Psychiatrist Graham Craig

A PSYCHIATRIST who had a two-year sex romp with a patient almost four decades younger than him has been struck off the medical register, the Sunday Sun can reveal.

Dr Graham Craig was 61 when he had the affair with the 23-year-old woman – known as Patient A – who had been admitted to his clinic for severe depression.

It is not the first time Dr Craig, now 72 – whose area of practice is Newcastle – had an “inappropriate relationship” with a patient. He was found guilty of unprofessional conduct for an affair with a woman 10 years ago.

Now after a week-long hearing, a General Medical Council panel has erased his name from the medical register and suspended his registration.

A statement issued by the GMC said: “The Panel is of the view that Dr Craig continues to pose a risk to patient safety.”

The affair first started in 1999 when Dr Craig was working in Adelaide, Australia, when Patient A went to his clinic.

It ended two years later when he moved to the UK after being suspended over the relationship with the second patient.

It wasn’t until 2006 that the woman reported Dr Craig, who is understood to have been a locum for the Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health Trust until five years ago.

The Manchester hearing heard how Dr Craig kissed Patient A, brushed her hair and massaged her shoulders during an appointment before embarking on an affair, with the pair often having sex in the counselling room twice a week.

Patient A, now 34, said: “I adored Graham. He always listened to me very carefully.

“At that time I thought I was too ugly to leave the house. I was ashamed and humiliated, I didn’t want to see anybody – I thought everybody was judging me.

“I wasn’t a typical 23-year-old, because of my isolation I was quite young and very much looking for a father figure. In Graham, I saw someone who could fulfil that role. I was just thrilled by that.

“Now I think the relationship kept me depressed and dependant and isolated for much longer than I would have been if I’d had a psychiatrist that didn’t do that.

“I feel like I lost years because of him, but at the same time I loved him and I wanted to be with him. Obviously now I realise he had taken advantage of that, and I feel exploited and used, and I hate him.”

The shrink admitted giving her driving lessons, meeting her for lunch and even visiting her at her home, and he admitted to carrying on a “personal” relationship with her after quitting Australia.

But he denied having sex with her, claiming he was impotent – a claim the panel dismissed.

In a damning case conclusion, the GMC panel said: “You continue to deny that you had a sexual relationship with her.

“You clearly abused your position and power as a doctor.

“The Panel takes the view that the seriousness of your misconduct was aggravated by the fact that Patient A was vulnerable because she was young, socially isolated and mentally ill.

“In the light of your limited insight and your continued denial, the Panel is of the view that you still constitute a risk to patients.

“Your serious misconduct is fundamentally incompatible with being a registered medical practitioner.”

A former Ascension Episcopal School counselor accused of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity waived her right to a detention hearing, but will likely ask for it to be rescheduled soon, her attorney said Thursday.

Psychiatrist Dr. Allison Hargrave, 39, is being held in the Iberia Parish Correctional Center.

She was arrested June 2 for federal sex crimes at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services, a facility well known for treating sex addiction, among other behavioral problems.

The arrest followed a May 26 indictment in which she was accused of using e-mail to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.

“We’re currently doing an investigation now,” Hargrave’s attorney Kevin Stockstill said. “We’re exploring the possibility of using expert testimony at the hearing.”

He hopes the detention hearing can be held at the beginning of July.

U.S. attorney Stephanie Finley said the U.S. has asked for Hargrave to be detained on the grounds that she is a danger to the safety of the community.

“It’s relating to a minor child. … It’s our desire to protect all members of the community, especially minor,” she said.

A trial date is set for Aug. 9 in front of U.S. District Judge Richard Haik in Lafayette.

However, Stockstill said he might ask for the trial to be postponed.

“August is pretty busy,” he said, “and I believe that this case is going to be pretty complex and novel.”

He hopes the trial can be rescheduled for the end of the year.

Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit against Hargrave is moving forward.

Hargrave resigned from Ascension Episcopal School in March amid accusations that she had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female student.

It was not clear if her federal charge stems from the accusations. Finley wouldn’t comment on whether the child Hargrave is said to have enticed attended Ascension.

“That will flesh out when time goes on with the case,” Finley said.

