In California, Doctors Accused Of Sexual Misconduct Often Get Second Chances

Kaiser Health News
Dec 14, 2018

This story also ran on The Atlantic. This story can be republished for free (details).

The doctor instructed his patient to stand in front of him. He cupped her crotch and inserted his fingers into her vagina through her clothes, moving his hand repeatedly to her rectal area. Then he squeezed her breasts, according to a formal accusation filed by the Medical Board of California.

The patient, accompanied to the appointment by her 4-year-old granddaughter, asked why that was necessary to diagnose a urinary tract infection, according to the documents. He told her to let him do his job.

In three other cases, the board alleged that the family doctor, Ramon Fakhoury of California’s Inland Empire, touched patients’ genitals for no medical reason. In 2016, the board handed him 35 months of administrative probation, requiring him, among other things, to have a chaperone when treating females.

Fakhoury did not admit to the allegations, according to his attorney, and criminal charges against him were dropped. If he successfully completes probation next year, he’ll be able to practice without restriction.


The Medical Board of California put family physician Ramon Fakhoury on 35 months of probation after several patients alleged he had touched their genitals for no medical reason. Until he completes probation, he must have a chaperone present when treating female patients. He did not admit to the allegations. Previously, he faced felony sexual abuse-related charges, which were dismissed after a jury deadlocked. (Courtesy of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department)

With a mission of patient protection and doctor rehabilitation — not punishment — California’s medical board and those in other states make decisions under laws and norms that can seem discordant in the #MeToo era.

California is often cited as one of the more rigorous states in overseeing doctors. But, according to the medical board, very few sexual misconduct complaints are reported to the board in the first place, historically under 200 a year. Even fewer result in a formal accusation against a doctor. And when discipline is found to be warranted — typically in fewer than 20 cases a year — the board tends toward leniency, sometimes granting a few years of probation even in instances of severe misconduct, according to a KHN analysis of medical board records.

More than a third of doctors sanctioned by California’s board in cases that alleged sexual misconduct received probation in the past 10 years — some more than once. The terms of probation — which is not a criminal court action but places conditions on a physician’s license — often required temporary chaperones, as well as psychotherapy and courses in “professional boundaries” and ethics. (Through probation, the medical board can only place conditions or restrictions on a doctor’s license in civil proceedings; it does not take criminal court actions.)

“They love giving second chances” to physicians, said Marian Hollingsworth of San Diego, a frequent critic of the California medical board. “It makes you wonder where their priorities are. … Their first loyalty is supposed to be patient safety and that doesn’t always happen.”

The recent, shocking reports about years of abuse by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall — as well as national exposés about physician misconduct by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press —have only intensified concerns about whether sexual abuse is taken seriously enough in medicine.

Nassar, accused of abuse by scores of girls and women under the guise of medical treatment, is now serving what amounts to a life sentence. Prosecutors are considering criminal charges against Tyndall in more than 50 cases, and the state medical board has suspended his license while seeking revocation. He has denied the allegations.


Larry Nassar sits in court on Feb. 5, in Charlotte, Mich., before being sentenced for three counts of criminal sexual assault. Nassar, accused of abuse by scores of girls and women under the guise of medical treatment, is now serving what amounts to a life sentence. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

And just last week, 17 women sued Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals, alleging that the facilities engaged in covering up decades of sexual abuse by one of its OB-GYNs.

Research has shown that many doctors who sexually exploit patients, like other perpetrators of abuse, don’t stop with one victim. They “perpetrate such behavior for years before being stopped,” said the authors of one study.

Against this backdrop, California Gov. Jerry Brown in September signed landmark patient protection legislation requiring doctors who are on probation for sexual and other serious misconduct to notify patients of their status and the terms under which they must practice. It will take effect next July. The bill had failed twice before.

“It’s time,” said the bill’s lead author, Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo). “The #Me Too movement has really made it very clear that there are individuals even in the most respected professions who abuse their authority.”

Even as sexual abuse complaints filed with the medical board rose significantly in the past year to coincide with the rise of #MeToo, board officials say they plan no major changes in how the board dispenses discipline in sexual misconduct cases.

The #MeToo movement “has not changed us,” said the board’s executive director, Kimberly Kirchmeyer. Cracking down on sexual misconduct has always been “one of the board’s top priorities,” she said.

Digging Into The Records

KHN examined all 135 cases of alleged sexual abuse investigated by the board that resulted in sanctions from July 2008 through June 2018. (The analysis did not include discipline based on proceedings in other states.)

More than a third of sanctions were for sexual misconduct with more than one victim, and the vast majority of alleged perpetrators were men accused of exploiting women.

Doctors’ licenses were revoked in 39 cases and voluntarily surrendered in 38. Several doctors received public reprimands — a minor sanction.

The largest share of sanctions — 49 cases, or more than a third — were for probation.

According to the board’s disciplinary guidelines, the minimum probation period is seven years for a doctor found to have engaged in sexual misconduct — whether it is a sexual relationship with a patient, sexualized touching during exams or inappropriate sexual conversation.

But those “minimums” were not applied in more than half of the probation cases, according to the KHN analysis. The guidelines allow exceptions based on “mitigating circumstances,” the age of cases, the quality of evidence and other factors.

Kirchmeyer noted that the board treats every case as unique and places a high value on a doctor’s remorse and acknowledgment of wrongdoing.

In eight cases, KHN found, a doctor sanctioned for sexual misconduct had previously been sanctioned for similar misconduct.


Dr. Patrick Mark Sutton, a Pasadena obstetrician-gynecologist, received probation twice — the first time for four years after investigators alleged sexual misconduct in 2002. In 2011, he was placed on probation again — this time for three years — following allegations that he improperly rubbed a patient’s thigh and engaged in inappropriate sexual conversation.

