Psychiatrist loses license in Canada for sexual misconduct; skips back to Ireland and gets license…then gets found out

On or about March 11, 2013, the Irish Medical Council announced that it had obtained a High Court order suspending psychiatrist Bolarinwa Olutosin Oluwole (the order came in February 2012 but his identify was not revealed at that time, by order of the court).

Oluwole, who had previously been registered to practice in Ireland, reapplied for licensure some time in late 2012 or early 2013 but neglected to disclose on his application that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia had revoked his license in November 2012, due to having engaged in sexual intercourse with two female patients and for acting inappropriately with another.

Oluwole admitted to the College that he’d engaged in sexual misconduct.

Harvard psychiatrist Frederic Schiffer reprimanded for patient violation

On April 10, 2013, the Massachusetts Board of Physicians reprimanded psychiatrist Frederic Schiffer and terminated and earlier voluntary agreement not to practice.

The Board’s news release stated that Schiffer committed a boundary violation with a patient.

Schiffer is an Associate Attending Psychiatrist at McLean and an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and a clinical investigator at the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.

Source: “State Board of Medicine Takes Disciplinary Action,” release of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, April 11, 2013.

Psychiatrist Byron Kilgore surrenders license over sex with patient

On May 21, 2013, psychiatrist Byron Kilgore surrendered his license to the Medical Board of California.

According to the Board’s document, Kilgore engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient.

Kilgore began treating the patient in 1974 and continued to see the patient intermittently at various time intervals, including between 2001 and 2009.

In 2008, the sessions became more flirtatious and Kilgore would sometimes hug her at the end of sessions.

In or about May 2009, Kilgore engaged in a sexual encounter, including sexual intercourse with the patient, at a hotel near his office, followed by two or three further encounters in his office in the ensuing weeks.

The sexual relationship then ended and the patient stopped seeing Kilgore.

Sacramento psychiatrist attempted romantic relationship with patient; surrenders license

On June 3, 2013, psychiatrist Ananth Shanmugam surrender his license to the Medical Board of California, admitting that, at a hearing, the Board could establish a factual basis for the charges against him contained in the Board’s October 3, 2011 Accusation, which alleged gross negligence and repeated negligent acts for attempting to establish a romantic relationship with a patient.

Shanmugam treated the patient March to May 2010, during which he talked to her about her feelings, how her medications were affecting her, her sex life, what she could do to make sex better and about her relationship with her husband.”

Shanmugan sent the patient text messages which turned increasingly personal and inappropriate. The patients’ cellphone records showed that 273 text messages were exchanged between them over a three-week period.

State revokes psychiatrist Richard Pines’ license for sexual contact with high schooler

BOISE — A child psychiatrist in Boise who was accused of sexual misconduct with four young men is asking to have his license reinstated.

The Idaho Board of Medicine last year filed a complaint against the doctor, Richard J. Pines.

Pines is accused of inappropriate contact with a former psychiatric patient and former foster and respite-care children. He also is accused of prescribing drugs to a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship.

Pines had been licensed since 1997 and worked in multiple places, including Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. The board revoked his license June 4.

The Board of Medicine alleged that Pines “engaged in sexual misconduct or contact” with a high-school senior who was a former foster child of Pines. He told the 18-year-old he needed to do a physical exam on him to earn medical certification. Pines “admittedly gave [him] $2,000 after the incident,” the board’s complaint said.

The complaint said that Pines also provided foster care between 2000 and 2005 to another boy who was born in June 1988, and that Pines told the former foster child he needed to give naked massages to keep his medical license. The former foster child let Pines do naked massages after being repeatedly asked, the board said.

A patient born January 1992 was under Pines’ medical care from about Aug. 31, 2005, through Sept. 26, 2007, and Pines admitted to taking naked pictures of him at Pines’ cabin in Garden Valley, according to the board. The doctor admitted to giving the patient money and told the Boise Police Department he had engaged in sexual behavior with the former patient, the board said.

The board said that in June 2001, the doctor had sexual contact with a 14-year-old in his Garden Valley cabin, after using the hot tub. However, a hearing officer later concluded the boy had turned 18 before the contact occurred.

“As a physician, benefactor and foster/respite parent, he stood in a position of power, authority or supervision over these boys,” the board wrote, adding that the Department of Health and Welfare has revoked his foster-parent license. “The Board determined that Dr. Pines engaged in sexual contact with these boys … by means of false representation that the sexual contact is for bona fide medical purpose by a physician.”