The family of the student sued Hargrave and Ascension Episcopal for damages, including mental and emotional damage, interference with a parent-child relationship, medical expenses, loss of innocence, interference with student’s education and interference with sexual maturation and sexuality.

The lawsuit claims that Hargrave committed the alleged abuse in her scope of employment, which Ascension denied in its answer.

“Defendants specifically aver that any acts of Dr. Allison Hargrave as alleged by plaintiffs, if actually committed, were outside the course and scope of Dr. Hargrave’s employment,” the answer reads. “Defendants specifically deny vicarious liability for any such acts.”

Hargrave, meanwhile, also recently filed an answer to the lawsuit with two exceptions. The lawsuit is called premature and claims that there is “no cause of action and no right of action,” in Hargrave’s answer.

For the rest of the lawsuit Hargrave invoked her rights under the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and neither confirmed nor denied allegations.

An Ottawa psychiatrist convicted of sexually assaulting a patient has seen his house arrest upgraded to a two-year prison sentence by Ontario’s highest court.

Dr. Juan Tejeda was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault after a former patient testified the psychiatrist plied him with alcohol to have sex in his office, car and in the victim’s apartment.

Tejeda, 66, was handed a conditional two-year sentence in December, which included 16 months of house arrest and 240 hours of community service.

On Tuesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal imposed a prison term, saying the original sentence was “manifestly inadequate” given the “extreme nature of the breach of trust.”

The Crown, which appealed the sentence, was asking for a four-year prison term, but the court said it had to consider Tejeda’s age, his health problems and the five months house arrest he’s served.

The sexual assaults on the patient took place from 1990 to 1999, and court heard the victim had attempted suicide.

Psychiatrist Steven C. Wein

Las Vegas Review-Journal
Suspect in lewdness case ordered held without bail
Suspect accused of trying to set fire at residence of accusers
By FRANCIS MCCABE

A Las Vegas psychiatrist charged with masturbating in a Strip casino elevator is being held without bail after a district judge learned he might have tried to intimidate witnesses in the case.

Dr. Steven C. Wein was riding in a Monte Carlo hotel elevator with three female Arizona State University students about 6 a.m. Nov. 1 when he exposed himself in the confined space, authorities said. Wein then was punched in the head by a man who also was in the elevator, authorities said.

The students reported Wein to hotel security, which had captured the event on video, authorities said.

At the time, Wein was charged with open and gross lewdness, a misdemeanor, and released on $1,000 bond.

But the case took a turn Wednesday when a District Court judge learned Wein is accused of driving to Tempe, Ariz., and setting fire to the home of the three women.

Prosecutors expressed concern for the safety of the witnesses, and Judge Linda Bell ordered the 33-year-old Wein held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Wein’s attorney, Mace Yampolsky, said in court documents his client was suffering from depression over the death of his father at the time. Yampolsky wouldn’t comment after the bail hearing.

If convicted of the lewdness charge, Wein could face up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday before Bell.

The possible arson occurred five days before a preliminary hearing was to be held in Las Vegas relating to the Nov. 1 incident.

Details of the incident were in court documents: Wein is accused of igniting a gasoline-soaked cloth at the students’ residence in the early morning hours of April 23. A sprinkler system extinguished the blaze, and no one was harmed. Later the same day, the women and a fire investigator spotted Wein driving near the students’ residence.

Wein was arrested in Yuma, Ariz., that night. Arizona investigators discovered a “handwritten list of steps for committing the arson, a portion of auto carpeting wet with apparent gasoline, and a handwritten note with the address of another witness from the November hotel incident” in Wein’s possession, according to the court file.

He posted $15,000 bond the next day.

Las Vegas authorities revoked Wein’s bail on the lewdness charge after learning of the arrest in Arizona.

Wein’s medical license was suspended in December by the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine after it learned of the lewdness charge, according to a complaint filed by the board.

If Wein is convicted of lewdness, his license would be revoked, and he would have to wait a decade before he could reapply for a medical licence in Nevada, according to the complaint and court documents.

Wein was in his fourth year of a psychiatry residency at the Las Vegas School of Medicine at the time of the November incident.

He was hoping for bail so he could complete his residency and seek reinstatement of his license by the medical board, according to court documents.

