TAMPA — A South Tampa psychiatrist accused of pointing a shotgun at a pool cleaner agreed Tuesday to enter a program that could lead to the charges being dropped.

James Roy Edgar, 64, told police he repeatedly asked pool cleaners not to park in the private driveway of his townhouse, 3105 W San Isidro St., when they serviced pools in the complex behind his.

Stephen Lafoe, an employee of Bay Area Pool Service, said he got a work order directing him to reach the pool June 9 through an alley. When he couldn’t find the alley, he stopped to make notes and plug his next stop into his GPS.

That’s when Edgar came out of his house.

The pool cleaner said he ignored Edgar the first time he yelled. The psychiatrist said Lafoe mouthed off. Edgar left and returned with a shotgun.

Lafoe said the doctor pointed it at him and said, “I told you to move.” Edgar said he held the gun, but didn’t point it. He held it in self-defense, he said, afraid of the much younger pool cleaner.

He was arrested in September and released after posting $2,000 bail.

Edgar’s attorney declined to comment Tuesday. Edgar’s charges will be dropped if he successfully completes a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders. The specific conditions Edgar must meet were not discussed in court Tuesday, but could include counseling, classes and supervision.

Charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, he faced five years in prison.

Reach Alexandra Zayas at azayas@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3354.

URL: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/south-tampa-psychiatrist-accused-of-pointing-shotgun-at-pool-man-cuts-deal/1083818

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Canadian police investigate dozens of allegations against psychiatrist nicknamed for use of electricity to ‘cure’ gay soldiers.

A leading Canadian psychiatrist who kept accusations of gross human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa hidden has been charged in Calgary with sexually abusing a male patient and is being investigated over dozens of other allegations.

Dr Aubrey Levin, who in South Africa was known as Dr Shock for his use of electricity to “cure” gay military conscripts, was arrested after a patient secretly filmed the psychiatrist allegedly making sexual advances. Levin, who worked at the University of Calgary’s medical school, has been suspended from practising and is free on bail of C$50,000 (£32,000) on charges of repeatedly indecently assaulting a 36-year-old man.

The police say they are investigating similar claims by nearly 30 other patients. The Alberta justice department is reviewing scores of criminal convictions in which Levin was a prosecution witness.

Levin has worked in Canada for 15 years since leaving South Africa, where he was chief psychiatrist in the apartheid-era military and became notorious for using electric shocks to “cure” gay white conscripts. He also held conscientious objectors against their will at a military hospital because they were “disturbed” and subjected them to powerful drug regimens.

South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard that Levin was guilty of “gross human rights abuses” including chemical castration of gay men. But after arriving in Canada in 1995 he managed to suppress public discussion of his past by threatening lawsuits against news organisations that attempted to explore it.

Following the arrest, other male patients have contacted the authorities. One, who was not identified, told CTV in Canada that he had gone to Levin for help with a gambling addiction and alleged he had been questioned about his sex life and subject to sexual advances.

The arrest has raised questions about how Levin was allowed to settle in Canada. Canada admitted other South African medical practitioners accused of human rights abuses, including two who worked with Wouter Basson, known as Dr Death for his oversight of chemical and biological warfare experiments that included the murder of captured Namibian guerrillas.

Levin, who made no secret of his hard rightwing views and was a member of the ruling National party during apartheid, has a long history of homophobia.

In the 1960s, he wrote to a parliamentary committee considering the abolition of laws criminalising homosexuality saying that they should be left in place because he could “cure” gay people.

His efforts to do just that in the army began in 1969 at the infamous ward 22 at the Voortrekkerhoogte military hospital near Pretoria, which ostensibly catered for service personnel with psychological problems. Commanding officers and chaplains were encouraged to refer “deviants” for electroconvulsive aversion therapy.

The treatment consisted of strapping electrodes to the upper arm. Homosexual soldiers were shown pictures of a naked man and encouraged to fantasise, and then the power was ratcheted up.

Trudie Grobler, an intern psychologist on ward 22, saw a lesbian subjected to severe shocks.

“It was traumatic. I could not believe her body could handle it,” she said later.

One gay soldier claimed to have been chemically castrated by Levin. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was told by investigators that he was not alone. It also heard that at least one patient had been driven to suicide. Levin refused to testify before the commission.

Levin also treated drug users, principally soldiers who smoked marijuana, and men who objected to serving in the apartheid-era military on moral grounds, who were classified as “disturbed”.

Levin subjected some patients to narco-analysis or a “truth drug”, involving the slow injection of a barbiturate before the questioning began. In an interview with the Guardian 10 years ago, he did not deny its use but said it was solely to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Levin said he left South Africa only because of the high crime rate, and denied abusing human rights. He said electric shock therapy was a standard “treatment” for gay people at the time and those subjected to it did so voluntarily.