He denied all sexual misconduct allegations in 2002 and 2011, admitting only to medical record-keeping violations in both cases.

This September, after he had completed mandated ethics and “boundaries” courses, the medical board filed a new accusation against Sutton, saying that he had called a patient “hairy” and asked the patient, who was naked from the waist down under a drape and in stirrups exposing her genitals: “Do you enjoy orgasms? You are a very beautiful woman,” according to the documents. That case is pending.

Sutton’s lawyer, Gary Wittenberg, said in an emailed statement that “the allegations in the pending Accusation are untrue and we will prove that in court.”

In several cases, the board granted probation knowing the doctor had been convicted of misdemeanor criminal charges stemming from sexual abuse investigations.

Fakhoury, the Inland Empire doctor, had faced felony sexual abuse-related charges but was not convicted due to a hung jury, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records.

His lawyer, Courtney Pilchman, told Kaiser Health News that the criminal charges were dismissed afterward and that the doctor “did not stipulate” to — or admit to — the medical board accusation.

By contrast, Ohio’s medical board, upon learning of California’s sanction, in 2012 revoked his state license.

The number of disciplinary actions taken over the decade is strikingly small given the size of California’s practicing physician population of more than 100,000. Alleged victims of sexual abuse by physicians are significantly less likely to come forward than sexual abuse victims in general, some research indicates.

However, numbers provided by the medical board suggest that many of the complaints that are filed — whether by victims themselves or other sources — do not result in formal accusations against doctors. From October 2013 through June 2018, 838 complaints were designated by the board as possible sexual misconduct. During that same period, 74 accusations were filed. (Multiple complaints could be filed about one doctor.)

Experts and lawyers familiar with the board offered various explanations: Some complaints may be false. Doctor sexual misconduct can be hard to prove by “clear and convincing evidence,” as required in medical board cases. Accused physicians often hire experienced lawyers who aggressively fight back, leading to delays and deals. Victims may decline to testify or present poorly as witnesses.

Some victims, for instance, have psychiatric disorders or believe that they were engaging in a “consensual” relationship, according to medical board documents.

Board staff have worked hard to treat alleged victims sensitively, Kirchmeyer said. Expert reviewers are instructed to read complaints as if the person is telling the truth, she said, and the board plans weeklong training sessions to help investigators work better with alleged victims and prepare them for testifying.

The cases often drag on. It can take years for victims to come forward in the first place — and more time for cases to wind their way through the state’s complex bureaucracy. Evidence can go stale.

“Physicians have to have due process,” Kirchmeyer said. “Anyone can make a complaint about anyone at any time.” 



Tracy Lystra at her home in Aguanga, Calif. (Heidi de Marco/KHN)

‘Slap In My Face’

Facing what they see as an uphill battle, lawyers from the state Department of Justice, who handle administrative hearings, will sometimes pre-emptively recommend probation — even in serious sexual misconduct accusations — to avoid the possibility a doctor will get no sanction at all from a judge, said Laura Sweet, a former deputy director who retired in 2015.

Sweet, who worked for the medical board for 23 years, said the legal process focuses on the doctors and does not always give sufficient weight to the pain of alleged victims. “You’re sending a message that’s potentially minimizing what the victim endured.”

That’s how Tracy Lystra sees it, too. In 2013, Lystra sued her Fallbrook, Calif., OB-GYN, Anthony S. Bianchi, alleging that he harassed her with comments about her body and how she aroused him, whispering into her ear as she lay on a gurney before surgery that she looked like a “sexy librarian.” She said the case, which also alleged medical negligence, was settled for $150,000 in 2016. Bianchi, who could not be reached for comment, denied the allegations in court documents.

Through her attorney, Lystra filed a complaint to the medical board shortly after settling with Bianchi. This past July, she received a letter from the board saying it would not be able “establish grounds for discipline” against Bianchi in her case, “considering all the evidence and mitigating factors.”

Ultimately, she learned that the board had received complaints from other women.

In 2014, Bianchi had been put on five years’ probation after the board accused him of making inappropriate sexual remarks to two patients, telling one he dreamed of having oral sex with her and couldn’t stop staring at her breasts. After learning of these cases, another woman came forward, alleging Bianchi several years earlier had blocked his office door with a chair, inserted his fingers into her vagina, exposed his penis and asked her for sex.

The board’s penalty was another five years’ probation. But the two probation terms overlap — and Bianchi, who agreed not to contest the allegations as part of the settlements in each case, could go back to work as an OB-GYN without restrictions in 2021. In the meantime, he is not allowed to treat female patients.

Learning that Bianchi received such a light punishment — and that the board would not take action on her own complaint — was crushing, Lystra said, noting that it had been so difficult to get anyone, including her family, to believe her.

“I really wanted him stopped. It was so disappointing when medical board responded the way it did,” Lystra said.“It was a slap in my face.”


Methodology

In its analysis, KHN requested every sanction for sexual misconduct issued by the Medical Board of California over the past 10 years, the name of each doctor involved and his or her license number. The board responded with 181 actions against 175 doctors from fiscal year 2008-09, beginning in July, through fiscal year 2017-2018, ending in June. (The records were designated by the board as primarily for sexual misconduct but often included other allegations.)

KHN used the board’s document lookup search on its website to review its available public records on each doctor. KHN mentioned sanctions outside the 10-year period when records showed the doctors were repeat offenders.

The analysis excluded cases in which the board took action in response to sanctions issued by other states’ medical boards for sexual misconduct outside California.

