The Press Enterprise

March 31, 2012, Saturday

EX-COUNTY PSYCHIATRIST ACCUSED OF SEX ABUSE

BYLINE: RICHARD K. DE ATLEY STAFF WRITER RDEATLEY@PE.COM

SECTION: MAINNEWS; Pg. A2

LENGTH: 521 words

A psychiatrist who worked briefly for the Riverside County Mental Health Department has been accused by the California Medical Board of sexual abuse and misconduct with a patient. It is the second such case against a physician working for the county mental health department filed since November.
The latest accusation, filed in late February, said Dr. Hozair Syed made inappropriate contact with a 19-year-old woman he was treating for depression beginning in July 2010 at the county mental health clinic in Hemet.
The behavior included kissing the woman as she left his office, calling her repeatedly, giving her money, asking her for a date, meeting her at a mall and insisting on buying her a pair of jeans. That November 2010 mall encounter ended with Syed grabbing the woman around the waist and repeatedly trying to kiss her, the accusation said.
The eight-page document includes Syed’s diagnosis of a major depressive episode for the woman, whose husband had just left her with an infant daughter and a 16-month-old son. She was subject to panic attacks, and among her vulnerabilities were possible major impairments in areas such as judgment, thinking or mood. She was being treated with an anti-depressant drug.
The accusation’s narrative says the woman refused to answer personal questions from Syed that seemed unrelated to her treatment, and that she turned down his request to come to her home. She also said she refused invitations from Syed to “go out and have a good time and hang out” or to go swimming. Soon after the mall meeting, the woman relayed what happened to her mother, who in turn called the clinic director to complain, the accusation said.
Riverside County Human Resources Department records show Syed worked just three months for the county in 2010. Privacy rules prohibit disclosure of why he no longer works for the county.
The accusation naming Syed was delivered to a post office box in Atascadero. Available information indicates he has a practice in Pismo Beach, about 30 miles to the south. There was no answer Thursday or Friday to phone messages left at listed numbers that came up in a search for his name or practice.
In addition to sexual abuse, the complaint alleges gross negligence, repeated negligent acts, failure to maintain medical records and general unprofessional conduct.
In a second case involving a former psychiatrist for the Riverside County Mental Health Department, Dr. Sadashiv Rajadhyaksha was accused in November by the state medical board of two sexual abuse incidents with different women during office visits in 2009 and 2010.
Rajadhyaksha also faces a criminal charge in Riverside County based on one of the alleged incidents. He has pleaded not guilty; his attorneys have said they are looking for a “favorable resolution” in the case, which they will address before the state medical board.
In February, the County Mental Health Department said Rajadhyaksha has not worked for the agency for a couple of years.
In the most recent court action, a motion to dismiss the felony sexual battery charge against Rajadhyaksha was denied earlier this month.