“Nobody was held against his or her will. We did not keep human guinea pigs, like Russian communists; we only had patients who wanted to be cured and were there voluntarily,” he told the Guardian in 2000.

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/28/aubrey-levin-charged-sexually-abusing-patient

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In an accusation filed by the Medical Board of California, the state agency that disciplines doctors, Dr. Norman J. Lachman, 68, of Los Angeles, was alleged to have struck and humiliated the brother — including forcing the man to buy dog food, which the doctor threatened to make him eat.

In addition, the board alleged that Lachman had “very discomforting” sessions with the sister, telling her she was a “hot tamale” and instructing her to stop attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings even though she had a drinking problem.

Under the terms of the settlement, Lachman did not admit to any of the allegations but did waive his right to contest them. The action by the board is relatively rare; in the fiscal year ending in June, the most recent available, 91 out of 127,000 licensed doctors had a license put on probation, and 80 who were being investigated either surrendered a license or had it revoked.

Lachman’s attorney, Peter Osinoff, called the allegations “outlandish.” He said his client agreed to probation of his license for five years because he is disabled and did not have the financial resources to rebut the board’s claims.

Lachman was disabled in a 1994 car accident, and his medical license had been inactive since then, which meant he was precluded from practicing medicine. Prior to that accident, he had treated the brother and sister — identified in the complaint by initials only — during family therapy when they were teenagers.

Six years later, in 2000, the sister contacted Lachman when she was having problems with a boyfriend. Her brother contacted Lachman the same year to seek a referral to another psychiatrist, but according to the state board’s accusation, Lachman instead encouraged him to resume therapy with him.

Osinoff said Lachman’s relationship with the brother and sister after they got back in touch with him was strictly social.

“He did not see them as patients, never took any funds from them,” Osinoff said.

The medical board, however, maintained that Lachman was in a physician-patient relationship with both siblings. The agency alleged that in sessions at Lachman’s home between 2000 and 2004, Lachman struck the brother in the stomach, chest and legs with a cane, used his hand to strike the man in his testicles and called him stupid and crazy.

The accusation also detailed Lachman’s alleged efforts to insult and humiliate his patient: referring to him by a girl’s name, asking him to send photos of his girlfriends nude for Lachman to keep and making sexual innuendoes about his sister, among others.

The accusation said that instead of traditional payments, the brother made out checks to Lachman’s accountant or wrote “gift” on the checks. At one point, the medical board said, Lachman made the brother buy him a $3,400 computer.

According to the complaint, Lachman suggested the brother and sister take him out to dinner at restaurants, where the therapeutic sessions continued. Medical board officials said Lachman attempted to cash three checks from the brother totaling more than $73,000.

By then, the brother had ended his sessions and stopped payment on the checks, which had been written months earlier.

“The standard of practice requires avoidance of conflicting relationships, and the avoidance of treatment modalities involving physical abuse, emotional abuse and berating, insulting and demeaning behavior toward patients,” the state accusation said.

– Rong-Gong Lin II

URL: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/psychiatrist-surrenders-license-after-being-accused-of-improper-relations-with-patients.html

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG62pwoHb94[/youtube]
FORT HOOD, Texas (Nov. 5) — A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 11 other people and left 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and the violence was believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.
The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., when shots were fired at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood.

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The gunshots came out of the blue.

This photo from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress website shows Nidal Malik Hasan, who is suspected of killing 12 people and wounding 30 in a shooting spree at Fort Hood military base in Texas on Nov. 5, 2009.

A U.S. Army psychiatrist, trained to treat soldiers under stress, allegedly opened fire Thursday in a crowded medical building at Fort Hood, Texas.

When the assault ended minutes later, the attack had become the largest mass shooting ever to occur on a U.S. military base. Twelve were killed, 31 wounded.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who had made a career in the military, fired a pair of pistols, one of them semi-automatic, dropping and scattering people as they waited to see doctors, according to authorities. Hasan and a civilian policewoman exchanged fire. Both were hit and both survived. He was shot four times and is in critical condition.

When the gunfire stopped, soldiers schooled in battlefield medicine ripped their clothes to make tourniquets and bandages. Someone hustled to seal off an auditorium in the same building where 138 troops were marking their graduation from college. Sirens typically used to warn of tornadoes sweeping across the plains alerted residents.

In the aftermath, a string of unanswered questions remained about the suspect.

The accused gunman, initially reported killed, is a Virginia-born doctor who once practised at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The motive remains unclear, although some sources reported the suspect is opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and is upset about an imminent deployment.

The attack erupted shortly after lunchtime on the sprawling complex that has absorbed more than 500 fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than any other base. Investigators said their initial impression was that the gunman had acted alone.