For each sanction, KHN determined the number of alleged victims identified in the board’s accusations, their gender, type of sanction, length and terms of probation, type of alleged sexual misconduct and whether the board took note of any previous or concurrent criminal proceedings.

KHN also requested the number of complaints the board received alleging sexual misconduct, and how many formal accusations the board filed each year after the allegations were investigated and merited disciplinary action. The board did not have data for all 10 years, but provided the number of complaints received and the number of accusations filed from October 2013 through the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year.

KHN’s coverage of these topics is supported by California Health Care Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation


This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.

Barbara Feder Ostrov: barbarao@kff.org, @barbfederostrov

Harriet Blair Rowan: hrowan@kff.org, @HattieRowan
Related Topics California Mental Health Doctors Patient Safety Women's Health Tracy Lystra at her home in Aguanga, Calif. In 2013, Lystra sued her Fallbrook, Calif., OB-GYN, Anthony S. Bianchi, alleging that he had sexually harassed her —which Bianchi denied. Lystra said the lawsuit was settled for $150,000 but that her attorney’s subsequent complaint about the doctor to the Medical Board of California was rejected based on a review of the evidence and “mitigating circumstances.” In the meantime, Bianchi received two probation terms for alleged sexual misconduct with three other women. (Heidi de Marco/KHN) 

 Thank You KHN.

Gun Purchasers May Need To Submit Social Media History Under Proposed New York Legislation

weaselzippers
Nov 24, 2018



Unconstitutional and seriously problematic.

Via Fox News:


Those looking to buy a gun in New York may need to submit their social media profiles and search history prior to purchase if new firearm legislation in the state becomes law.

Under the legislation drafted by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and State Senator Kevin Parker, both Democrats, up to three years’ worth of search history on social media would be able to be reviewed, ABC Action News reported.

Senate Bill 9191, according to WHAM, mandates “social media and search engine reviews prior to the approval of an application or renewal of a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver; requires a person applying for a license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver or a renewal of such license to consent to having his or her social media accounts and search engine history reviewed and investigated for certain posts and/or searches over a period of 1-3 years prior to the approval of such application or renewal; defines terms.”

Keep reading…

Thank You Nick and WZ

75% Of Med Students Are On Antidepressants or Stimulants (Or Both)

It's going, going, . . . . It's Over the Back Wall and It's OUTTA Here.

Any pretense of legality Psychiatric/Psychologically imposed disability ever pretended to just got nuked, along with every protection our legal system extended to the disablers themselves and everyone harboring/assisting them.


See our intro to the following post if you need clarity.

State Medical Board Has A Simple Solution To Help Amid Physician Mental Health Crisis

Then read Title 18 Sec 241 & 242 of the Federal Criminal Code regarding Civil Rights

 

75% of med students are on antidepressants or stimulants (or both)
Pamela Wible MD

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Pamela Wible MD

“Have you ever been depressed as a physician?” I asked 220 doctors. Ninety percent stated yes. Yet few seek professional help. Here’s what depressed doctors do (when nobody’s looking). Some drink alcohol, exercise obsessively, even steal psychiatric meds. Still more shocking—I discovered that 75% of med students (and new doctors) are now on psychiatric medications.

“I was told by the psychologist at my med school’s campus assistance program, that 75% of the class of 175 people were on antidepressants,” shares psychiatrist Dr. Jaya V. Nair. “He wasn’t joking. How broken is the system, that doctors have to be pushed into illness in order to be trained to do their job?”

“During my internship, I found out that at least 75% of my fellow residents were on SSRIs or other antidepressants, just ‘to get through it’ because it was so horrible.” states Dr. Joel Cooper, “Depression, or a constantly depressed state, is more or less the norm in medical school and throughout one’s residency.”

“When I left my residency, I was alarmed to find out that about 75% of my fellow residents had started antidepressants since their intern year,” says Dr. Jill Fadal.

Seems the epidemic of depressed doctors begins in medical school. I wondered how best to verify this oft-repeated 75% statistic. Just then a student called to tell me what her professor said during orientation: “Look around the room. By the end of your first year, two-thirds of your class will be on antidepressants.”

I’m appalled. Yet she’s grateful. Why? Her school is so progressive. They normalize the need for antidepressants.

I must be out of touch. Do most med students require psych drugs for day-to-day survival? I turned my question over to Facebook: “75% of med students and residents are taking either stimulants or antidepressants or both. True or false?”

“It’s absolutely, horrifyingly, true. It is a symptom of a great sickness in MedEd.”

“Sadly I am guessing true as I prescribed some for my residents every year that I worked in a residency.”

“True, but I’m sure a lot is unprescribed.”

“I would assume definitely true, Ritalin, Adderall, energy drinks, ephedrine. Yep.”

“While working as a nurse at a major Army hospital, I was astounded by the number of medical students on Adderall or Ritalin.”

I’ve been on an antidepressant since being premed—18 years now. Little did I know it would be impossible to wean myself off and that my entire class was using Adderall.”

“True but most take them in secret as there are negative consequences and stigma that come with getting your mental health addressed.”

“Very true. From my practical point of view, I’d put medical students & residents at 100%.”

“I take both Zoloft and Adderall daily.”

“Very much so true—the percentages may actually be higher. I see it in my classes and I’m only a premed student.”

“If coffee counts as a stimulant it’s definitely 100%.”

“The only way I’d say false is to say it’s higher. I’d say a quarter of my class had to take a leave for a mental health break.”

Having received Facebook confirmation that most med students are on psych drugs, I then queried 1800 medical students via email with the same question and encouraged respondents to share personal experiences. To prevent professional retaliation, all quotes are published anonymously (with permission).

