuting authority."...
Tampa Tribune Crusader Pressed State For List Of Possible Violations
By Lenny Savino
January 28, 2005
Excerpts:
Save for the persistence of one person, Ken Kramer, of Clearwater, the Florida Department of Health might not be telling prosecutors about alleged sexual improprieties involving psychotherapists...
Kramer began wondering last year whether the health department was complying with a 1992 state law requiring it to notify local prosecutors of cases involving alleged sexual contact between therapists and patients and sent the department a public records request on the subject in July.
"They couldn't find anything" at first, Kramer says. He kept at it.
Finally, the department sent him evidence of about 100 cases that should have been referred but hadn't been, Kramer says. He thinks there are more.
"The Department of Health is up to their eyeballs in crimes committed by psychotherapists," Kramer says.
Department spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges says the agency is "grateful to Mr. Kramer for bringing this matter to our attention."
St. Petersburg Times Persistent sleuthing uncovers state flaw
By ROBERT FARLEY
February 6, 2005
Excerpts:
His focus was the psychiatric profession. And after months of dogged persistence, his work finally paid dividends last month.
The state Department of Health admitted Kramer had uncovered an embarrassing flaw in its disciplinary system that may have spared hundreds of medical professionals from criminal prosecution.
Last week, state Health Secretary John O. Agwunobi announced more than 15,000 disciplinary cases investigated by the department since 1992 are being sent to prosecutors throughout the state to determine whether any criminal acts should be pursued.
This came after the Health Department's inspector general found the agency had failed to refer to prosecutors cases in which doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health practitioners may have committed criminal acts. Such referrals are required by law.
It's what Kramer had been telling them all along.
Kramer, 49, of Clearwater, is a Scientologist and shares Scientology's ardent opposition to psychiatry. He runs a public records research firm and volunteers with the Clearwater branch of Citizens Commission on Human Rights, which was founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to expose abuses in psychiatry.
Like an investigative reporter, Kramer's approach was methodical, and his purpose clear. He first assembled a list of all mental health professionals in Florida who had been disciplined administratively by the Department of Health...
In many instances, the Department of Health suspended or revoked a doctor's license. But did they face criminal charges as well? Florida law prohibits psychotherapists from having sexual relations with patients, even if consensual...
"Clearly, we are grateful to Mr. Kramer for bringing this to our attention," said Lindsay Hodges, spokeswoman for the Department of Health.
Bay area prosecutors said they are glad the Department of Health now will forward potential cases, but question why the department sent along stacks of old cases for which the statute of limitations has passed...
Hillsborough prosecutor Michael Sinacore, chief of the sex offenders division, echoed that frustration, but credited Kramer.
"Clearly, he (Kramer) pointed out a provision in the law that was not being followed," Sinacore said. "Bringing that to everyone's attention, he has helped to serve justice. If he hadn't caught it, who knows how long it might have gone on."...
...Ken Kramer, a public records researcher whose website, Psychsearch.net, compiles reports on Florida psychiatrists. "A good first step in truly stemming psychiatric drugging of our nation's foster children would be to require prior authorization on all ages of children for all psychiatric drugs in every state."
Propublica
November 17, 2011
"ProPublica learned about the terminations of Mendez-Villamil and Merayo from Ken Kramer, a Florida Scientologist who runs a website devoted to exposing what he considers abusive practices by psychiatrists. Scientologists believe that the drugs used by psychiatrists 'have no basis in science' and create 'lifelong drug addicts,' according to the Church of Scientology website".
Youth Today
October 01, 2010
"Ken Kramer...obtained detailed annual Medicaid expenditures for the five most prescribed atypicals in 30 states. In 2003, Medicaid spending on the atypicals for adolescents in those states was about $238.7 million. Kramer found that by 2007 - the year Abilify became the first to gain approval for adolescent use - spending had more than doubled to $562.4 million."
FlaglerLive.Com
July 1, 2010
"Ken Kramer says the numbers underestimate the extent of the problem, because medical examiners do not track deaths attributed to antipsychotic drugs or to antidepressants, both of which carry black-box or black-label warnings."
CNN
February 17, 2010
(psychologist accused of having sex with his patient) "This is not okay to do. It's psychiatric rape. It's psychological rape...It's against the law. These guys can go to jail for this type of thing."
—Ken Kramer
Tucson Citizen (Arizona)
March 20, 2007
"Further information about what is legally being done about psychiatric abuse can be found at www.psychsearch.net."
—Laura Doreson
Tampa Tribune (Florida)
March 12, 2006
"Kramer's recent research led to an admission by the state Department of Health that it had failed to report for prosecution numerous cases of sexual abuse by therapists."
The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 9, 2006
Ken Kramer,... has declared war on TeenScreen. He rejects disclaimers by the testing organization that it neither diagnoses children nor prescribes them drugs. "They're not the hangman. They're the gallows-builders. They lead them to the drugs," said Kramer
The Indianapolis Star (Indiana)
September 18, 2005
"Kramer, a researcher, has become Public Enemy No. 1 for the program (TeenScreen), busting it consistently on his Web site, www.psychsearch.net..."
Tampa Tribune (Florida)
March 20, 2005
"Regarding Florida's psychiatric sex crimes, thanks for Ken Kramer's persistence in uncovering them..."
—Ellie Bolger
Tampa Tribune (Florida)
March 20, 2005
"If it were not for the Sunshine Laws and the diligent work of fine citizens like Ken Kramer, these criminal psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists would have free rein to harm in the name of help."
—Doyle Mills
The Bradenton Herald
March 13, 2005
"Kramer,...put his public records knowledge to work a couple of years ago and uncovered about 100 psychotherapists with allegations of sexual misconduct ...Kramer's investigation prompted the Health Department's investigator general's office to conduct its own investigation..."
St. Petersburg Times
February 6, 2005
"Last week, state Health Secretary John O. Agwunobi announced more than 15,000 disciplinary cases investigated by the department since 1992 are being sent to prosecutors throughout the state to determine whether any criminal acts should be pursued. "Clearly, we are grateful to Mr. Kramer for bringing this to our attention," said Lindsay Hodges, spokeswoman for the Department of Health."
St. Petersburg Times
February 6, 2005
"Kramer also notched a second, recent victory... He spearheaded opposition to a pilot program proposed for Pinellas schools and aimed at reducing teen suicide,,, Kramer saw the program as a thinly veiled attempt to get more kids into the psychiatric system and on psychotropic drugs. That, he says, is the real cause of high rates of teen suicide... Kramer encouraged friends to e-mail the School Board and argue against Teen-Screen. Bombarded with more than 700 e-mails, the board voted 6-1 not to go with TeenScreen.
"
St. Petersburg Times
February 6, 2005
"Kramer said... "I have confidence that the crimes of psychotherapists and others in Florida from here on out will be prosecuted. "I have one message for criminal psychotherapists in this state. The Department of Health is now coming after you.""
Tampa Tribune
Jan 28, 2005
"The Department of Health is up to their eyeballs in crimes committed by psychotherapists"
—Ken Kramer
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
October 12, 2004
"I found a lot of the discipline cases were about sexual misconduct... The whole point is to have this available for consumers so they can research their doctors."
—Ken Kramer
The Miami Herald
February 28, 2004
"A new website, PsychSearch.net, has been launched to help journalists, law enforcement, insurance investigators and citizens gain ready access to governmental reports on mental health practitioners in the state of Florida".
