MEDIA
Carlos Delos-Reyes, Psychiatrist, License Revoked, Misconduct, Accepted Kidney From Patient
The Ithaca Journal (New York) Elmira psychiatrist loses license June 17, 2011 By G. Jeffrey Aaron The New York State Health Department has revoked the license of an Elmira psychiatrist who has admitted charges of misconduct, including accepting a kidney from a patient. Dr. Carlos Delos-Reyes received his license to practice medicine in New York in March 1987. His license will be permanently restricted, effective June 21, and he will be prohibited from practicing in New York state. According to a statement of charges issued by the state Board for Professional Medical Conduct, Delos-Reyes provided psychiatric care to patients at [...]
Dosed in juvie jail: Drug firms pay state-hired doctors
Palm Beach Post By Michael LaForgia In Florida\'s juvenile jails, psychiatrists entrusted with diagnosing and prescribing drugs for wayward children have taken huge speaker fees from drug makers - companies that profit handsomely when doctors put kids on antipsychotic pills. The psychiatrists were hired by a state juvenile justice system that has plied kids with heavy doses of the powerful medications, and the physicians have prescribed antipsychotics even before they were approved by federal regulators as safe for children. One in three of the psychiatrists who have contracted with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in the past five years [...]
End juvenile injustices
Palm Beach Post By Rhonda Swan New Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters is right to examine the department\'s use of antipsychotic medications following a Palm Beach Post investigation showing that children in DJJ care are being plied with heavy doses of the powerful drugs. \"We will look at everything that surrounds this issue,\" Ms. Walters said in an interview. \"We\'re concerned that any child in our care be given the best medical assistance possible, appropriate to his medical needs.\" DJJ\'s inspector general will conduct the investigation. Ms. Walters said one of her first acts was to ensure [...]
Another suit filed against embattled jail psychiatrist
Hernando Today By TONY HOLT She was offended, violated and wasn't going to take it anymore, she said. The former Hernando County jail inmate reported the alleged sexual harassment by her psychiatrist to a female correctional officer. She consoled the shaken inmate. The two women talked. They cried. The officer promised to report it to her supervisors. Less than an hour later, the inmate was led to a dark, isolated cell with no windows. She remained in solitary confinement for another nine days, she said. She only received one visitor – an investigator from Corrections Corporation of America, the company [...]
Florida restricts license of ex-Hernando jail psychiatrist accused of molesting female inmates
St. Petersburg Times By John Woodrow Cox March 28, 2011 BROOKSVILLE — The Florida surgeon general has restricted the license of a former Hernando County jail psychiatrist after authorities say he asked female inmates to expose themselves, give him a lap dance or a kiss and implied he would trade medication for sex. In one instance, authorities said, Dr. James A. Yelton Rossello, 53, pinned a woman to the wall and molested her. The accusations against Yelton stem from his treatment of four female inmates from November 2009 to August 2010. During that time, the state records show, he was [...]
TN Won’t Turn Over Names of Top Prescribers To Senate Committee
Nashville Scene by Brantley Hargrove In this week\'s cover story, \"Pharm League,\" we take a look at a few Nashville doctors who are top-paid pharmaceutical industry speakers and consultants, attempting to suss out just what these relationships mean. Apparently, there are five Tennessee doctors who made $200,000 or more over the last year or so in speaking and consulting fees — more than any other state. Not surprisingly, three of them are from Nashville. But the diversity of the doctors and their credentials may surprise you. To be sure, you can\'t paint them with a single brush. So it was [...]
Complaint filed against New Mexico Psychiatrist for “injudicious prescribing”
Albuquerque Journal Psychiatrist in Hot Water Over Drug Prescriptions By Colleen Heild February 08, 2011 A longtime Albuquerque psychiatrist faces disciplinary action for allegedly prescribing excessively high doses of drugs for his patients and writing prescriptions for drugs that were potentially toxic if taken together. Those are among the allegations against Dr. Kenneth Bull in a complaint filed by the state Medical Board, which accused him of "injudicious prescribing" and failing to document the rationale for doing so in patients' medical records. The board filed the complaint last August, then took the rare action of suspending his license until further [...]
State snubs feds in doctor probe
Rapid City Journal Journal Editorial Board South Dakota is one of 10 states that failed to provide complete information to a U.S. senator who is trying to identify doctors who prescribe excessive amounts of mental health and pain medications. State Medicaid Director Larry Iverson also refused to release that information to the media. Instead of identifying doctors by name, or provider numbers, the state used letter codes that had no consistency from year to year, making it impossible to identify doctors who might be over-prescribing psychotropic or addictive medicines including Oxycontin and Xanax. Without a way to track patterns from [...]
3 local MDs are paid experts, also prescribe the drugs
San Diego Union Tribune Speaker's fees reach five figures, payments that are legal but raise questions about potential conflicts By Christina Jewett • California Watch Three San Diego doctors who prescribe medications at the same time they are paid by drug companies as experts on the products figure into a broader national debate about whether playing both roles poses a conflict. California Watch, a project of the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, compared two sets of data at the center of the debate — one a database of payments by drug companies to doctors nationwide and the other a [...]
Top antipsychotic prescribers also drug promoters
California Watch By Christina Jewett Three San Diego County doctors who accepted five-figure payments from pharmaceutical companies have emerged on a list of the state’s top prescribers of antipsychotic drugs to the needy, according to state records. Officials from Medi-Cal, the state program for the poor and disabled, provided a list of California’s top 10 prescribers to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who is reviewing prescribing rates of psychiatric and pain medications nationwide. Three of them accepted $20,000 or more in educational or speaking fees from the company that makes the drug they prescribe to Medi-Cal patients, company disclosures show. All [...]