The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 24, 2001, Thursday, BC cycle

Las Vegas jail psychiatrist had Arizona, Massachusetts licenses revoked

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 519 words

DATELINE: LAS VEGAS

Jail authorities are reviewing the work of a psychiatrist who treats high-risk inmates after a newspaper found his medical license was revoked in Massachusetts.
Dr. Gilles Desmarais received license renewals from the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners despite a 1994 Massachusetts court finding of gross misconduct for having sex with a patient, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Thursday.
Arizona’s Board of Medical Examiners also ordered Desmarais in December 1995 not to practice medicine, the newspaper said.
Desmarais, 65, is regional staff psychiatrist for Nashville, Tenn.-based Prison Health Services Inc.
Company spokesman Lawrence Pomeroy issued a statement Thursday saying Desmarais was hired when Prison Health Services bought Emergency Medical Services Associates Correctional Care in 1999.
Prison Health provides medical services for inmates at the Clark County Detention Center and city jails in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.
Pomeroy said Prison Health Services is conducting an internal investigation. The statement said the company checks physicians’ backgrounds through the National Practitioner Data Bank.
Desmarais did not immediately respond Thursday to messages seeking comment.
His Massachusetts state medical license was revoked in 1994 after an administrative magistrate found he had a sexual relationship with a female patient in 1974.
Desmarais’ wife committed suicide in 1975 on the day he announced he intended to leave her for his patient, according to the newspaper report. Desmarais moved the patient into his home the same evening.
In the Massachusetts case, his lawyer denied some charges against Desmarais. The doctor did not testify.
Capt. Henry Hoogland, a top administrator at the Clark County Detention Center, said Thursday that Desmarais typically is accompanied by both a nurse and a corrections officer when he treats inmates.
The federal Department of Justice has been investigating conditions at the 12-story facility in downtown Las Vegas since 1997. The jail handled an average of 2,325 inmates daily in 2000.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern Nevada said the Desmarais case raises troubling questions about the criteria for licensing doctors in Nevada.
“This is particularly disturbing given that Dr. Desmarais is dealing with prisoners, who are especially vulnerable and easily preyed upon,” said Gary Peck, the ACLU executive director in Las Vegas.
The Dec. 28, 1994, Massachusetts order required Desmarais to provide notification of the license revocation to any employer or health care facility with which he is affiliated.
Desert Springs Hospital, one of several Las Vegas-area hospitals where Desmarais has privileges, issued him a formal reprimand in December 1997 for omitting “relevant historical information.”
Desmarais, who was educated at Harvard and the New York University School of Medicine, signed a voluntary agreement in Arizona in December 1995 acknowledging that a violation of the Arizona order would constitute unprofessional conduct and could result in discipline.