“I am one of the many who are currently on BOTH antidepressants (2 types) & a stimulant (amphetamine). I lost my very dear friend (also a classmate) to suicide in my third year of med school. I have been on psych treatment since then.”

“Hi Dr. Wible. The number sounds high, but whether it is right or wrong is anybody’s guess. I can tell you about myself and my girlfriend—we both just started our third year at a DO medical school. I use 100 mg Sertraline to treat panic/anxiety attacks that were very bad when we had practical exams. I am also very depressed, but the Sertraline does nothing for this. I was diagnosed with ADD in 2013, right before taking the MCAT. I have been on and off of amphetamines and Concerta since then. Then there’s the alcohol and marijuana for the end of the day when I just get too tired of thinking. I have been offered various benzos by my family doctor to help treat the anxiety attacks. I haven’t filled that prescription, but do use them (from a friend) occasionally to help sleep, escape life etc. This is coming from someone who never touched alcohol or other drugs/mind-altering substances until I was 25-ish right at the time of taking the MCAT. My now significant other also uses Sertraline, Adderall, and Benzos to treat anxiety/panic attacks and ADD. Coincidence? I doubt it. So my sample size is two, but 100% are taking antidepressants and stimulants.”

“True. I’m on them, and every student I know is on them too. I’m on both; never took them before med school. Same with all of my friends. Eek!”

“I do recall around board study season hearing from half of my classmates about sharing Adderall and getting Rx from doctors they knew. I was even offered it, but never tried. However, my coffee intake has definitely gone up since school to the point having trouble controlling my bladder. I also know of about half of my friends taking antidepressants throughout school. So I would guess at least 50-75% of my class took stimulants and/or antidepressants.”



“I tried two types of antidepressants in medical school, lost more than 200 thousand dollars, and almost ended up homeless from medical school. All [my depression and debt] started in medical school. Yet my passion remains.”

“Hi Pamela, I agree! Students are afraid to speak about it and I know some who have even asked friends/family to get meds under their name so it isn’t on their record. I finally started talking about it with my classmates and found that many of my close friends were taking them and we had individually struggled alone not knowing there were others going through the same thing. Also, if everyone’s doing it and it gives you an edge, then everyone else has to do it.”

“Sounds about right. I never needed antidepressants before medical school. And it definitely made me rely on higher doses of methylphenidate than I’ve needed in the past.”

“I never thought I would take study drugs. But I was near the bottom of the class in my exam results, and then found out that several who were best in our year were taking study drugs. I cut my losses and copied them. Low and behold, my results improved drastically. I don’t like it, but for me it is better than falling behind and doing poorly. All my friends at other med schools use Modafinil and Adderall too. They also use recreational drugs like ecstasy, cocaine and acid when they’re partying. Drug use is very common amongst the med students I know.”

“In my med school class, I’ve heard of people on antidepressants, on sleeping pills, using pot to calm down, and then also on some kind of uppers for test days and days after partying which the partying was to de-stress..but I have no idea if it’s 75%…I don’t know enough of my class well enough to have that info, nor do I think anyone does…there are usually cliques of up to 25 people, but for people to say they know for sure details of 75% of their class would be hard for me to believe but maybe…there is a lot of it, I agree with that.”

“True. As a med student I was on antidepressants. No different now I am intern. Having just finished 12 days straight and >120 hrs. I can understand why people are also using stimulants.”

“True. I only have four friends in medical school that I know well enough to know which meds they take. All are on both. I went to the university psychiatrist in my Texas premed program for depression he asked when I felt better I told him when I took my friends stimulants to study, I expected him to give me a verbal wrist slap instead he gave me a script. I was on a steady dose for years but the first year of med school I kept upping the dose to try and keep up, ended up deciding I needed to stop after one episode of not sleeping for four days and having auditory hallucinations. Failed second year when I quit them cold turkey, didn’t feel like I was keeping up without them so switched to Modafinil which is much mellower than amphetamine but definitely not good for me. Everyone started antidepressants in school even folks without a history of depression. Being completely honest 75% seems a bit high, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if it were true, in my n=5 study it’s 100%.”



“True. But that number may be higher or lower depending on the school and year in med school. I was on an antidepressant in the last month of last semester because all my other coping skills weren’t enough. I’m on summer break and I haven’t needed any medications to be functional and happy. My depression was entirely induced by the stress and frustrations encountered during medical school.”

“I was on an inpatient internal medicine rotation working 12-14 hour days 6 days a week (as a 3rd year med student) and would ‘keep it together’ at the hospital and fall apart on the way home, cry and sleep to cope. It was the first time in my life I felt suicidal, no plans—just wanted to fade away. My husband was afraid to leave me alone. I put myself back on the Lexapro, equalized somewhat and kept pushing on. That all happened around Christmas of last year. In June I finally was able to find a psychiatrist. He put me on a trial of Adderall. I was hesitant due to the abuse potential but decided to give it a try. With the two meds I have less anxiety, way better at prioritizing, and my focus is improved. I’m studying for step 2 currently so time will tell.”

“I take Effexor 150mg QD. In addition to 10mg of amphetamine salts TID. I used to drink 2 quad shot white chocolate mochas from Starbucks a day, but with the stimulant I threw myself into SVT too frequently.”

“I cannot talk about anything beyond what I know of my immediate friend circle but I have in mind about 10 examples of people who started NEW prescriptions for 1) Stimulants for studying and staying awake 2) Antidepressants and/or mood stabilizers and one person who was started on 3) Beta blockers for new onset panic. These are people with new diagnoses since starting school. I know a few others who came in on these medications after having hard times as premeds (or earlier, I don’t know) That’s just those who actually got the prescription…. As I’m sure you know there is unfortunately also a great deal of illegal procurement of prescription medications as well as abuse of illegal drugs. An increase in alcohol abuse is also a major concern. People are self-medicating left and right.”

