New York social worker John E. Walden loses license for child porn conviction and more

On April 5, 2011, the New York State Office of the Professions suspended master social worker JOHN E. WALDEN for six months based on his having been convicted of Possession of Child Pornography Transported in Interstate or Foreign Commerce (a felony) and of having been convicted of Unlawful Imprisonment in the 2nd Degree, Aggravated Harassment in the 2nd Degree and Attempted Petit Larceny (all misdemeanors).

Source: Entry of John E. Walden, Master Social Worker, Lic. No. 072862, Summaries of Regents Actions on Professional Misconduct and Discipline, NY State Dept. of Education Office of the Professions, April 2011.

Social worker Jeffrey L. Miller suspended for letter to client

On December 12, 2011, the Wisconsin Marriage & Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board suspended clinical social worker Jeffrey L. Miller for two months for unprofessional conduct.

Miller, who at the time of this disciplinary action was employed by Herrington Recovery Center at Rogers Memorial Hospital, provided treatment to “Ms. D.S.,” a patient of Herrington.

On November 7, 2010, Miller wrote a romantic letter to D.S., in anticipation of her discharge from Herrington on November 12. He gave her the letter on November 12, 2010. Miller was additionally fined $250.

Source: Final Decision and Order in the Matter of the Disciplinary Proceedings Against Jeffrey L. Miller, Order #0001275, Case #10 SOC 078, Wisconsin Marriage & Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board.

UK psych nurse loses license for forcing sex on pregnant patient

In March the following year, he referred her to another psychiatrist then began seeing her outside work.

Henk wooed her by sending a flurry of personal text messages and telling her he had ‘butterflies’ when he saw her for the first time.

Cassandra Scarborough, for the NMC, told how Patient A felt pressured to have sex with Henk’ during their five-month fling.

“Mr Henk engaged in their first intimate contact at his house when he took Patient A to the Merry Hill shopping centre in Dudley, and then said on their way he would need to get changed.

“He took her to his house, poured her a glass of wine, told her she was beautiful, and kissed her.

“They had sex for the first time in April 2008, when Mr Henk took her out for a drink in Bromsgrove and she became very drunk.

“At that stage, he made it clear to her that no-one should find out about their relationship.

“It is the council’s case that Mr Henk initiated the relationship and that he clearly took advantage of his position with a vulnerable client.”

The romance soured in July 2008, when Patient A moved in with Henk, and he became suspicious of her friendship with another man.

‘On August 27, 2008, Mr Henk came to her house, she told him she was pregnant, and, upon hearing that news, he said he would stay for lunch,’ said Ms Scarborough.

Patient A told Henk she was pregnant and that he should leave her alone, then he had sex with her without her consent.

‘Suffice to say her health deteriorated as a result of that incident,’ she said.

After the pair split up, Henk tried to bully her into silence after her ex-boyfriend reported him to bosses at Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

He even forced her to write a letter saying she would withdraw her complaint, before driving her to the post box himself, the hearing was told.

An internal enquiry was launched but later abandoned after Henk resigned.

The NMC panel found 20 charges were found proved and ruled his actions were sexually motivated and amounted to ‘very serious misconduct’.

He was cleared of telling the woman to have an abortion – an allegation he repeatedly denied – and kissing her at his home before she had been referred to another member of staff.

A charge that the nurse had a relationship with a second woman, identified as Patient B, was also dropped.

Henk admitted he had sex with Patient A, but insisted it was consensual.

He said: ‘After we did the pregnancy test, we did have sex on the floor of Patient A’s house.

“But if she said no, we wouldn’t have had sex.”

Ruling that he was guilty of misconduct and his fitness to practice was impaired, NMC panel chairman Paul Archer said: ‘The facts found proved amount to serious breaches of the standards expected of a registered nurse.

“Mr Henk’s actions had the potential to cause damage to individuals and the nursing profession.

“He has admitted his fitness to practice is impaired from the outset and the panel finds it remains impaired.’

Striking him off the register, Mr Archer added: ‘Mr Henk abused his position of trust and power to further a relationship with a vulnerable woman who encountered him in his position as a nurse and trusted him.

“On one occasion, they had sexual intercourse without that patient’s consent.