The victims were taken to various hospitals, where local residents were lining up to donate blood.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Army Lt.-Gen. Robert Cone told reporters gathered outside the facility northeast of Austin. “Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians who work here are absolutely devastated.”

Hasan, 39, graduated from Virginia Tech in 1997 and earned a doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He spent at least six years at Walter Reed before moving to Fort Hood.

His aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.

“I know what that is like; I have experienced it myself while working as a bank executive,” she said. “Some people can take it, and some cannot. He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military and they would not let him leave even after he offered to repay” for his medical training.

Army spokesman Lt.-Col. George Wright said he could not confirm the report of any request to be discharged.

Hasan had been affected by the physical and mental injuries he saw while working as a psychiatrist at Walter Reed, according to his aunt.

“He must have snapped,” she said. “They ignored him. It was not hard to know when he was upset. He was not a fighter, even as a child and young man.”

A cousin told reporters that Hasan “wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn’t” be deployed in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

He had been a “very devout” worshipper at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., attending prayers at least once a day, often in his Army fatigues, said Faizul Khan, a former imam there.

President Barack Obama promised to “get answers to every single question about this horrible incident.” He offered his prayers to the wounded and the families of those killed, calling them “men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk – and at times give – their lives to protect the rest of us.”

“It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas,” Obama said. “It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.”

Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman’s voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover.

“I was confused and just shocked,” said Specialist Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the centre but was not on duty during the shooting. “Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can’t even defend yourself.”

Soldiers at Fort Hood don’t carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises.

Thousands of soldiers have passed through the gates of Fort Hood on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 500 have not come home. Post-combat stress has been an acknowledged problem on the base, and this year alone, 10 Fort Hood soldiers have committed suicide.

URL: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/722052–army-psychiatrist-accused-in-killings?bn=1

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Reported by: Patrick Fraser
Producer: Patrick Fraser
Contact: pfraser@wsvn.com

7 News Investigation reports

WSVN — When I first met Anthony he was not the child who had been described to me.

Hope Estrada, Anthony’s Mother: “I’ve been told by some doctors in Key West that I’m raising the next Charles Manson, OK?”

One doctor said he was mentally retarded, another said he was bi-polar. He has been sent to psychiatric hospitals, slapped in straight jackets and given mind altering drugs. The affect of it all on an 8-year-old is not surprising.

Hope Estrada: “The other day when he was Baker Acted and they restrained him, he told me, ‘Mom, I want to kill myself, I don’t want to live like this, I can’t control myself.’”

Hope says she was told a few weeks ago, by the State of Florida the best solution is to give up on Anthony.

Hope Estrada: “Basically I’ve been told, you know, move on with your life, and give Anthony to the state and let him become a ward of the state. I’m not going to do that, I refuse to give in.”

And so, after contacting dozens of people from the president on down she called Help Me Howard and we knew this case required an expert.

Howard Finkelstein: “I knew that Anthony needed a lawyer that was an expert in both DCF how kids were treated medications, mental health issues and the only person that came to mind was the best person was Andrea Moore.”

Andrea Moore, a noted child advocate, agreed to take Anthony’s case for free. It took weeks of her time, but as she met with Hope and Anthony, interviewed specialists and dug through his medical records, many things bothered her.

Andrea Moore, Child Advocate: “They didn’t know his IQ. This is the place he’s been three times in three years, they didn’t know his IQ, and he’s very smart, yet some of the paperwork that I saw, said he was mentally retarded. The conflicting information in the records tells me that people didn’t really carefully read the records.”

The heavy doses of three mind altering drugs used on adults troubled Andrea, even more frightening she believes Anthony may not have even needed those drugs.

Andrea Moore: “I started to wonder if we were dealing with a head injury, as opposed to a psychiatric, purely psychiatric situation.”

Turns out Andrea was right, Anthony did have a prior head injury. He fell and fractured his skull when he was eight months old, but he had never had a brain scan, instead private doctors hired by the state concluded he had psychiatric problems.

Patrick Fraser: “Why did it take you to notice this, when he is under the care of a psychiatrist, and has seen more doctors then you and I have probably seen in our lives combined? Why did it take you coming in from the outside to see that?”

Andrea Moore: “This is a terrible question Patrick.”

Andrea is modest and polite, Howard is blunt.

Howard Finkelstein: “They had diagnosed him wrong, they treated him wrong, and as a result of the misdiagnosis and mistreatment, I believe they were making him worse.”

With DCF’s help, Andrea got Anthony off the powerful drugs and moved from the psychiatric hospital. To Jackson Memorial’s highly touted brain injury center.

Patrick Fraser: “Good to see you my man.”

