MEDIA
Chicago Tribune August 16, 1994 Tuesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION DOCTOR BILLED PATIENT AFTER SEX, STATE RECORDS IN SUSPENSION SHOW BYLINE: By Susan Kuczka, Tribune Staff Writer. SECTION: CHICAGOLAND; Pg. 2; ZONE: N LENGTH: 597 words A Glencoe psychiatrist accused of gross negligence for having sex with female patients and taking gifts from them has had his medical license suspended indefinitely by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations, records showed Monday. Dr. Steven D. Pinkert, 42, a physician and surgeon who also formerly had an office on Chicago's North Side, was suspended as part of a settlement he reached with [...]
Chicago Tribune February 25, 2011 Friday Chicagoland Final Edition 'A danger to his patients'; Psychiatrist with weapons in office, misconduct on record seen as example of faulty system BYLINE: By Megan Twohey, TRIBUNE REPORTER SECTION: NEWS ; ZONE C; Pg. 1 LENGTH: 1554 words One night a Crestwood police sergeant doing a routine building check noticed an open door to the office of psychiatrist Joel Carroll. Stepping inside the cluttered office, he discovered roaming cats, a Colt AR-15 assault rifle and other guns, ammunition, military-grade smoke grenades, sex toys and pornography. "Well, for the lack of better terminology, we considered [...]
States News Service February 24, 2011 Thursday PSYCHIATRIST'S MEDICAL LICENSE IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDED ACTION FOLLOWS IOWA DETERMINATION THAT DOCTOR IS UNSAFE TO PRACTICE BYLINE: States News Service LENGTH: 261 words DATELINE: OLYMPIA, WA The following information was released by the Washington State Department of Health: The Medical Quality Assurance Commission has immediately suspended the medical license of psychiatrist Vernon P. Varner (MD60026499). Varner cannot practice medicine in Washington until the charges are resolved. He has 20 days to respond to the charges and to request a hearing. The statement of charges says the Iowa Board of Medicine indefinitely suspended Varner's license [...]
Chicago Sun-Times June 25, 1997, WEDNESDAY, Late Sports Final Edition 'Ostrich Defense' just won't wash BYLINE: Steven P. Garmisa SECTION: FINANCIAL; YOU AND THE LAW; Pg. 58 LENGTH: 641 words Repressing bad thoughts might work as a psychological defense mechanism. But the "Ostrich Defense" (as in: I didn't know what was happening because my head was stuck in the sand) didn't work for a psychiatrist accused of defrauding the government. Dr. George Krizek is a Washington, D.C., psychiatrist. His wife, Blanka Krizek, handled billing for his office. A civil complaint filed by the government accused the Krizeks of "upcoding" bills [...]
Asbury Park Press (New Jersey) November 29, 2010 Monday Jackson psychiatrist gets prison BYLINE: By, ERIK LARSEN SECTION: NEWS LENGTH: 406 words STAFF WRITER A psychiatrist from Jackson was sentenced Monday to three years in state prison for his role in a scheme to fraudulently overbill Medicaid and Medicare for almost $50,000, according to state Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor. Dr. Arnold Jacques, 61, the former medical director of the now-defunct Chambers Mental Health Clinic LLC, a mental-health counseling center in Trenton, also was ordered to pay $49,941 in restitution by Superior Court [...]
Newsday (New York) July 2, 1997, Wednesday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION ARREST IN HARASSMENT OF DOCTOR BYLINE: By Brett Johnson. STAFF WRITER SECTION: NEWS; Page A25 LENGTH: 229 words A Rego Park psychiatrist was arrested Monday in Mineola for harassing his former supervisor with threatening and anti-Semitic remarks. Dr. Alexander Sporn, 45, of 63-33 98th Place, was charged with aggravated harassment, a second-degree misdemeanor, for comments he repeatedly made over the telephone after being fired from St. Johns's Hospital in Far Rockaway in December, 1996, according to police reports. Beginning in May until his arrest, Sporn made eight documented calls [...]
Business Wire October 27, 1997, Monday State revokes license of Vancouver Psychiatrist LENGTH: 208 words DATELINE: OLYMPIA, Wash. Oct. 27, 1997--The license of Dr. Elena H. Wolfenson (MD20328) was revoked for 10 years last week by the state Medical Quality Assurance Commission. Wolfenson's license was revoked by the state of Oregon after she failed a competency test given by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners. Three psychiatrists chosen by the Oregon board found that Wolfenson was unable to answer a reasonable amount of questions in her area of her expertise, child psychiatry. Because Wolfenson failed the test and was revoked [...]
The Houston Chronicle October 17, 1997, Friday 3 STAR EDITION Lawsuit against psychiatrist who treated killer reinstated by court SOURCE: Staff BYLINE: GEORGE FLYNN SECTION: A; Pg. 37 LENGTH: 472 words The widow of a man killed by his deranged stepson had her lawsuit reinstated Thursday against a psychiatrist accused of failing to warn the family about the stepson's threats prior to the 1988 killing. The First Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a wrongful death negligence suit by Lyndall Zezulka against Dr. Renu Thapar, the psychiatrist who treated her son, Vietnam veteran Freddy Ray Lilly. Lilly, 51, was living [...]
City News Service No City News Service material may be republished without the express written permission of City News Service, Inc. June 18, 1998, Thursday Assault Lawsuit LENGTH: 204 words DATELINE: SANTA ANA A psychiatrist who gave up his medical license and the convicted child molester who lived with him were sued by a former patient who said the two sexually assaulted him on the pretext of providing therapy. The plaintiff, who was 16 years old in 1994 when treatment began, accused Dr. Burnell G. Forgey, 80, and James Crummel, 54, of fondling him and performing sex acts, the Orange [...]
City News Service No City News Service material may be republished without the express written permission of City News Service, Inc. February 4, 1998, Wednesday License Revoked LENGTH: 276 words DATELINE: SANTA ANA The Newport Beach psychiatrist who lived with a pedophile and allegedly allowed him to tag along on visits to group youth homes has lost his license. Burnell Forgey, 80, surrendered the license rather than fight charges by the Medical Board of California accusing him of gross negligence for allegedly allowing James Lee Crummel to visit group homes with Forgey on professional visits to troubled youth. The board [...]