“Oh, I would not be surprised! I know 10 people from 5 different schools and at least 7 are on either.”

“I am lucky to have a great support structure and have coped quite well so far without needing any medication. I am actually diagnosed with ADHD and have a prescription for two medications which I don’t really use. The pressure to use them every day rather than relying on my own hard-won compensatory skills is certainly there. Interestingly, I am not shy about my diagnosis and talk about it openly to destigmatize it but I have actually cut back on that because if I’m not careful I inevitably get a lot of classmates asking if they can have some of my medication. For a future doctor to brazenly ask for illegal sharing of medicine is worrisome to me but again I do understand the pressure (to stay up just one more hour studying) that drives the behavior.”



“Popping prescription bottle caps and chafing of pills while studying in the library is a fixture of how daunting the pressures of medical school really are. Med school libraries are dungeons where souls came to die. You’re surrounded by absolute dread—the look of despair painted across the faces of your fellow classmates who feel at any second their life could be ruined with one failing grade. Most of my friends were on SSRI’s, Benzodiazepines, and various types of stimulants. I once asked a friend if he had anything to help me go to sleep and he recommended Lorazepam, which he gave me. The ‘top student’ in our class was rumored to be a serial user of cocaine. To avoid having a drug test reveal his dirty little secret prior to third year, he took a hiatus by engineering a family emergency to give himself adequate time to pass the contents of amphetamine (he passed). Elicit substances in medical school may seem like taboo to lay persons, however in our eyes, it’s a natural and regular experience. In fact, it is astounding how many medical students (myself included) smoke marijuana in order to experience a night of restful sleep. With each puff, it’s as if I escape a bit from my hectic reality. A reality dominated by judging, vengeful, and heartless administrators/faculty who can care less if we live or die, as long as we perform on USMLE Step 1. Yup, its that bad.”

In 1990, even I was severely depressed as a first-year med student. So my mom (a psychiatrist) mailed me a bottle of Trazodone. I thought I was the only one crying myself to sleep. Turns out occupationally-induced depression is rampant in medical training. Now schools dole out antidepressants like candy. Stimulants are used by med students like steroids in athletes. So where do we go from here? Should “progressive” med schools distribute samples of Zoloft and Adderall during orientation?

Problem is physicians must answer mental health questions (right next to questions on felonies and DUIs) to secure a medical license, hospital privileges, and participate with insurance plans. Check the YES box and be forced to disclose your “confidential” medical history and defend yourself—again and again for your entire career. Treated like a criminal for taking meds to cope with the torment of medical training (and practice).




Maybe that’s why so many future (and current) physicians sneak drugs and go off-the-grid for mental health care.

“I’ve been in practice 20 years and have been on antidepressants and anxiolytics for all of that time,” says Jason. “I drive 300 miles to seek care and always pay in cash. I am forced to lie on my state relicensing every year. There is no way in hell I would ever disclose this to the medical board—they are not our friends.”

What if we stop the mental health witch hunt on our doctors? Why not replace threats and punishment with safe confidential care? What if we address the root of the problem—the great sickness in medical education—rather than shifting blame to 75% of medical students for not having enough serotonin or dopamine or norepinephrine in their brains?

As scientists, we can’t continue to approach medical education reform as a neurotransmitter deficiency in medical students. Can we?

___

Pamela Wible, M.D., is a family physician in Oregon. She is happy in her solo practice and takes no psychiatric medication. Turns out her depression was environmental—entirely related to the culture of medical education. Dr. Wible is author of Physician Suicide Letters—Answered. View her TEDMED talk Why doctors kill themselves.



Thank You Very Much Dr Wible.



HT to MadInAmerica

Parents Are Leery Of Schools Requiring ‘Mental Health’ Disclosures By Students

Parents should be far more than 'concerned'. They should be "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore".

There's only one way to prevent school shootings: Arm The Teachers.

Hoplaphobic (unreasoning fear of an inanimate object) Virtue Signaling as tax funded public policy results in the deaths of children and teachers. Look at London. They already (purportedly) got rid of the guns. Now they're suffering knife violence. Turn In Your Knives.






Calling the police, even in a best case police response event, takes time. In that time people die.

Hire off duty cops as Hall Security? It's better than nothing BUT, big but here, it's not permanent. Local politicians will find another use for the money, cancel the expenditure, and you're back to zip, zero, nada. Plus, the teachers have more emotionally invested in the children than cops who won't personally know them.

Mental Health Treatment isn't science no matter what its sales force says. It's Scientism.

Alfred Adler: Delusional Marxist Dupe
Alfred Adler: Marxist Crackpot At A Glance
BF Skinner: Beyond Freedom & Reason & Dignity
Bleuler The Schizophrenifier: Séance Scientist
Carl Jung: Alchemy, Astrology, Flying Saucers & Seances
Carl Jung: Aryan Christ: A Book Review
Carl Jung: Psychic Pyramid Seller
Erich Fromm: Marxist
Freud's Absurd Homunculi
Freud Fell Short, Scholars Find
Freud, Fraud In Science
Freud Was A Fraud: Triumph of Pseudoscience
Jean-Martin Charcot: Another LYING Psychological Fraud
Marsha Linehan: Communism's Dialectic Through Buddhism
Nazi Doctors, Moral Vulnerability And Contemporary Medical Culture
Wilhelm Reich: Communism Generates Great, Sanity Inducing Orgasms
Wilhelm Reich: FDA Concludes, "A Fraud Of The First Magnitude"



Kaiser Health News
Sept 25, 2018

Florida school districts now have to ask if a new student has ever been referred for mental health services, but will it help troubled kids, or increase stigma instead? (Andrea D'Aquino for NPR)

Children registering for school in Florida this year were asked to reveal some history about their mental health.