“This is an extremely serious finding.

“Mr Henk has shown very little insight and denied the most serious allegation.

“His actions are fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register.

“The misconduct completely undermines the trust others should have in a nurse and is irremediable.

“Public confidence in the profession would be seriously damaged if Mr Henk was not struck off.”

Henk, wearing a black suit, white shirt and striped tie, showed no emotion as the decision was announced.

He has 28 days to appeal against the decision, during which he is subject to an 18-month interim suspension order.

Source: Psychiatric nurse struck off after forcing himself on pregnant patient,” The Telegraph, January 25, 2012.

UK psych nurse struck off register for inappropriate relationship with teen patient

A HAMPSHIRE mental health nurse has been struck off after being found guilty of having an inappropriate relationship with a vulnerable teenage patient.

Shaun Lyons, from Romsey, was found guilty of misconduct by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), for breaching personal and professional boundaries on a string on occasions.

Through a series of letters and telephone calls while the 18-year-old, known as Patient A, was in prison, Lyons invited him to go on holiday with him, shared information about his colleagues and other patients and pleaded him to keep their relationship a secret.

The pair met at the Hampshire psychiatric unit where Lyons, of Canal Walk, worked. Their relationship was uncovered when prison guards found the letters, the panel was told.

Source: “Mental health nurse struck off,” Daily Echo,  January 26, 2012.

Psychiatrist admits he had sex with married patient; insists he did her no harm (of course not…)

Dr. Henry Smith admits to having sex with one of his patients when he was a practicing psychiatrist, but says in court papers that he shouldn’t be punished because he did her no harm.

The patient, Dr. Abigail McNally, is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts who was undergoing psychoanalysis with Smith as part of her training program at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis to become a psychoanalyst. She is suing Smith in Middlesex Superior Court for negligence, reckless infliction of emotional stress, and unfair and deceptive practices under the state Consumer Protection Act. McNally’s husband Brian is also a plaintiff in the case, alleging Smith caused him to lose the “companionship, society, services, and affection” of his wife.

Having sex with a patient is not a crime in Massachusetts, but it is grounds for revocation of a physician’s license. Smith voluntarily gave up his medical license in June 2010 – 10 months before the lawsuit was filed – and resigned from a slew of professional psychiatric organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England.  All of the groups have codes of ethics that say having sex with a patient is unethical.

McNally’s attorney, Clyde Bergstresser, suggested that Smith’s decision to give up his license and resign from the professional organizations was no coincidence. “You [Smith] repeatedly tried to dissuade your patient from reporting your negligent and unethical misconduct,” he said in a consumer demand letter. “And when you became concerned that you might not be able to control her, you surrendered your medical license and resigned form all the professional societies in which you were a member to avoid the inevitable and appropriate public censure for your outrageous conduct.”

The attorneys representing Smith and McNally did not respond to requests for comment.

Smith was a heavyweight in the world of psychiatry. He frequently contributed to psychoanalytic journals and edited or served on the editorial board of a number of publications. He also served as a training and supervising analyst, and it was in that role he was hired by McNally, who saw Smith from 2005 to 2009 up to six times a week for analysis.

In court documents, McNally said that Smith “engaged in multiple boundary violations” starting in 2006 by inappropriately touching her, kissing her, fondling her, discussing his marriage troubles with her, giving her gifts, and eventually having sexual relations with her on the “analytic couch.”

The alleged gifts included earrings, a necklace, family photographs, and eroticized cards, including one that portrays Smith as a pig being stroked and comforted.  “I would be hard-pressed to find a better metaphor,” said Bergstresser in the consumer demand letter.

That letter also claims that Smith told McNally that she was the most important person in his life. It also said the boundary violations by Smith “continued not only on the analytic couch but also in a bedroom in your home as well as outside the office.”

Prior to filing her lawsuit, court records indicate McNally demanded $3 million to avoid going to trial, but was offered only $100,000. She is seeking a jury trial.

McNally alleged that Smith violated her privacy by telling his wife, Dr. Jane Kite, about their sexual relationship, mentioning McNally by name. Kite, a psychologist and psychoanalyst, referred McNally to her husband.

