AGH psychologist/Psych Supervisor Loses License for Patient Exploitation

[allpsychedup]

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I am new to this forum but am seeing if anyone has any information about the Psychiatry program at AGH. I interviewed there and had mixed feelings about the program. I had asked if any problems were going on with the program but only got superficial and vague answers but everyone said no. I have talked with others interviewing for psychiatry and some have said that the program is dealing with some issues. I have heard that not too long ago the hospital was ready to close the program or at the least have it go on probation when there was a problem with their chairman not being a physician. Someone mentioned that the department is currently dealing with having one of their psychologists having his license to practice removed for inappropriate behavior with a patient. I checked on the web and found some information that supported this. To be honest I really did not like everything about this program but i might not have many options. If anyone has any information about this program or comments about what's going ther please respond.

 

[swanny]

As the program director at AGH, I appreciate your concerns and feel
compelled to reply to you directly. There are a number of issues that
you have raised, and I will address them as best I can:

1. The program was indeed cited in 2006 by the RRC for having a
non-physician as the chair. The RRC did state that this citation was
serious and needed to be rectified or the program would be placed on
probation. Our chair, our faculty and the hospital administration were
committed to the educational mission of the department, and we did the
right thing: the chair moved to another position, and the hospital
appointed a board certified psychiatrist as interim chair. The RRC
subsequently granted the program five year full accreditation, which
runs until 2011. As it was resolved in 2006, the issue is no longer a
concern.

2. A psychologist on our staff was indeed found to be engaging in
unethical and inappropriate behavior. This unfortunate situation was
addressed definitively, and is considered resolved. He has not worked
here for over a year, and as you noted, his license was subsequently
revoked by the state. The department is not "in hot water" for this, and
we have since hired a replacement.

3. You note that you heard "bad" things about the faculty, the PD
(me) and the chair from a couple of the residents. I meet with the
residents on a monthly basis to address concerns and review how things
are going. I have heard many positive comments about the availability, support and teaching skills of
the faculty. I know our chair is firmly committed to maintaining a
strong educational program here. No-one has expressed these kinds of concerns to me; nor have
they to the chair or other administrators or faculty. If there are specific concerns or
problems, I believe we would address them (and that we have always done
so).

It is quite understandable that you might hesitate to rank our program
with those concerns. I also understand you might have been anxious that
discussing your concerns would affect our ranking of you. That would not
be the case, however. I am sorry you didn't bring your concerns to me
directly, as I would have been happy to talk about them with you. In the
past, applicants have asked questions about the program, and it shows
their interest and desire to be in a stable program. I believe our
program is dedicated to developing residents into quality clinical
psychiatrists, and provides a nurturing and supportive environment to do
so, with a hard working and enthusiastic faculty. I hope this
information is helpful to you. If you (or anyone else reading this post)
have other questions or wishfurther information please feel free to contact me either through SDN
(if you want to continue to maintain anonymity) or directly by calling
me at (412) 330-4242 or email [email protected].

 

[HCE]

As the program director at AGH, I appreciate your concerns and feel
compelled to reply to you directly. There are a number of issues that
you have raised, and I will address them as best I can:

1. The program was indeed cited in 2006 by the RRC for having a
non-physician as the chair. The RRC did state that this citation was
serious and needed to be rectified or the program would be placed on
probation. Our chair, our faculty and the hospital administration were
committed to the educational mission of the department, and we did the
right thing: the chair moved to another position, and the hospital
appointed a board certified psychiatrist as interim chair. The RRC
subsequently granted the program five year full accreditation, which
runs until 2011. As it was resolved in 2006, the issue is no longer a
concern.

2. A psychologist on our staff was indeed found to be engaging in
unethical and inappropriate behavior. This unfortunate situation was
addressed definitively, and is considered resolved. He has not worked
here for over a year, and as you noted, his license was subsequently
revoked by the state. The department is not "in hot water" for this, and
we have since hired a replacement.

3. You note that you heard "bad" things about the faculty, the PD
(me) and the chair from a couple of the residents. I meet with the
residents on a monthly basis to address concerns and review how things
are going. I have heard many positive comments about the availability, support and teaching skills of
the faculty. I know our chair is firmly committed to maintaining a
strong educational program here. No-one has expressed these kinds of concerns to me; nor have
they to the chair or other administrators or faculty. If there are specific concerns or
problems, I believe we would address them (and that we have always done
so).