The new requirement is part of a law rushed through the state legislature after the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

On registration forms for new students, the state’s school districts now must ask whether a child has ever been referred for mental health services.

“If you do say, ‘Yes, my child has seen a counselor or a therapist or a psychologist,’ what does the school then do with that?” asked Laura Goodhue, who has a 9-year-old son on the autism spectrum and a 10-year-old son who has seen a psychologist. “I think that was my biggest flag. And I actually shared the story with a couple of mom friends of mine and said, ‘Can you believe this is actually a thing?'”

Goodhue said she worries that if her children’s mental health history becomes part of their school records, it could be held against them.

[ED; odds are real good that such a record Will be held against them, for life.]

State Medical Board Has A Simple Solution To Help Amid Physician Mental Health Crisis

“If my child was on the playground and something happened,” she said, “they might think, ‘This child has seen mental health services. This must mean something’ — more than it really means.”

The question was largely overlooked until parents started filling out school registration forms this summer. It was one sentence in a 105-page school safety bill that contained such controversial measures as increasing the minimum age to buy a gun and arming school employees.

Parents express concern that the information could fall into the wrong hands and may follow children throughout their education, said Alisa LaPolt, executive director of the Florida chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“In a perfect world, getting treatment for mental health challenges would be no different than getting medical treatment for a skin rash or a bad cold or a broken leg,” LaPolt said. “But that’s not the world we live in right now. There is stigma around mental illness and getting treatment for it.”

School districts say counselors will use the information to help Florida students get the services they need.

Some districts will share the information only with psychologists and administrators. Others say they will provide access to teachers and front-office staff as well.

School counselors say they understand the stigma surrounding mental illness. Some say the way the law was written doesn’t help. The mental health question was grouped with requirements to report arrests or expulsions.

“I can certainly understand parents having a reaction when they see those questions, sort of, asked back to back, said Michael Cowley, manager of psychological services for Pinellas County Schools.

But in order to help students, Cowley said, school officials must first determine who needs mental health services.

“The process we’re trying to develop and everything we’re trying to do is just with an eye toward reducing stigma, increasing awareness and getting students access to more care,” Cowley said.

The requirement has school districts worried about more than just stigma. The state left implementation of the provision up to local districts.

At a meeting in Tampa, Fla., Hillsborough County School Board member April Griffin raised the issue of patient privacy and a federal law that protects it, known as HIPAA.

“I could foresee some lawsuits around this,” Griffin said.

Still, counselors say more parents may support the law once they start to see children getting the counseling they need.

The school safety law provides nearly $70 million to increase access to mental health services in schools. National experts say the money is long overdue.

Florida has historically been among the worst states in terms of providing money for mental health care, said Ron Honberg, senior policy adviser for the National Alliance on Mental Health.

“We know that the symptoms of mental health conditions and serious mental illnesses in particular tend to surface during the teen years and early 20s,” Honberg said. “And that’s a time when we should be putting the most resources into interventions.”

In Broward County, where Parkland is located, the district is using part of the $6 million it received to hire 50 staff members — many of them counselors, psychologists and social workers.

Their ability to reach students in need could depend on whether parents feel comfortable checking “yes” on a registration form.

This story is part of a partnership that includes WUSF, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

KHN’s coverage of children’s health care issues is supported in part by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Julio Ochoa, WUSF: @julioochoa



Thank You Mr Ochoa and KHN.



Post Script:


But we could At Least keep guns out of the wrong hands, with stricter "Common Sense" Laws, right?

How Background Checks Have Failed To Deliver On Promises 

 https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2018/09/24/background-checks-failed-deliver-promises/

State Medical Board Has A Simple Solution To Help Amid Physician Mental Health Crisis

No, No way, and No Way in Hell.

Everyone else who gets stuck with Dr. Psychiatrist/Psychologist's life wrecking 'Diagnosis' even if they don't get drugged, are screwed with it for the rest of their ruined life. 

US Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 1:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

If everyone else has to wear it for life, or a very expensive Court proceeding to get Rid of it, so do the people Selling Mental Health stink.


dailycaller
Evie Fordham | Politics and Health Care ReporterThe physician suicide rate is double that of the general population and even higher than the military veteran suicide rate.
Doctors are afraid to admit mental health problems for fear of losing their licenses.

Washington state’s medical community is changing licensing application questions to combat this.

The Washington State Medical Commission (WMC) is taking a step to combat the high suicide rate among physicians by making physician licensing questions more friendly to doctors who have sought psychiatric help.

Updates to Washington state’s licensure questions will focus on an individual’s current impairment rather than if a doctor has had mental health problems at any point in the past. Many doctors fear their reputations and even licensure are at risk if they seek help from a psychiatrist for feelings of burnout or even suicidal thoughts.

Currently, many doctors are “having to sneak out of town, pay cash and use a fake name” when seeking help from a mental health professional, family physician Pamela Wible told Kaiser Health News. She is a self-proclaimed “voice for ideal medical care” and has gathered more than 1,000 stories of doctor suicides for her website to help people better understand the issue.

The WMC expects to update the questions in December after the changes were voted on in June, WMC Executive Director Micah Matthews told The Daily Caller News Foundation via email.

“Historically, medical license applications asked if the applicant has ever had any medical conditions or substance abuse that may impair their practice,” Matthews told TheDCNF. “The updates alter those questions to if they have current conditions or substance abuse issues.”

