MEDIA
Eric Schwietering, Wisconsin Psychiatrist, sentenced
Eric Schwietering Pioneer Press Psychiatrist ordered to stand trial in sex case --Excerpt WAUKESHA, Wis.—A psychiatrist already serving four years of probation for possession of child pornography has been ordered to stand trial on a sexual assault charge. The move came after a 14-year-old boy tearfully testified that Eric B. Schwietering, 41, of Milwaukee, molested him during a counseling session in 2006. The boy testified at a preliminary hearing Friday that Schwietering questioned him during a counseling session about his sexual habits and asked him to disrobe July 10, 2006. The boy said that, when he declined, Schwietering forced him [...]
Larry Anderson, Penticton psychiatrist, More Jail
Larry Anderson Castanet Psychiatrist Gets More Time November 22, 2006 -- Excerpt A former Penticton psychiatrist has been given an additional jail sentence. Larry Anderson is currently serving an 18-month sentence on charges of sexual and indecent assault against former female patients between the late 70's and 90's. On Tuesday, he plead guilty in Penticton provincial court to assaulting his wife at their home near Princeton in 2005. The assault took place while Anderson was out on bail awaiting sentencing on sexual and indecent assault charges...
Naseem Chaudhry, Downers Grove Psychiatrist, Indicted
United States Attorney U.S. Department of Justice Northern District of Illinois FORMER MEDICAL DIRECTOR AT ROCK CREEK PSYCHIATRIC FACILITY INDICTED IN ALLEGED $875,000 HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEME FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY JUNE 30, 2006 CHICAGO – A suburban psychiatrist who was the medical director at the shuttered Rock Creek Center in Lemont was indicted for allegedly defrauding Medicare of more than $875,000 by falsely claiming to have provided services that he never performed and billing for more complex services than he actually provided. The defendant, Dr. Naseem Chaudhry, allegedly admitted patients to the privately-owned Rock Creek psychiatric facility, routinely kept [...]
Sheldon Zigelbaum, Mass. Psychiatrist, five women testified against him
Sheldon Zigelbaum Boston Magazine Head Games May 15, 2006 By Gretchen Voss -- Excerpt An alarming number of Massachusetts psychiatrists have gotten caught again and again having sex with some of this society's most vulnerable people: their own patients... Dr. Sheldon Zigelbaum lost his license in 1992 after five women testified before the medical board that he engaged in a variety of sexual acts with them in his office, hotel rooms, his car, and, in one case, a hot tub. Some said he shared marijuana, and one woman said he did cocaine with her. Zigelbaum denied having sex [...]
Eric Ressner
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) PHARMACIST, PSYCHIATRIST ARE INDICTED; TWO ACCUSED IN $9.9 MILLION INSURANCE FRAUD --Excerpt Federal prosecutors Monday charged a pharmacist and a psychiatrist with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar insurance fraud scheme out of a Palm Beach Gardens pharmacy, court documents show... Two physicians, including psychiatrist Dr. Eric Ressner of Palm Beach Gardens, helped Sutera substantiate the fake prescriptions, while a chiropractor and a pharmacy technician assisted in the conspiracy, prosecutors said. Sutera provided Ressner with “cash payments delivered in envelopes on a regular basis” and a $34,000 check in August 2002 for a down payment on Ressner’s Bocce [...]
George Frimpong, Ghana Psychiatrist, convicted
George Frimpong GhanaWeb Psychiatrist fined for arson August 26, 2005 -- Excerpt George Frimpong, a Ghanaian psychiatrist based in London was on Friday fined two million cedis by a circuit court in Kumasi for setting a house on fire. Frimpong, who was convicted on his own plea of guilty... She said sometime in 2004, neighbours saw signs of smoke coming out of Madam Ofori's house but managed to put it under control. Madam Ofori made a report to the police but before the suspects could be traced Frimpong had gone back to London, the prosecutor said. Chief Inspector Oseiwaah [...]
