Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
DOCTOR ACCUSED OF IMPROPER TOUCHING;
By Josh Kovner
July 13, 2011

State regulators are considering charges against a Bridgeport psychiatrist who is accused of inappropriately touching a female patient, telling her during a session that they should “get together,” and saying on the telephone that he loved her.

Chiman Patel, who was disciplined by the Medical Examining Board in a separate matter in 2006, had his license suspended by the board in May on the strength of the recent allegations, which date to October.

The board held a hearing on July 1 for Patel, and will issue a decision within three months.

Patel, 66, who was in private practice, faces a possible license revocation. He has not been criminally charged.

The female patient has bipolar disorder and a history of opiate dependence.

The examining board found that Patel “deviated from the standard of care” by having inappropriate physical contact with the patient and making the alleged remarks.

In 2006, the examining board determined that Patel, who was then clinical director of a drug rehabilitation center in Bridgeport, had prescribed Suboxone, which is used to treat opiate addiction, to a person he had not seen in two years and who was not a patient.

He had also prescribed an anti-depressant for a colleague who wasn’t a patient; and allowed an improperly licensed staff member to dispense medication to patients.

Under the terms of a consent order, Patel was fined $3,000 and prohibited from ever working again in a free-standing drug treatment facility.