Dr. Mani Pavuluri of University of Illinois

It’s recently been revealed that psychiatrist Mani Pavuluri, the Founding Director of the Pediatric Mood Disorders Program at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Illinois, Chicago, was suspended in 2013 from conducting any further clinical studies at the University.

Pavuluri’s continous and serious violations of safety requirements for human study subjects put this children in her studies in increased danger. For instance, she enrolled children under age 13 in a pediatric lithium study though she knew that the drug was not FDA-approved for younger children. She failed to warn the childrens’ parents about the real risks of her study. And she falsified study records to cover her misdeeds.

The National Institute of Mental Heath, which funded Pavuluri’s study, to the tune of more than $3 million found that her non-compliance with requirements ultimately rendered the study results worthless.

If you were a subject in this study and would like to make a report, please contact Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

Advertisement

State Yanks Psychologist James Medina’s License for Sexual Misconduct

On September 14, 2017, the California Board of Psychology revoked James Medina’s license.

The Board’s Order of Decision states that Medina treated a female patient from July 2008 until summer 2014. The patient was 27 years old at the start and had disclosed to the Medina that she was an adult survivor of child sexual abuse.

The Board concluded that Medina had engaged in gross negligence, repeated negligent acts, unprofessional conduct, and sexual misconduct in his treatment of the patient. Further, he kept inadequate and inaccurate records for the patient, among other violations.

The document describes Medina’s sexualized behavior toward the patient, including personal emails, texts, and social media comments relative to her appearance, sex-related advice, expressions of sexual desire, and unwanted physical contact, such as hugs and rubbing of the back, waist and sides of breasts, and angry expletive-laced texts.  Medina also engaged in social activities with the patient and her friend, gave the patient money on a few occasions, purchased the patient’s television, among numerous other treatment and record-keeping violations.

Source: Order of Decision In the Matter of the First Amended Accusation Against James Medina, Ph.D., California Board of Psychology, October 9, 2017.

Psychologist Sookyung Chang Loses License for Financially Exploiting Patient

On October 30, 2017, the California Board of Psychology revoked Los Angeles psychologist Sookyung Chang’s license.

The Board’s Accusation states that in 2006, a husband and wife who were seeking to separate sought services from Chang to help them divide their assets. In the process, the couple shared with Chang information about their properties and investments.

After the conclusion of the psychologist-patient relationship, Change remained in contact with the husband. In 2007, she borrowed $300,000 from the man to purchase a property and except for a payment of $25,000, never repaid him.

In 2011, when the man was in danger of losing his home, Chang offered to purchase the property from him. They agreed that Chang could live on the property as a tenant. Chang and a co-investory purchase the home.

In 2014, Change stopped paying rent. In November of that year, the man successfully filed an action to have Chang evicted for non-payment of rent. She was evicted and, while out of the country, had movers come to move her furniture and belongings off the property. However, she did not pay them enough to move everything so they left behind numerous boxes of patient records, unsecured. She made no efforts to retrive the files after she’d vacated the premises. Additionally, as described in the Board’s later order, she removed fixtures from the property, including french doors and stained-glass windows. The man discovered that there were partially-buried dogs in the back yard and that the pool water was black because it was full of dog feces.

The Board found that Chang engaged in a financial relationship with the man and that she used financialy information she’d obtained during the husband-wife counseling to exploit him financially.

In addition to the revocation of her license, the Administrative Law Judge that heard the case awarded the Board $22,235 in investigative and prosecutions costs, to be paid by Chang.

Source: Decision and Order In the Matter of the Accusation Against Sookyung Chang, Ph.D., California Board of Psychology, November 20, 2017 and Accusation In the Matter of the Accusation Against Sookyung Chang, Ph.D., California Board of Psychology, December 13, 2016.

To Residents of Southeast Kentucky

Re: Cumberland River Comprehensive Care/Cumberland River Behavioral Health

Do you or did you go to public school in Bell, Clay, Harlan, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Rockcastle or Whitley county?

As a student, did you receive counseling or other services from a mental health counselor at your school and/or outside of school?

Were you pressured to be involved in these services?

Did you disagree with having to participate in these services?

Did you disagree with your diagnosis?

Do you feel that your education, health, reputation, or quality of life has been affected by having had to receive these mental health services?

If so, and you’d like to discuss what happened and what you might be able to do about it, we recommend that you contact Steve Wagner at the Citizens Commission on Human Rights at swagner@cchr.org