Prosecutor Thomas Carroll said Clark County authorities are working with Arizona investigators.

A psychiatrist convicted of exposing himself in front of three women in County Antrim has been found dead at his home in London.

Dr Adekumle Yesufu was found guilty in February of performing the sex act at the home of a former work colleague in Carrickfergus in August last year.

He was due to be sentenced at Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday.

It is understood his body was discovered after he failed to turn up for a previous planned sentencing.

The psychiatrist, who lived at Sydenham Park, London, was arrested when police were called to the scene last August.

One of the victims told how she and her friends walked out of the Quayside apartment in embarrassment when he pulled his jogging bottoms down.

He denied the charges, and in evidence described coming to Northern Ireland to visit a woman he previously worked with at the Chelsea and Westminster Health Unit.

He claimed the pair formed an intimate relationship, which developed into kissing and touching, but never went as far as having sex.

Her account was that they had kissed on one occasion after a work night out in 2006.

According to Dr Yesufu they had a drink in the Crown Bar after he arrived in Belfast and then brought a bottle of spirits back to her flat where two other women arrived.

During the hearing he denied exposing himself but accepted he might have had an erection under his clothes which could have been misconstrued.

He claimed to have been confused and frightened when he was told to pick up his belongings.

After he was found guilty of three counts of intentionally exposing his genitals in February, Dr Yesufu’s lawyer said that regardless of the punishment, he was going to lose his job and be prohibited from practising as a psychiatrist.

But following confirmation of his death in court, the judge directed no order for sentencing.

Doctor, 80, indicted for sexual assault
Prosecutors: Doctor exploited patient
By Jacqueline Ingles

MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN) – A Burnet County grand jury indicted Dr. Barlow Smith, 80, who runs a psychiatry practice in Marble Falls, for sexually assaulting a patient.

He’s accused of sexual assault by a health care service provider.

Prosecutors said back in 2007, Smith had a non-consensual sexual relationship with a female patient who had a history of sexual abuse.

We told you last summer that the Texas Medical Board disciplined Smith for the relationship.
Legal experts told KXAN prosecutors must prove the woman did not consent to sex and that Smith exploited her.

“What the law is saying is that if you are exploiting the patient, then, that is not consensual and that is exactly what the state is alleging in this situation with this indictment, that there was sexual contact and it was by explotitation,” said Eddie Arredondo, an attorney who is not involved in Smith’s case.

Smith told us last summer that the woman was a former patient when the relationship took place.
Neither Smith nor his attorney immediately returned our calls

Calgary psychiatrist Dr. Aubrey Levin is charged with sexually assaulting a patient. (CBC)

Police say a 36-year-old man, one of Levin’s long-term patients, alleges he was sexually assaulted repeatedly by Levin over a period of time.

Levin, 71, has regularly testified in court cases as an expert in forensic psychiatry, a factor that could widen the investigation, police said.

“He is very well known in the justice community,” said police spokesperson Kevin Brookwell.

“Through both the solicitor general’s office and Alberta Health Services — who he was employed with — all his client base, they’re looking at all those files that he may have been working on, past and present, to see if anything is impacted as a result of this particular charge.”

Levin’s arrest Tuesday came a day after he was suspended by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.

“Our process is completely separate from a criminal case being pursued,” said college spokeswoman Kelly Eby.

“We will continue with our investigation, and that could include a review of his files. It will include interviews with witnesses, interviews with the victim.”

The process could take several months and might result in a disciplinary hearing.

Police are asking members of the public who may have additional information to come forward. Levin worked at the Peter Lougheed Centre and lectured at the University of Calgary.

Levin came to Canada in the 1990s from South Africa. He worked as a psychiatrist for the military during the apartheid era.

Levin was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court on April 8.

A 67-year-old Penfield man has been arrested and charged with patronizing a prostitute in the third-degree.

The investigation that led to the arrest of Melvin Pisetzner began when a 19-year-old male told police he had met Pisetzner in an online chat. Police say Pisetzner posed as a 55-year-old man and offered to pay the teen a sum of money to participate in a sex act with him.