Today Anthony is getting the evaluations Andrea thinks he needs, and our investigation is bringing changes. When he was put in one psychiatric hospital Hope was forced to sign this letter that says if Hope has complaints about treatment or abuse she would not report it to DCF.

Jacqui Colyer, DCF Regional Director: “That I think is what keeps DCF on its feet.”

When DCF saw the document they moved quickly.

Jacqui Colyer: “We have spoken with all of our provider agencies just to let them know that they can not tell families when to call or not to call us, because that is a part of their rights.”

DCF also applauded Hope for fighting so hard for her son, but they say she did misunderstand one thing, that the state would have only taken custody of Anthony temporarily, not permanently, but thing is indisputable without Hope, Anthony was doomed.

And of course Hope and Anthony could not have done it without Andrea Moore.

Howard Finkelstein: “Andrea gave us her time her energy and her expertise and she fought along with Hope to save Anthony, you and I, we were just along for the ride.”

Got to see a little boy get a chance to just be a normal little boy.

Hope to Patrick: “Thank you. God bless you, because if it wasn’t for you, or Andrea, or Howard, my son would not get the help he needs Patrick, you are my guardian angel. I swear to God you are Anthony’s guardian angel and I owe you so much for this, I really really do.”

Finally Hope is wrong, Anthony has hope because of his mother’s hope

Patrick told me Anthony called him the other day and said he would really like to get a dog to make sure Patrick didn’t forget Anthony. faxed a picture of the kind of dog he wants he is getting better all right.

URL with Video: http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI132922

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Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist gave her a number of prescriptions that allegedly lead to death.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist, whom she saw after the death of her son, prescribed her a variation of “pharmaceutical suicide.”

Khristine Eroshevich, Smith’s psychiatrist, prescribed her various prescription drugs that ultimately produced a deadly consequence. Smith’s internist Sandeep Kapoor also participated in writing Smith orders. Pharmacists’ refused several times to refill the drugs, in the best interest of Smith. “They are going to kill her with this,” one of the pharmacists told the Times.
Five days after Smith had lost her son, Daniel, and only a little over a week after giving birth to daughter, Dannielynn, Eroshevich put in orders for 300 methadone tablets, a muscle relaxer, an anti-inflammatory, and four bottles of a painkiller referred to as “hospital heroine.”

One pharmacist attempted to call Kapoor and explain that the drugs would kill Smith. Those messages allegedly went ignored. Five months later, Smith died from a drug overdose.

Kapoor and Eroshevich are both facing charges of illegally prescribing controlled substances and retaining opiate prescriptions by fraud.

URL: http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/34031.html

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Dr. Paul John Hartmann, a psychiatrist practicing in South Lakeland, was arrested in Tampa on Friday on seven charges of possession of a controlled substance, two charges of possession of a drug without a prescription and a charge of driving under the influence.

Hartmann, 60, a board-certified psychiatrist with subspecialty certification in child and adolescent psychiatry, has a Tampa address on his Hillsborough County arrest record. But he is listed with the state Department of Health, and in the phone book, as practicing at 6700 S. Florida Ave. in Lakeland. His DOH record shows a clear license without a record of discipline.

Hartmann was released on $15,500 bail.

URL: http://www.theledger.com/article/20090926/NEWS/909279995/1134?Title=Doctor-Arrested-On-Drug-Charges

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Richard Lemus interviewed the atrocious Psychiatrist, Dr. Scott Segal the owner of the Segal Institute for Clinical Research and has said:

Dr. Scott Segal, Psychiatrist, Segal Institute for Clinical Research: “It’s definitely making adults depressed, and therefore the children depressed, as well. However, they have less money to spend on treatments, and these days insurance companies have higher co-payments and it’s very difficult for people to come in.”

Even scarier, it’s hard for patients or their families to pay for the medications they so desperately need.

Dr. Scott Segal: “They get their visits and their evaluations and whatever is needed in the study for free, as well as medications. In fact, in research studies, the treatment is above the normal level of care.”

Patients will often try out new drugs that aren’t on the market yet and many times they can stay on that medication after the study is over.

Dr. Scott Segal: “In many studies, after the study is over, the pharmaceutical company will give them a compassionate care and allow them take the medications for a period of time.”

David is on a new medication and sees a doctor weekly. He and his mom have high hopes for the future.

What Richard Lemus and the Channel 7 News Fox WSVN-TV fail to revel to the public is that theirs other ways to defeat depression without the usage of the dangerous drugs. It’s called proper diet, exercise and proper outdoor activities like going to the beach or going to a park. In the whole segment of the story reported by Richard Lemus nowhere did it mention natural ways to deal with depression.

Transcript from this story can be seen on: URL: http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/medicalreports/MI131332

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