The board also said Pines had a three-year affair with an adult woman to whom he prescribed drugs, including painkillers.

Eight days after his license revocation, Pines filed a lawsuit asking an Ada County Fourth District Court judge to reverse that decision and the board’s order for Pines to pay $37,755 in attorney fees and costs.

In his appeal, Pines will “raise the constitutionality of all statutes upon which the Idaho State Board of Medicine relied in its order,” he said in court documents.

The board’s decision followed a hearing in November. During the hearing, several colleagues of Pines said they never saw him acting inappropriately and that he was a “valued and respected” doctor.

The hearing officer later gave a report to the board that acknowledged he didn’t have the authority to weigh the constitutionality of the rule Pines is accused of breaking. While he didn’t make a disciplinary recommendation, he did point to a past case wherein a doctor who had sex with patients was only fined, not disbarred. The board disagreed with the officer’s conclusions and revoked Pines’ license.

An attorney for Pines declined to talk about the lawsuit. Pines has not been charged with any crimes related to the allegations, according to state court records.

Source: Audrey Dutton, “Child psychiatrist accused of misconduct seeks license back,” Idaho Statesman, July 19, 2013.

Mental health counselor Nathan T. Simmons charged with possession of child pornography

A Roanoke mental health professional has been charged with sharing explicit child pornography videos over the Internet.

Nathan Tyler Simmons , 31, was charged last week with felony possession and/or reproduction of child pornography with intent to distribute.

A search warrant filed in Roanoke Circuit Court on July 19 says two detectives with the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified a Virginia-based computer in May that was “offering to participate in the distribution of known or suspected child pornography,” according to the warrant filed by Roanoke police Detective R. Krawczyk.

Krawczyk said he downloaded five videos on May 14 from the computer showing explicit sexual images of boys between the ages of 6 and 17.

Investigators executed a search warrant on July 18 at an apartment in the 500 block of Sixth Street Southwest after subpoenaing subscriber information for that IP address from Cox Communications, Krawczyk said. They seized a computer, laptop, portable hard drive and other electronics, according to the warrant.

Simmons, whose arrest warrant lists his address as the same one detectives searched, was arrested that day. He’s being held at the Roanoke City Jail awaiting an Aug. 30 court date.

Police spokesman Sgt. Jason Holt said Tuesday that the department would not comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation. The warrant doesn’t specify whether investigators believe Simmons made the videos himself. He has not been charged with producing child pornography.

Simmons listed New Choices Counseling in Roanoke as his employer on a court application for a public defender. A website for the counseling center previously listed Tyler Simmons as resident counselor and qualified mental health professional, but his name has since been removed.

Owner David Geho referred questions to attorney Deborah Caldwell-Bono , who said the facility would not confirm that Simmons was employed there. When asked if Simmons had worked with children, she again refused to confirm his employment.

Source: Jordan Fifer, “Child porn charges for mental health worker,” Roanoke Times, July 25, 2013.

Wisconsin psychiatrist David Israelstam convicted of possession of child porn

A former Madison psychiatrist pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography in a plea deal under which prosecutors will not pursue any additional charges against him.

Dr. David M. Israelstam, 74, who surrendered his license to practice after he was charged in February with two counts of possessing child pornography, pleaded guilty to both counts and will be sentenced at a later date.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ordered a pre-sentence investigation, and Israelstam will be sentenced in about two months, once the investigation is finished. He faces up to 25 years of combined prison and extended supervision on each count.

The law at the time that Israelstam possessed the child porn was that he must be sentenced to at least three years behind bars on each count, but may impose a lesser sentence if “the court finds the lesser sentence is in the best interests of the community and the public will not be harmed.”

The law has since been changed to make the minimum sentence of three years mandatory.

According to a criminal complaint, a computer technician and former patient of Israelstam found pornography on Israelstam’s computer, including video that appeared to have been secretly recorded showing Israelstam in his office having sex with adult women.

The man also told police that Israelstam had a large pornography collection, leading police to search Israelstam’s home and office in 2011. Dozens of binders of printed child pornography were taken from his home, the complaint states, and digital child pornography was found on a computer hard drive and a DVD.

Israelstam was twice reprimanded by the state Medical Examining Board, in 2000 and 2011. In both cases he attended programs on professional boundaries.

Israelstam remains free on a signature bond.

Source: Ed Trevelen, “Former Madison psychiatrist David M. Israelstam, 73, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of possessing child pornography,” Wisconsin State Journal, July 23, 2013.