The 19-year-old is a former patient of Pisetzner – a psychiatrist, but police do not believe Pisetzner knew that at the time of their online chat. Investigators from the Irondequoit Police Department assumed the identity of the teenager which led to Pisetzner requesting the teen come to his office on Pittsford-Victor Road to engage in the sex act.

Pisetzner was issued an appearance ticket and is due back in court on March 31.

George Osborne’s brother guilty of giving drugs to cocaine-addicted escort girl
Sophie Goodchild, Health Editor

The doctor brother of shadow chancellor was today found guilty of serious professional misconduct after prescribing drugs to a cocaine-addicted escort girl.

Dr Adam Osborne, 33, is facing career ruin after admitting he gave anti-psychotic drugs to the prostitute.

He told the General Medical Council he started a relationship with the woman – known as “Miss B” – because his long-term partner and now wife Rahala Noor was working away from home.

The hearing was told that Dr Noor’s absence left him feeling “isolated”.
The panel ruled that his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct and that he lacked insight into the seriousness of his behaviour in prescribing drugs without recording the prescriptions.

It will decide either tomorrow or later this week whether to strike him off or suspend him from practising as a doctor.

Dr Osborne, heir to the Osborne & Little wallpaper empire, wrote a prescription for the £150-an-hour prostitute – known as Miss B – using a false name.

When the psychiatrist, then a house officer, failed to obtain the drugs at the hospital pharmacy he took the “acutely psychotic” patient to another chemist where getting the medication was less difficult.

Dr Osborne said he met the woman in a “social setting” but he refused to tell the General Medical Council how many times he saw her between December 2007 and May 2008. In the space of a month he prescribed drugs to her without telling her GP or his employers at the Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester.

On the last occasion she was so ill she was seeing “spiders climb the wall”, the hearing was told. Later the same day he was expelled from trust premises after admitting his actions were “highly inappropriate”. The following month he admitted giving the Pill to his then girlfriend and an antismoking drug to a family member without recording the prescriptions.

The relationship with Miss B – then 21 – began with a phone call to a Manchester escort agency more than three years ago.

The “girl” from the agency received instructions to visit Dr Osborne at the home he continues to share with Dr Noor in the Chorltonville area.
Dr Osborne, based at Wythenshawe Hospital while his wife worked at the Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, then “booked” the girl almost every week between October and December.

It is then claimed that they began to see each other privately, off the agency’s books, usually at her flat – allegedly paid for by Dr Osborne.
On Dr Osborne’s recommendation, Miss B also began working at Sandy’s Superstars, a well-known Manchester brothel in all but name, which boasts a choice of “over ten ladies every day, curvy or slim, tall or petite”, aged between their early twenties and early forties, offering a “full spectrum of specialties”.

One of its two “branches” is situated behind permanently closed black shutters in a parade of shops in Northenden, a little over a mile from Wythenshawe Hospital.

Douglas Rank, 51, of Golf Manor, was being held Monday in the Kenton County jail where he is charged with first degree assault.

About 7:45 p.m. Sunday, Covington police responded to the third floor of 12 W. Pike St. for a report of an assault with injuries, said Covington Police spokesman Spike Jones.

When police arrived they found Misty Luke, 32, in the doorway with stab wounds to her chest, Jones said. She was taken to University Hospital with serious injuries, he said.

Rank was inside being held by witnesses, Jones said. He was taken into custody and police recovered a sword that they believe to be the weapon, Jones said.

Police were investigating the incident Monday and had not determined the relationship between Rank and Luke, Jones said. He did not know whether she was a patient.

Rank is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail. He is listed in jail records as living in Cincinnati, and Hamilton County Auditor records show he owns a home on Stover Avenue in Golf Manor.

According to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Rank’s license is active this week, but is it set to expire on Sunday.

He graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 1984, according to state records.

Rank, who is also board certified in internal medicine, had his license to practice medicine restricted by the board in 2001 it found that after he prescribed “high doses of narcotic prescriptions” to one patient while practicing in Lexington.

The Board of Medical Licensure found that Rank given the patient 57 prescriptions over 14 months. Rank agreed to no longer treat the patient.

Rank also faced disciplinary action from the board in 2000 after he admitted he had sexual intercourse with another patient.