MEDIA
EDITORIAL: Why are doctors writing so many prescriptions?
Tuscaloosa News November 5, 2010 No doubt, Robert Bentley\'s \'to do\' list is growing daily as he prepares to become Alabama\'s next governor, but we hope he will add this: getting the state\'s Medicaid agency to release information on prescriptions written for expensive drugs. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been gathering information from across the nation to see why some doctors are writing stunning numbers of prescriptions that are paid for by taxpayers. Most states have provided this data; Alabama has not. It is important because, as it turns out, some doctors are writing far more prescriptions for psychiatric [...]
Edmundo Chirinos, Venezuela Psychiatrist, Sentenced
Edmundo Chirinos Associated Press Venezuelan psychiatrist sentenced in slaying September 29, 2010 -- Excerpt A prominent Venezuelan psychiatrist who once ran for president has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the murder of a young woman who was his patient. The attorney general's office said Wednesday that Edmundo Chirinos was convicted of killing 19-year-old Roxana Vargas, whose body was found with a blow to the head in 2008 in a park on the outskirts of Caracas. Chirinos had pleaded innocent to the intentional homicide charge. The attorney general's office says investigators found some 1,200 photographs of nude [...]
Yolande Lucire, New South Wales Psychiatrist, banned
Yolande Lucire The Sydney Morning Herald Psychiatrist banned from treating patients By Kim Arlington and Bellinda Kontominas August 28, 2010 ''JULIA'' is detained indefinitely in a hospital psychiatric unit after stabbing her father and teenaged sister to death while in the grip of psychosis in 2007. Her psychiatrist, Yolande Lucire, was yesterday banned from treating any more patients after the NSW Medical Tribunal found there were serious shortcomings in the way she managed the 25-year-old's illness. Under conditions imposed by the Medical Board to protect the public, Dr Lucire has not been permitted to treat patients since December 2008. Yesterday [...]
Leonard Friedman, Mass. Psychiatrist, arrested
Leonard Friedman Boston Globe Middleton psychiatrist arrested By Julie Balise July 14, 2010 -- Excerpt A Middleton psychiatrist was arrested yesterday morning and charged with writing prescriptions for cash payments. Leonard Friedman, 73, was held on $50,000 bail and faces 14 counts of issuing prescriptions for Class B and Class C substances, according to a statement from Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. The crimes are punishable by up to 10 years in prison for Class B substances or five years for Class C substances. “A doctor who trades addictive drugs for cash makes a mockery of the [...]
Psychiatrist Sohail Punjwani Warned by FDA
Psychiatrist Sohail Punjwani The Miami Herald FDA warns psychiatrist who treated dead foster child By Carol Marbin Miller March 16, 2010 -- Excerpt A South Florida psychiatrist who was treating a 7-year-old foster child before the boy committed suicide last year has received a warning from federal drug regulators who say he failed ``to protect the rights, safety and welfare'' of children enrolled in clinical drug trials. In a strongly worded letter dated Feb. 4, regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Dr. Sohail Punjwani over-medicated children who were enrolled in clinical trials for undisclosed drugs. One [...]
Igor Magier, Chesapeake psychiatrist, license revoked
Igor Magier The Virginian Pilot State board strips psychiatrist of license after series of run-ins By Elizabeth Simpson March 03, 2010 -- Excerpt A Chesapeake psychiatrist who was first investigated for improperly prescribing drugs more than two decades ago has lost his medical license. The Virginia Board of Medicine's decision last week to revoke the license of Igor Magier, who once had a practice on Cedar Lakes Drive, was unusual. In 2009, the board took this action against only three of the 31,200 medical doctors licensed in the state. Magier was first put on probation by the board [...]
Ashrap Amin, NYC psychiatrist, sex assault charge
Bergennow.com New York City psychiatrist has been arrested --Excerpt DUMONT, N.J. – A New York City psychiatrist has been arrested and charged with sexual assault upon an underage female, authorities say. Ashrap M. Amin, 42, of East Elmhurst, New York, was arrested on Thursday, November 19 by members of the Dumont Police Department, under the direction of Chief Brian Venezio, along with the county’s Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit. The investigation commenced after law enforcement reportedly learned that Amin had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct in the presence of the girl during the month of May, 2009. The [...]
James Edgar, South Tampa psychiatrist, arrested
James Edgar South Florida Sun-Sentinel HERE'S HOW TO SETTLE A DISPUTE WITH YOUR POOL CLEANER. BRING OUT YOUR SHOTGUN --Excerpt Let's see if we've got this right. A South Tampa psychiatrist hauls out a gun after he and a pool cleaner get in an argument. Aren't psychiatrists supposed to talk people through conflicts? But James Roy Edgar, 64, a South Tampa psychiatrist, told police he confronted Stephen Lafoe, 35, an employee of Bay Area Pool Service, outside his home because he had repeatedly asked pool cleaners not to park in his private driveway... Lafoe said he ignored the doctor as [...]
Jean Eric Gassy, Aussie Psychiatrist, Sentenced
Jean Eric Gassy The Sydney Morning Herald Ex-psychiatrist gets 30 years for murder --Excerpt Former Sydney psychiatrist Jean Eric Gassy held a murderous grudge for eight years. When deregistered from his profession, Gassy blamed his boss, Margaret Tobin... Gassy hired a car, drove from Sydney to Adelaide, and killed Dr Tobin. He shot his ex-boss four times from close range as she exited a lift in her central Adelaide office block... Gassy, who has never admitted to killing Dr Tobin, was found guilty of the murder for a second time last month and handed a 30-year non-parole period on Friday. [...]
Randall Foster, Las Vegas psychiatrist, loses right to prescribe
Randall Foster Las Vegas Sun Another doctor loses his right to prescribe Psychiatrist, 81, can no longer provide patients access to controlled substances --Excerpt The Nevada State Medical Examiners Board has stripped a Las Vegas psychiatrist of his license to prescribe controlled substances because the drugs he prescribed to a Kentucky woman may have contributed to her suicide. The medical board took the action against Dr. Randall Foster at an emergency meeting Monday because he “presents an unacceptable risk to the citizens of Nevada,” documents show. Authorities are continuing to investigate other patient complaints about the doctor. Foster, who is [...]