Although Smith freely admits in a court document that he had sex with McNally, he says he did her and her husband no harm. McNally said she lacked the ability to recognize that she was being harmed as a result of what is known as transference, which is the unconscious attribution of a patient’s feelings about a person from the past on to a therapist.

Smith said McNally’s claim is unbelievable. “Dr. McNally was not a mentally-ill patient,” Smith said in court papers. “Further, Dr. McNally is a nationally respected psychologist and is well-versed in the issues of transference… . Dr. McNally has been a licensed psychologist since September 2004, almost two years before any alleged affair occurred. Dr. McNally, a professional who has been trained in handling the transference phenomenon, cannot seriously claim that she was not or should not have been fully cognizant of what occurred during her training analysis.”

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine says it no longer has jurisdiction over Smith because he gave up his license in 2010. At that time, Smith signed a form under the pains and penalties of perjury saying he had no knowledge of any “present or future complaints” against him. “The board’s authority extends only to a physician’s license, and Dr. Smith no longer has one,” said Russell Aims, the board’s chief of staff.

Minnesota clinical psychologist Gary Schoener, who has written extensively about the sexual misconduct of therapists, said Smith deserves punishment. “Imagine meeting with someone up to six times a week for all those years, hoping to improve your personal adjustment and extend your skills, and earn a higher standing in your profession — all for naught,” Schoener said. “This guy should be doing prison time.”

Renowned sex researchers Masters and Johnson, in the 1970s, were the first to call significant attention to sexual contact between therapists and patients, going so far as to characterize it as rape and arguing that these therapists should be prosecuted.

Beginning with Wisconsin’s criminalization of sex between a therapist and a patient in 1984, a number of states began to consider how they could do more than rely on organizational codes of ethics and disciplinary proceedings to address the problem.  Although the laws vary widely, at least 23 states now make sexual abuse of patients by clinicians a criminal act.

Back in the early 1990s, there was an effort to criminalize sexual misconduct by clinicians with patients in Massachusetts, but the legislation failed to pass.

Janet Wohlberg, a victim advocate from Williamstown and herself a victim of sexual abuse by a psychiatrist, said she does “back and forth” on the value of criminalization. “Certainly being able to put a label of ‘criminal act’ on this kind of behavior helps victims and their families, friend and society-at-large understand this kind of behavior for what it is,” she said. “However, I also fear that even fewer victims will come forward if they think their abuser will be hurt, arrested, or go to jail.”

Source: Colman M Herman, “Sex with patient caused no harm, doctor says; Suit alleges negligence, violations of consumer law,” Commonwealth, January 26, 2012.

California medical board files accusation against psychiatrist Yanira Maria Olaya

On December 29, 2011 the Medical Board of California issued an Accusation against psychiatrist Yanira Maria Olaya, charging her with gross negligence and repeated negligent acts. The Board’s document details Olaya’s care of three patients at the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital (SDCPH), which was found to be negligent. In one case, she treated a patient (“C.M.”) diagnosed with alcohol dependence with the antidepressant Trazodone, which caused the patient to become disoriented and to have seizure-like shaking in his body. C.M. was transferred to an emergency room whose doctor determined that Trazodone had likely caused orthostatic hypotension. The Board’s document states that Olaya did not think that the shaking was caused by Trazodone but should have known that it could have been the result of alcohol withdrawal. However, she made no changes in C.M.’s alcohol detoxification regimen to include anti-withdrawal medication. In another case, Olaya treated “R.W.” with valproic acid, a drug prescribed for the control of seizures. Two days later, the patient was observed to be in delirium, he walked into a wall, was confused and had difficulty speaking or answering simple questions. In the emergency room, a toxicology test found an elevated blood ammonia level due to an excessive amount of valproic acid. After being discharged from the emergency room, it was ordered that R.W. not be given valproic acid. R.W. was discharged from SDCPH but was admitted again three weeks later. Olaya assumed R.W.’s treatment but failed to review his patient file and again treated him with valproic acid, resulting in a repeat of the previous disorientation, etc. In the third case, Olaya had stabilized patient “D.E.”, who had been violent. Though D.E. was no longer showing an escalation of violence or aggression, Olaya inexplicably ordered his drug regimen be placed at unsafe levels. Following this, D.E. fell due to orthostatic hypotension, requiring stitches to his forehead.