It is quite understandable that you might hesitate to rank our program
with those concerns. I also understand you might have been anxious that
discussing your concerns would affect our ranking of you. That would not
be the case, however. I am sorry you didn't bring your concerns to me
directly, as I would have been happy to talk about them with you. In the
past, applicants have asked questions about the program, and it shows
their interest and desire to be in a stable program. I believe our
program is dedicated to developing residents into quality clinical
psychiatrists, and provides a nurturing and supportive environment to do
so, with a hard working and enthusiastic faculty. I hope this
information is helpful to you. If you (or anyone else reading this post)
have other questions or wishfurther information please feel free to contact me either through SDN
(if you want to continue to maintain anonymity) or directly by calling
me at (412) 330-4242 or email [email protected].

Swanny, thanks for the honest and straight-forward response...something all too often lacking these days. 👍

 

[jjbmsiv]

Actually, Sassy, YOU are missing the point. The OP had questions about this program, and the PD answered it. Your comment is off-topic for this particular thread.

 

[HCE]

Actually, Sassy, YOU are missing the point. The OP had questions about this program, and the PD answered it. Your comment is off-topic for this particular thread.

Sassy makes some serious allegations which, if true, are horrendous and should be a police matter and, if false are extremely libelous....I always wonder when I see such a strong post from a first time poster, but I have no personal knowledge of any of this, so I will not respond to the merits of Sassy's claim. I do know that Swanny is easily identifiable and still took the time and effort to post a response to the OP...Sassy is anonymous....

 

[SASSYLADY]

I want to make it clear that my comments (which I asked to be deleted) are not to harm anyone but just my reaction to the subject of the post and the past. To me these things including the info in the OP happened in the past(not recent). I commend Swanny for his classy response (Other PDs can learn from him). After talking with my colleagues and thinking things over, I think problems happen in ALL programs and what's important is how people and programs respond and become STRONGER and BETTER. What I have learned since first commenting is how much AGH psychiatry is striving and succeeding in that direction. And when it comes to making decisions about doing a residency or getting care at a hospital these QUALITIES are what really count.

 

[HCE]

I want to make it clear that my comments (which I asked to be deleted) are not to harm anyone but just my reaction to the subject of the post and the past. To me these things including the info in the OP happened in the past(not recent). I commend Swanny for his classy response (Other PDs can learn from him). After talking with my colleagues and thinking things over, I think problems happen in ALL programs and what's important is how people and programs respond and become STRONGER and BETTER. What I have learned since first commenting is how much AGH psychiatry is striving and succeeding in that direction. And when it comes to making decisions about doing a residency or getting care at a hospital these QUALITIES are what really count.

Sassy, I hope you keep posting...you're intelligent, passionate and write very well.

 

[Psychintern2006]

Was this Gentle man a Psych supervisor also ? Kind of goofy. The responses would have been harsher had the anonymity been kept here. Confrontation ? Is it true that this Program has a non MD as Chief of Psychiatry ?

 

[HCE]

Was this Gentle man a Psych supervisor also ? Kind of goofy. The responses would have been harsher had the anonymity been kept here. Confrontation ? Is it true that this Program has a non MD as Chief of Psychiatry ?

See Swanny's response above, #1.

 

[goingbroke]

I think that swanny answered most of those questions in a previous post. Most faculty, including psychologists, of a program serve as a supervisor in some way either reviewing cases, helping with therapy skills or teaching. As I understand there is no Chief of Psychiatry but a chairman who at this program is serving an interim position and is a Board-Certified Psychiatrist (MD). While I think that the events were unfortunate, these things happen. I know of atleast a couple programs where faculty has been fired for inappropriate behavior. A lot of times they don't get reported to Boards or the news. These types of things really don't affect one's training or the stability of a program. Most programs have turnover and changes each year due to a variety of factors; remember residencies have to go through changes every year when new residents come on and old ones leave. I think it speaks to the strength of the program to take the steps to make sure the right things are done like in this case. I hear good things about this program especially their PD. I know one resident from the program and they have told me everything is going great. I actually think a lot more highly of the program after reading these posts. Any anger or outrage related to the matter should be directed to the faculty member not the program or current faculty.

 

[allpsychedup]

I want to thank all that have added to my information about this program. I have recived all positive information about the program. I really liked that the PD was able to clarify where things are with his program and show how good things really are. I got very supportive messages from him and his wonderful chief resident. The thing I didn't like about the program was the location (not a big cold weather fan) but when I was there everyone was so nice and seemed so professional. The hospital was nice and the clinic seemed upscale. With all of this info I would feel really comfortable ranking this great program.