Psych Observer – Exposing Bad Psychiatry

By ALAN GUENTHER • April 2, 2008
Asbury Park Press 

An Ancora Psychiatric Hospital patient, who was supposed to be kept under close supervision, died Tuesday evening, eight days after being given solid food she was not supposed to have, the Asbury Park Press has learned.Two hospital staffers — an orderly and a registered nurse — have been suspended with pay for their role in the patient’s death, said Human Services spokeswoman Pam Ronan.

Martone also did not tell lawmakers that the number of assaults — where patients fought with each other or with hospital staff — increased by 22.9 percent in 2007. In 2006, there were 1,212 assaults. In 2007, there were 1,490, an increase of 278, according to statistics recently released by the Department of Human Services.

By James T. Mulder
Staff writer
syracuse news

The state has revoked the medical license of a Fayetteville psychiatrist accused of carrying on a long-term sexual relationship with a female patient he was treating for depression.

A hearing committee of the state Board for Professional Medical Conduct said Dr. Stephen M. Shapiro, 67, of 900 Fayetteville-Manlius Road, embarked on a seven-year relationship with the woman after she was referred to him in 1998 by her husband, also one of Shapiro’s patients.

“He exploited her feelings and vulnerabilities for his own gratification,” the hearing committee said in documents outlining the case against Shapiro.

James Lantier, Shapiro’s lawyer, said the doctor denies the charges and will appeal the decision.

“We think there was testimony about the patient’s psychiatric condition that really shed very serious doubt on whether her account was accurate,” Lantier said.

License revocation is the most serious punishment the board can impose on a doctor for misconduct. The board took 303 disciplinary actions statewide in 2007, 43 of them license revocations.

State law prohibits sexual contact between a psychiatrist and a patient.

The committee found Shapiro guilty of that, gross negligence, negligence on more than one occasion, engaging in conduct which evidences moral unfitness and failing to maintain accurate patient records.

Shapiro denied the allegations during a hearing, but the committee accused him of lying under oath.

Here is the hearing committee’s version of what happened:

Shapiro began treating the woman’s husband for depression in 1996. The man believed his wife would benefit from seeing Shapiro because she also had a history of depression. The psychiatrist saw the couple in joint sessions at his home office, then he began treating them separately.

The woman became infatuated with Shapiro and gave him candy around Valentine’s Day of 1998. Such an attraction, known as “transference,” is common among patients receiving psychiatric care, but Shapiro did not properly manage the situation, according to the hearing committee.

The sexual relationship began shortly after that, taking place in the doctor’s office, his home, hotels and other locations, according to the committee. The doctor stopped charging the woman for treatment after the relationship began. The woman broke off the relationship in June 2005.

During the hearing, a forensic psychiatrist testifying on Shapiro’s behalf said the woman’s claims probably were a fantasy.

In her testimony, however, the woman provided detailed descriptions about the doctor’s home and his body – specifically the location of his surgical scars. Shapiro conceded those details were accurate, but testified he had told the woman about his scars.

Shapiro testified he could not have engaged in the affair because he was physically unable to have sexual relations. He said his primary care doctor prescribed the male impotence drug Viagra for him three times during 2001 and 2002, but the drug did not work. Shapiro’s doctor, however, denied ever prescribing that drug.

Posted by The Grand Rapids Press April 02, 2008 15:07PM

BYRON CENTER — Kent County sheriff’s detectives this week arrested a Byron Center child for
first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Carlos Alberto Marcano

Dr. Carlos Alberto Marcano, 58, also faces two charges of second-degree sexual assault.

He is a child psychiatrist for Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, as well as Community Mental Health for Central Michigan. The alleged crime did not involve a patient, or happen on Pine Rest property, police said.

He was arraigned in Grand Rapids Township District Court, and held in the Kent County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Reported by arabtimesonline

Kuwait : Police have arrested an Arab psychiatrist working at the Ministry of Education for allegedly molesting women, reports Al-Rai daily. According to a security source the man is running a consultancy office in Hawalli and he was reportedly caught red-handed while molesting women inside his office.

Hashish found with teacher: Police have arrested an unidentified lecturer working at one of the faculties for possessing a finger of hashish, reports Al-Watan daily. The lecturer was arrested in a suburb of Sabah Al-Salem and at the time of his arrest he was reportedly in a disoriented condition.
Surprisingly, when the man was taken in for interrogation he was quoted as telling police that it is the drug trafficker who they should be looking for and not the consumer.