Persistent sleuthing uncovers state flaw
St. Petersburg Times Persistent sleuthing uncovers state flaw --Excerpt In a second bedroom converted to an office, amid file cabinets filled with cases of psychiatric abuse, Ken Kramer banged away on his Hewlett-Packard, sending e-mail after e-mail to Tallahassee, late into the night, night after night. His focus was the psychiatric profession. And after months of dogged persistence, his work finally paid dividends last month. The state Department of Health admitted Kramer had uncovered an embarrassing flaw in its disciplinary system that may have spared hundreds of medical professionals from criminal prosecution. Last week, state Health Secretary John O. Agwunobi [...]
Crusader Pressed State For List Of Possible Violations
Tampa Tribune Crusader Pressed State For List Of Possible Violations --Excerpt Save for the persistence of one person, Ken Kramer, of Clearwater, the Florida Department of Health might not be telling prosecutors about alleged sexual improprieties involving psychotherapists... Kramer began wondering last year whether the health department was complying with a 1992 state law requiring it to notify local prosecutors of cases involving alleged sexual contact between therapists and patients and sent the department a public records request on the subject in July. "They couldn't find anything" at first, Kramer says. He kept at it. Finally, the department sent him [...]
State Eyes Psych Misconduct
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) October 12, 2004 City Edition State eyes psych misconduct; Older cases reviewed; prosecution possible BYLINE: J. TAYLOR RUSHING, Capital Bureau Chief SECTION: NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL; Pg. A-1 TALLAHASSEE -- Several misconduct cases involving psychiatrists are being belatedly sent to state attorneys across Florida, years after the doctors were disciplined by the state but never referred for possible criminal prosecution. Under Florida law, the cases should have been forwarded to prosecutors by a division of the Department of Health. State officials would not comment on particular cases. But Amy Jones, director of the Medical Quality Assurance Division of the [...]
Crimes
CRIMES
Justin Psaila, Nanuet psychiatrist, Charged
Justin Psaila The Journal News (Westchester County, NY) Doctor charged in $1 million insurance fraud case By Nancy Cacioppo September 10, 2004 -- Excerpt A Nanuet psychiatrist has been accused of defrauding government insurers of more than $1 million by billing for services never rendered, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday. Dr. Justin Psaila, who has a private practice in his home, was arraigned Wednesday before Rockland County Court Judge Kenneth Resnick on a 23-count indictment. Psaila was charged with two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of first-degree scheme to defraud and 20 counts of first-degree offering [...]
Param Shukla, Brookline Psychiatrist, sentenced in sex assault
Param Shukla The Boston Herald Psychiatrist sentenced in sex assault January 15, 2004 By Marie Szaniszlo -- Excerpt A psychiatrist was sentenced to two years' probation yesterday for sexually assaulting a girl he had treated at Children's Hospital three years ago, prosecutors said. Param Shukla, 38, of Brookline pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. During a 2000 therapy session, Shukla offered to take the 13-year-old victim for a walk and touched her buttocks for several seconds when she bent [...]
George Kubski defense: “My Brain was Shrinking”
Psychiatrist George Kubski Palm Beach Post (Florida) PSYCHIATRIST GETS YEAR FOR PATIENT'S PILL DEATH --Excerpt He killed one of his patients by prescribing more than 20,000 pills in three months. On Friday, facing 15 years in prison, Dr. George Kubski could offer no explanation. But fellow physicians testified they had solved the mystery of how a respected psychiatrist with an unblemished record became a pill mill for at least one patient: Brain damage. And a judge agreed. In a hearing full of surprises, Circuit Judge Richard Wennet allowed attorney Patricia Woods Marin, who represents the child of the deceased, to [...]