Many medical organizations are rethinking the policies they have in place because the physician suicide rate is double that of the general population and even higher than the military veteran suicide rate. The physician suicide rate is 28 to 40 per 100,000 individuals per year compared to approximately 12 per 100,000 individuals per year in the general population, according to data presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s 2018 annual meeting.

Licensing question changes like the ones that WMC is making are in line with 2018 wellness and burnout recommendations from the Federation of State Medical Boards, spokesman Joe Knickrehm told TheDCNF via email.

“The FSMB has heard encouraging news from a number of state boards that they are in the process of actively reviewing their licensing application questions,” Knickrehm told TheDCNF. “It is too early to tell how many boards have changed their questions, but we have heard from at least a dozen boards that are discussing it. It’s also important to note that not all boards do ask about an applicant’s mental health.”

The WMC’s updates also includes a safe harbor provision that operates in tandem with the Washington Physicians Health Program (WPHP). (RELATED: Why Is The Physician Suicide Rate So High, And What’s The Medical Community Doing To Change It?)

“WPHP participants can answer ‘no’ to questions about impairing illness if they are ‘known to WPHP,’ which means that they have informed WPHP of their behavior or condition and they are complying with WPHP’s requirements for evaluation, treatment, and monitoring,” Matthews told TheDCNF.

“[This] creates an added layer of confidentiality [and] provides prospective license applicants with a powerful incentive to proactively seek assistance if needed,” he continued. “These changes are intended to reduce the fear of professional sanction and public disclosure of health information that are barriers to help-seeking among physicians.”

The WMC and WPHP hope the changes will encourage doctors to confront any mental health problems head-on. More than half of physicians have symptoms of burnout, which “manifests as emotional exhaustion, loss of meaning in work, and feelings of ineffectiveness,” according to a 2014 Mayo Clinic survey. Burnout can harm physicians’ mental health and even make them feel like taking their own lives is the answer.

Factors such as increased pressure on physicians and lack of contact with other physicians is contributing to burnout and other symptoms, Dr. Chris Bundy of WPHP told TheDCNF via telephone. (RELATED: Michigan Republican John James Dings Opponent Debbie Stabenow For Taking Money From Drug Industry She Claims To Fight)

“Health care is a rapidly changing and dynamic environment, and it’s been hard for organizations to keep up,” Bundy told TheDCNF. “A lot of the changes have fallen squarely on the shoulders of physicians on the front lines of patient care, and now we need to redesign those systems.”

Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.

Send tips to evie@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Soviet Style Abuse of Psychiatry Is Now Practiced In The United States

• California Diversion Programs (8)

• 18C13 (1)
• 18C19 (1)
• 18C47 (1)
• 18C63 (3)
• 18C95 (4)

Researchers Identify Which of Trump's SCOTUS Candidates Is Most Similar To Scalia

townhall

Leah Barkoukis

|

Posted: Dec 08, 2016 9:20 AM

In a recently published research paper, legal scholars identified what it meant when President-elect Trump said he’d fill the vacant Supreme Court seat with a justice like Antonin Scalia. 

In “Searching for Justice Scalia: Measuring The ‘Scalia-ness’ of the Next Potential Member of the U.S. Supreme Court,” the researchers determined which among Trump’s stated candidates for the job would exhibit Scalia’s jurisprudence and style. 

“This study proposes three empirical measures of what made Justice Scalia Justice Scalia,” the authors wrote. “First, how often does a judge promote or practice originalism? Second, how often do they cite to Justice Scalia's non-judicial writings, writings that were not about the substance of the law but about how to think about interpreting the law. And third, how often does a judge write separately, something Justice Scalia did 25.9% of the time when he was not writing the majority opinion over his last 20 years on the court.”

Based on these measures the researchers developed the “Scalia Index Score,” which they say gives an objective way to measure potential SCOTUS picks against Scalia. 

Based on this index, the candidate with the highest score, and thus most similar to Scalia, is Utah Supreme Court Justice Thomas Lee.
After Lee came Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge William Pryor of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lee, whose brother is Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee, is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court. He was briefly in private practice before joining the faculty at J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. He held several posts at the Department of Justice during the Bush administration before his appointment to the Utah Supreme Court in 2010.

Others have also noted the similarities between Lee and Scalia.

Thank You Ms Barkoukis and Townhall. 


Good. Reinstitute the Rule of Law, special agendas and snowflakes notwithstanding.

From Justice Antonin Scalia: which explains Why we don't need an Obama activist replacing him on the Court.

The Washington Post
Supreme Court Upholds Michigan's Ban On Racial Preferences In University Admissions

And the SCOTUS release:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-682_j4ek.pdf

pg 27:

JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins, concurring in the judgment. 

"It has come to this. Called upon to explore the jurisprudential twilight zone between two errant lines of precedent, we confront a frighteningly bizarre question: Does the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbid what its text plainly requires? Needless to say (except that this case obliges us to say it), the question answers itself." 

California Diversion Programs (7)

Thank You Justices Scalia and Thomas.

School Orders 5 Hr Psych Exam For Student After He Hands In Anti Gun Control Presentation

Need more proof? 

Not Science. Not Medical. Not Legal.

What psych Is, is the bottom of political collectivism's unwashed garbage can.

EAG news.org

MANVILLE, N.J. – Manville High School senior Frank Harvey school officials are driving him out over an anti-gun control class presentation he received an “A” on last year.

Harvey was suspended Tuesday and ordered to undergo a five-hour psychological exam before he can return after he left a thumb drive in the school library that contained an anti-gun control presentation he gave as an assignment in April, NJ.com reports.

