The Reporter (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin)

November 10, 2005 Thursday

FdL psychiatrist has license suspended for link to inmate death

BYLINE: By C. M. Schmidlkofer, the reporter cschmidl@fdlreporter.com

SECTION: Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 365 words

The medical license of a Fond du Lac psychiatrist has been temporarily restricted by the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board after he was linked to the death of an inmate at Waupun Correctional Institution.
The board reprimanded Yogesh Pareek, 40, of 526 Ledgewood Drive, last month after reviewing a March 11, 2003, judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The judgment found Pareek’s medical treatment of the inmate negligent and partly responsible for his death, according to a news release from the board.
The inmate committed suicide in his prison cell on July 29, 1998, while under the care of Pareek, who was employed at the facility, according to court records. Pareek is an employee of the Fond du Lac County Department of Community Programs.
Contacted late Wednesday afternoon, Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel said he wasn’t aware of the U.S. District Court case or the review of Pareek by the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board. The Reporter will follow up Friday with information from the county executive.
Pareek is ordered to pay $6,000 in court costs, is limited from practicing medicine and surgery in any Wisconsin correctional institution for a period of not less than two years, according to court documents.
He is further ordered to complete 20 hours of continuing medical education in correctional institution psychiatry, with an emphasis on preventing suicide by mentally unstable inmates.
The board upheld the court’s judgment that Pareek allowed his patient to discontinue anti-psychotic medications while aware of the patient’s history of psychotic episodes without it.
According to court records, Pareek did not inform the correctional staff of this possibility or that he had discontinued the medication.
Between March 26 and July 26, 1998, the inmate displayed destructive behavior, including beating his head against his cell wall to the point of needing stitches, the report said.
Pareek’s defense was that by law only the inmate could determine if he needed treatment. However, according to court documents, the court said mentally ill prisoners only need to be a proper subject for treatment.