Source: Accusation in the Matter of the Accusation Against Yanira Maria Olaya, M.D., Physician and Surgeon Certificate No. A94208, Case No. 10-2010-211148, Medical Board of California.

New Jersey mental health counselor Bobbi Triolo reprimanded

On May 24, 2011, the Professional Counselor Examiners Committee of the New Jersey State Board of Marriage & Family Therapy Examiners reprimanded Bobbi Triolo, M.A., LPC, LCADC for dishonesty, fraud, deception, misrepresentation and false promise or false pretense, as well as professional misconduct.

The Board’s document states that Triolo prepared an invoice and progress note for a January 2, 2011 “in-home” counseling therapy session with a client, which did not occur in the client’s home. Triolo admitted to the Committee admitted that she had done this and that she spoke to the client by phone on that day.

Further, she admitted that during a December 2010 “in-home” counseling session, she asked the client’s mother to sign the paperwork for the January 2, 2011 “in-home” session.

In addition to the reprimand, Triolo was required to pay a $1,000 civil penalty, among other things.

Source: Consent Order in the Matter of the Suspension or Revocation of the License of Bobbi Triolo, M.A., LPC, LCADC, license no. 37PC0003100, to practice professional counseling in the State of New Jersey.

State of Ohio disciplines clinical counselors

The Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage & Family Therapist Board (“Board”) recently took disciplinary actions against the following professional clinical counselors:

On July 22, 2011, professional clinical counselor Richard Anderson entered into an agreement with the Board to submit to person counseling for a period of two years with a Board-approved practitioner at his own expense. The Board’s document states that Anderson, while employed at a mental health agency in Cincinnati, did not maintain the appropriate standards of care in treatment of an adult female client; did not document correctly the conversation within the session; did not maintain professional boundaries by texting with the client and not documenting the text messages and did not obtain peer review/supervision when issues presented that were problematic. Anderson admitted to these allegations.

Source: Consent Agreement between Richard Anderson and the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist Board, Professional Clinical Counselor license no. E-500635.

On September 15, 2011, the Board accepted the permanent surrender professional counselor Jimmy McKeller’s license. The Board’s document states that the Board received a complaint against McKeller “regarding his counselor license while employed in a corrections agency in Mansfield, Ohio.” The Board’s document does not provide any details on the nature of the allegations made against McKellar. However, the document states that McKeller admitted the allegations which were made against him and surrendered his license in lieu of potential disciplinary action against him.

Source: Consent Agreement between Jimmy McKeller and the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist Board, Professional Clinical Counselor license no. C-500253.

On July 22, 2011, license professional clinical counselor Diane J.  Zieger entered into an agreement with the Board to complete substance abuse treatment. The Board’s document states that on November 19, 2010, Zieger was ordered by the Board to submit to an impairment evaluation and that the results found evidence of impairment. In addition to substance abuse treatment, Zieger is required to undergo weekly practice monitoring for two years when she has returned to work.

Source: Consent Agreement between Diane J. Zieger and the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist Board, Professional Clinical Counselor license no. E-0008223.

On July 22, 2011, the Board required licensed professional clinical counselor Barbara Henry to obtain and complete 10 hours of continuing education (in addition to those which are required) in the areas of child custody and play therapy, at her own expense. The Board’s document states that Henry accepted a minor child for treatment without the consent of both parents, as stipulated in court documents. Henry also attempted to withhold the minor child’s records from the minor’s father without providing appropriate rationale and without documenting her rationale in the record. Henry admitted to the allegations.

Source: Consent Agreement between Barbara J. Henry and the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist Board, Professional Clinical Counselor license no. E-00002467.

On July 22, 2011, the Board accepted the surrender of the professional counselor Jerry Sedwick’s license. The Board’s document states that Sedwick renewed his licensed through March 14, 2013 but that when he was audited in June 2011 for compliance with continuing education requirements, he stated in correspondence that the license had been renewed by mistake. Sedwick did not provide the Board with any evidence of continuing education compliance.

Source: Consent Agreement between Jerry N. Sedwick and the State of Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist Board, Professional Clinical Counselor license no. C-0001482.