Tom Onen, English Psychiatrist, Struck Off
Tom Onen The Independent Psychiatrist struck off for overprescribing to addicts --Excerpt A Psychiatrist was struck off the medical register yesterday for prescribing "exceptionally large quantities" of controlled drugs to patients at his private addiction clinic. In a damning ruling, the General Medical Committee said that Dr Tom Onen had shown a "reckless disregard" for the safety of his patients, two of whom died after receiving prescriptions at his south London surgery. The GMC had been told that addicts from across the south of England travelled to the clinic to take advantage of the doctor's lax prescription policy. The extent [...]
Bennett Braun, Chicago Psychiatrist, license suspended
Bennett Braun Chicago Tribune CONTROVERSIAL PSYCHIATRIST SUSPENDED; RECOVERED MEMORY CASE SPURS STATE MOVE By Lisa Donovan October 8, 1999 -- Excerpt State officials have suspended the medical license of Chicago psychiatrist Bennett Braun, considered a leader in the controversial field of recovered memory and multiple personality therapy. Starting Thursday, Braun is prohibited from practicing for two years. After the suspension, he faces a minimum 5-year probation period that precludes him from treating patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. The Department of Professional Regulation's disciplinary action comes a year after the state agency filed a nine-count complaint [...]
Allan Umar-Khitab, Cambridge Psychiatrist, Suspended
Allan Umar-Khitab Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada) HOSPITAL SUSPENDS PSYCHIATRIST FOLLOWING SEX CHARGES By Prithi Yelaja and Liz Monteiro July 28, 1999 -- Excerpt A prominent local psychiatrist charged with 11 counts of sexual offences against boys has been suspended from Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Dr. Allan Umar-Khitab, who was commonly known as Allan Khitab, had been practising in Cambridge since June 1989. He was the only full-time psychiatrist on staff at the hospital's mental health clinic. Khitab's arrest leaves hundreds, and possibly thousands, of patients in the lurch and hospital officials scrambling to find help. Reached at his home in [...]
Ramesh Vemuri, Crystal Lake psychiatrist, accused of molesting patient
Ramesh Vemuri Chicago Tribune SERVING OF COMPLAINT UPHELD IN MOLESTATION CASE July 17, 1998 -- Excerpt A former Crystal Lake psychiatrist accused of molesting a female patient was properly served with a civil complaint and must answer the charges, even though he has moved to India, a McHenry County judge ruled Thursday. Judge James C. Franz ruled that Dr. Ramesh B. Vemuri still had a legal residence at 7606 Crystal Spring Rd., Crystal Lake, when the complaint was left for him in March. Vemuri had left the country two months before. Attorneys for Vemuri had argued that the complaint had [...]
Nestor Garcia, Florida Psychiatrist, Sentenced to Prison
Nestor Garcia The Tampa Tribune Psychiatrist sentenced to prison April 8, 1998 By Keith Morelli -- Excerpt A judge sentences a psychiatrist to prison for billing Medicare and Medicaid for services he never performed. A psychiatrist convicted of submitting bills of more than $ 4.5 million to Medicare and Medicaid between 1994 and 1995 was sentenced Tuesday to 6+ years in federal prison. Nestor A. Garcia was found guilty at a December health care fraud trial. Garcia was ordered to repay nearly $ 1.7 million to federal health care programs. Garcia, 43, also was ordered to serve three years [...]
William Cone, 73-year-old Psychiatrist, gets 133 year sentence
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) PSYCHIATRIST GETS 133-YEAR TERM FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF TWO PATIENTS --Excerpt LEXINGTON, MO. – A psychiatrist who said “moral insanity” caused him to sexually abuse two patients was sentenced to 133 years in prison. Dr. William Cone was convicted in December of 19 counts of sexual assault. Circuit Court Judge Robert Ravenhill sentenced Cone on Tuesday to seven years on each count. Cone, 73, apologized to the victims and said he hoped that his case would help keep others from being victimized by “other impaired physicians.” Prosecutors said Cone, a veteran staff member at the [...]