Someone found the thumb drive and turned it over to school officials, who then called police to interrogate the student.

“I’ve never been a violent person,” Harvey told News 12. “I’ve never had detention in my life.”

The soft spoken senior told the news site he was tasked with presenting the anti-gun control point of view for his College and Career Readiness class, but his teacher from that class now contends she doesn’t recall the assignment.

“She said my project would be perfectly fine,” said Harvey, “I presented the video to the class and took a few questions from my classmates. My presentation went over well. The whole idea of the assignment was to expose students to an idea they hadn’t considered before.”

Police discussed the assignment with Harvey and concluded he did nothing wrong and declined to take action. But Harvey, and his mother Mary Vervan, said school officials refused to drop the issue and demanded that the student undergo a psychological exam before he can finish his senior year, News reports.

“I’m not taking him for a psychological evaluation because this teacher is lying and won’t own up to what she did,” Vervan said.

Harvey’s assignment, which was posted on the NJ.com website, contains no threatening materials and simply argues the anti-gun control perspective that laws that restrict gun ownership are not typically recognized by criminals.

“ …(W)e can establish that because criminals do not follow laws they therefore would be able to obtain a gun even if laws were established to prevent law abiding citizens from obtaining guns,” according to Harvey’s presentation, which referenced a murder committed by a man using an black market, unregistered firearm.

“Preventing law abiding citizens from obtaining guns only makes this man’s ‘job’ easier as the law abiding citizens are now unable to protect themselves from criminals who obtain guns illegally anyway.”

Harvey’s presentation also referenced a 2013 incident in Texas in which a homeowner shot three home invaders to defend his family.

“So, who is the insane one here?” the presentation questions. “The law abiding citizen who owns a gun to protect himself and his family, or the liberal who wishes to take that right away?”

It concluded with several hilarious anti-gun control cartoons.

“I’m disappointed that this has become an issue,” said the soft-spoken Harvey. “I’m not a violent person. I’ve never been in trouble in my life. I’m surprised my project is being considered such a horrible thing. Everyone I’ve spoken to feels the same way. They see my point entirely. I cleared the topic with the teacher.

“There were other students who did presentations for and against gun control. To my knowledge, none of them got suspended or got kicked out of school.”

Harvey contends that when he went to turn in his books on Tuesday, school officials gave him a withdrawal form to sign but refused to meet with the family to discuss the presentation.

The next morning, Vervan contends the district sent Somerset Child Services official Ebony Williams to the family’s home in retaliation for speaking out about her son’s treatment.

School officials, meanwhile, claim the family is lying to the public about what happened, but assert they can’t discuss specifics because of federal privacy laws, NJ.com reports.

“We believe the student’s family is aware of this, and are taking advantage of those laws to publicize a blatantly false, one-sided account of what occurred,” Manville superintendent Anne Facendo said in a statement.

Nonetheless, Vervan said she’s looking for a lawyer and is considering a lawsuit against the district while her son pursues his GED online, with hopes of starting college early in the winter.

“The Manville police cleared my son,” said Vervan, adding that she wants the district to formally apologize to her son and remove all references to the incident from his school record. “They looked at his presentation and found nothing wrong.”

“If the police doesn’t think there was a problem, why is the school taking these extreme actions and harassing us with child services?” said Vervan. “I don’t understand why they’re doing this.”

Thank You Mr Skinner and EAG news.

“I’m not taking him for a psychological evaluation because this teacher is lying and won’t own up to what she did,” Vervan said.

Lying teachers are the least of the endless reasons not to submit this young man to a psych evaluation.

Our 2 cents on it is:

If, under whatever excuse, this young man is forced or defrauded - which is force under a different name - to undergo a psych eval:

Do Not talk to these people about anything concerning yourself. Do not respond to their questions.

If you must fill out those 5 hrs with conversation bring along a cookbook and read them recipes for 5 hrs. 

Muslim Congressman Offers Internships To Anyone Except Straight, White Males Without A Disability

daily caller

by PETER HASSON



Minnesota Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison’s office is hiring interns for the fall and strongly encourages anyone who isn’t a straight, white able-bodied male to send in an application.

“The Office of Congressman Keith Ellison is looking for enthusiastic interns for our Washington and Minneapolis offices. We seek interns who are curious, hardworking, and passionate about serving Minnesota’s 5th district,” Ellison’s Congressional website states.

“While Congressman Ellison encourages all individuals to apply, applicants with strong ties to the Fifth District or Minnesota are preferred,” the page states before adding one final note: “People of color, LGBTQ individuals, women, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.”

The only people not possessing any of the “strongly encouraged” characteristics are white, straight, men without disabilities.


HT to Zip


So if you're a straight white male and you want to intern for this guy, get On The Inside Track with a Psych Label pasted on your life, and Who Knows, you may become the next Vice President of the United States.


wiki

Replacement on the ticket[edit]

McGovern said he would back Eagleton "1000 percent". Subsequently, McGovern consulted confidentially with preeminent psychiatrists, including Eagleton's own doctors, who advised him that a recurrence of Eagleton's depression was possible and could endanger the country should Eagleton become president.[12][13][14][15][16] On August 1, Eagleton withdrew at McGovern's request and, after a new search by McGovern, was replaced by Kennedy in-law Sargent Shriver.[17]

A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, the press made frequent references to his 'shock therapy', and McGovern feared that this would detract from his campaign platform.[18]

McGovern's failure to properly vet Eagleton and his subsequent handling of the controversy gave occasion for the Republican campaign to raise serious questions about his judgment. In the general election, the Democratic ticket won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.