Counselor Susan McAley found guilty of drug charges in two states

On July 28, 2011, the Professional Counselor’s Section of the Wisconsin Marriage & Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board suspended indefinitely the license of professional counselor Susan J. McAley.

The Board’s document states that between August 2009 and November 20, 2009, while employed as a counselor at Aalto Enhancement Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin, McAley stole a physician’s printed prescription pad and forged several prescriptions for Adderall, Dexedrine and Ritalin (all stimulants that are Schedule II controlled substances).

She had some of the prescriptions filled in Kenosha and others filled in Illinois.

McAley was charged in October 2009 in Lake County, Illinois with unlawful acquisition of a controlled substance and forgery and was found guilty in August 2010 of the controlled substance charge and sentenced to 24 months probation (the forgery charge was dropped).

On January 14, 2010, McAley was charged in Kenosha County, Wisconsin. She entered a plea of guilty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. If she successfully completes her probation on the Illinois conviction, the Wisconsin charge will be dismissed. Based on these criminal convictions, the Board issued a Complaint and Notice of Hearing to McAley, who never responded to the Board.

Source: Final Decision and Order in the Matter of the Disciplinary Proceedings Against Susan J. McAley, LPC, Order No. 0001227.

What part of “no” doesn’t psychiatrist Raymond Deicken understand?

On January 5, 2012, the Medical Board of California revoked the license of geriatric psychiatrist Raymond Deicken. However, the Board set aside the revocation, suspending him instead for 60 days. He was additionally placed on probation for five years with terms and conditions. This was the result of a stipulated decision which Deicken entered into with the Board to settle charges against him which included failure to maintain adequate and accurate patient records and numerous counts of dishonesty, gross negligence and incompetence.

The Board’s Accusation details Deicken’s treatment of four patients at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, primarily for pain symptoms. In each case, Deicken privately prescribed to the patients and kept personal records of their treatment. This secret treatment was not made known to any of the patients’ other health care providers.

Deicken, who at one time was a professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco,  began working as a psychiatrist at the San Francisco VA in 1991. In October 2005, a committee at the hospital determined that he was inappropriately prescribing opiate drugs—these are drugs classified by the U.S. government to be dangerous and highly addictive—and Deicken agreed to no longer prescribe them to patients of the VA.

However, just a month later, Deicken visited a VA patient, identified in the Board’s documents by the initials “T.C.”, at her home. T.C. suffered with numerous complaints including back and abdominal pain, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia and depression and anxiety due to failed treatment of Hepatitus. T.C. reported to Deicken that the pain control treatments she was receiving from another VA physician were not satisfactory. In response, Deicken prescribed T.C. the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, as well as another painkiller. He agreed to her T.C. at her home; agreed not to discuss his treatment of T.C. with opiate painkillers with any of her other physicians at the San Francisco VA and agreed not to document his opiate prescriptions in T.C.’s VA patient records or consult with any of her other health care providers.

Plainly speaking, this is bad medicine. A doctor who privately attends to a patient and does not make his treatments known to the patient’s other health care providers puts both the patient and the other health care providers at risk. For instance, T.C.’s primary care physician, unaware of Deicken and his opiate prescriptions, might have prescribed something which proved fatal if combined with opiates or might have attempted to treat side effects of opiate intoxication without knowing what the cause of the side effects was.

In December 2005 and January 2006, Deicken increased the dosages of the two painkillers on T.C.’s complaints of continuing pain. By April 2006, T.C. was suffering from lethargy, fatigue and cognitive dulling from the opiates. To counter this, Deicken prescribed her the stimulant drug Adderall, which is also classified as a dangerous and highly addictive drug.

In other words, Deicken prescribed an extremely habit-forming drug to combat the side effects of other habit-forming drugs he’d prescribed her.

In May 2006, he began see T.C. at the VA’s outpatient psychiatric services for depression and anxiety and lied in her medical records, stating that she was being treated for pain at another clinic, when the truth was that he was treating her for pain in secret.

The Board’s document contains similar secret treatment scenarios involving three other patients and habit forming drugs.

Should Deicken violate any of the terms of his medical board probation, the Board will have the right to revoke probation and carry out the revocation of his license.