James Taylor, Psychiatrist, Pennsylvania, sentenced
James Taylor The Morning Call DOCTOR JAILED FOR BEATING * JAMES TAYLOR ATTACKED ANOTHER PSYCHIATRIST WITH A CROWBAR; TERM 6-12 YEARS. By MIKE FRASSINELLI and The Morning Call September 05, 1997 -- Excerpt Completing his plunge from prominent psychiatrist to jailed felon, Dr. James Taylor was sentenced Thursday to six to 12 years in state prison for bludgeoning a female psychiatrist with a clawed crowbar last autumn. Monroe County Judge Jerome Cheslock sentenced Taylor to an additional six months to a year in prison for intimidating witnesses in a separate tax-fraud case, bringing his total jail term to 6-1/2-13 years. [...]
Mark Green – Brookline psychiatrist, suspended
Mark Green The Boston Globe Board pulls license of psychiatrist over sex, drug allegations Brookline doctor may be mentally ill By Dolores Kong June 28, 1995 -- Excerpt The state medical board has suspended the license of a Brookline psychiatrist for allegedly having sex with a patient and incorrectly prescribing medications to patients and himself. The board also says Dr. Mark D. Green may be suffering a mental illness that led him to have a bizarre run-in with police... In April, Green called police to his home to report a housebreak, but no evidence of forced entry was found. Instead, [...]
Joseph Leggett, Casper Psychiatrist, sentenced
Joseph Leggett Casper Star-Tribune Leggett sentenced to probation for sex crimes By Deirdre Stoelzle August 2, 1994 -- Excerpt CASPER — Convicted in April of two counts of second-degree sexual assault, former Casper psychiatrist Joseph Leggett was sentenced to five years of supervised probation Monday in 7th District Court. Legett committed the sexual assaults while working in Casper between 1982 and 1986. In a plea agreement promising no jail time, Leggett pleaded no contest to two counts involving use of his position of authority as a doctor to force his patients to submit to sexual acts. One former patient [...]
Dennis Lardent, Barstow psychiatrist, arrested
Dennis Lardent Barstow Dispatch Doctor held on sex, drug misuse charges By Irwin M. Goldberg Dispatch Staff Writer February 24, 1994 BARSTOW – Police arrested a Barstow psychiatrist Wednesday on suspicion of drugging a patient and sexually exploiting her. Dennis Robert L’Ardent, 47, was arrested at his motel room at the Good Nite Inn, 2551 Commerce Parkway, at about 5:15 a.m. after family members of the victim called police, said Officer Mark Franey of the Barstow Police Department. The acts allegedly took placed in L’Ardent’s office at 900 E. Main St. and in room 237 of the motel, Franey said. [...]
William Gray, Virginia Psychiatrist, License Revoked
William Gray Roanoke Times BOARD REVOKES GRAY'S MEDICAL LICENSE November 13, 1993 The regulatory board overseeing Virginia's health professions said yesterday it had revoked the medical license of a Roanoke psychiatrist who had sex with his patients. William G. Gray "unethically exploited the physician-patient relationship by engaging in sexual activities" with four young male patients, the Virginia Board of Medicine said. The board also determined that Gray had violated medical ethics and standards of care by giving the patients housing, food, money, transportation and other gifts in exchange for sexual favors. Gray offered to surrender his license to practice medicine [...]
Vincent Festa, NY psychiatrist, charged
Newsday (New York) Psychiatrist Charged --Excerpt A Ronkonkoma man who is a school psychiatrist at Herricks High School in New Hyde Park has been arrested and charged with sodomizing and sexually abusing teenage boys at his home, Suffolk police reported. Vincent Festa, 64, of 170 Foster Ave., was charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy and one count of third-degree sexual abuse in connection with complaints involving three Ronkonkoma-area boys. Festa was arrested Sunday by Fourth Squad detectives and was arraigned yesterday in First District Court, Central Islip, according to police... Excerpted from: Psychiatrist Charged Newsday (New York) July [...]