Category: News for Colorado

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News for Colorado You be the Judge...

Wheat Ridge Psychiatrist’s License Put on 5-Year Probation Following Arrest For Driving Under the Influence of Drugs

Wheat Ridge psychiatrist Andrew W. Teaford’s license to practice was put on probation for five years after the Colorado Medical Board found he “has habitually or excessively used or abused alcohol, a habit-forming drug, or a controlled substance.”

The action was taken in response to Teaford pleading guilty in September 2017 to the criminal charge of driving under the influence of drugs.  He was sentenced in Denver County Court in February to 30 days of in-home detention, one year of supervised probation, education and therapy, monitored sobriety, and community service.

After reporting his guilty plea to the Medical Board in September, Teaford was evaluated by the Colorado Physician Health Program (CPHP), which reported he was to undergo inpatient assessment and treatment for substance abuse.  He signed an agreement at the time to stop practicing as a physician pending further evaluation and investigation by the Medical Board.

After he completed the treatment program in February and arranged for continuing drug testing, therapy and other recovery meetings, CPHP reported to the Medical Board that Teaford was safe to practice “only in the context of treatment and monitoring.”

The Medical Board’s Stipulation and Final Agency Order, effective June 15, requires Teaford to abstain from addictive substances and receive treatment and drug testing for five years as required and monitored by CPHP, while his license remains on restricted status for five years.

If you believe a psychiatrist or other mental health worker is not safe to practice, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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Suspect In Deadly Westminster Road-Rage Shooting Started Taking Psychiatric Drug Earlier That Day

The man charged in the June 14 shooting in a Westminster parking lot that killed one boy and wounded three other people in an apparent road rage incident told police he had started taking a prescribed psychiatric drug the day of the incident.

Jeremy John Webster, 23, allegedly shot a 13-year-old boy to death, critically injured the boy’s mother and 8-year-old brother, and wounded an unrelated man in a nearby pickup truck.

A third son in the family, who was able to run away, told police that after his mother and Webster had an argument at a nearby intersection, Webster followed the family’s vehicle into a parking lot, where the shooting occurred.

Westminster police say Webster did not know any of the victims.  Before this incident, Webster had never been charged with a crime in Colorado.

The Denver Channel reports that a search warrant affidavit in the case says Webster told police he “has mental health issues and just started a new prescribed medication.”

It is not known whether Webster may also have been on other psychiatric drugs.

If the criminal allegations and the report of Webster’s psychiatric drug use are true, the shooting would become the latest in a long line of acts of extreme violence linked to psychiatric drugs.

Psychiatric drugs have well-known side effects of aggression, violence and even homicidal thoughts.

Psychiatric drugs were found disproportionately linked to acts of violence in a 2010 analysis of prescription drug side-effects data from the Food and Drug Administration’s adverse event reporting system.

There are at least 28 warnings from international drug regulatory agencies and numerous research studies concerning the violence-related effects of psychiatric drugs.

WARNING: Anyone wishing to discontinue or to change the dose of a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous, even life-threatening mental and physical withdrawal symptoms.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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News for Colorado You be the Judge...

Thornton Psychiatrist’s License Put On Probation For Substandard Prescribing and Treatment Via Telehealth

The license of Thornton psychiatrist Khaja Najibuddin Chisty was placed on probation for five years in April after the Colorado Medical Board determined he had engaged in unprofessional conduct under Colorado law.

The Board found that while Chisty was out of the country for two extended periods, his patients were not notified that their appointments with him would be done by remote telehealth, and they did not consent in advance to this form of treatment.   Some patients were unable to reach his office for treatment at all during his absence.

While out of the country, Chisty also provided some patients with prescriptions for controlled substances after minimal consultation and without performing full physical examinations or face-to-face evaluation of the patients.

On April 26, 2018, the Medical Board issued its Stipulation and Final Agency Order in the matter.  The Order replaces an earlier interim agreement for Chisty to cease practicing, dating from December 2016.

By entering into the Stipulation and Final Agency Order, Chisty admitted the Board’s findings.

Under terms laid out in the agreement, Chisty is ordered not to use telehealth, not to prescribe controlled substances, to allow his practice to be monitored, to complete a prescribing course, and to undergo treatment as determined by the Colorado Physician Health Program.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by treatment from a psychiatrist or other mental health worker, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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Planned Parenthood Shooter’s Complaint Of “Chemical Lobotomy” At State Psychiatric Institute Has A Basis In Fact

Admitted Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. has complained during his court appearances about the “chemical lobotomy” he is receiving from the antipsychotic drugs being forcibly administered to him at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIP).

Harvard-trained psychiatrist Peter Breggin, M.D., shares this view of antipsychotic drugs.

Breggin, who has testified as an expert witness in court cases about the dangerous side effects of mind-altering psychotropic drugs, writes in his article, “Making Americans into Zombies”:

“The antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal, Zyprexa, Abilify, Geodon and Seroquel have their clinical impact by causing severe impairment of the frontal lobes [of the brain] – the highest mental centers.  They cause actual chemical lobotomies.”

The frontal lobe is the part of the brain used to control important cognitive functions, such as emotions, judgment, problem solving, memory, and language.   By impairing these mental functions, antipsychotic drugs can cause a person to become zombie-like – a chemically induced state similar to the result of a surgical lobotomy, in which nerves are cut in the frontal lobes, causing irreversible brain damage, as psychiatric “treatment.”

Dear has admitted to the November 2015 shooting rampage that left three people dead and nine wounded at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.  But a judge ruled Dear was incompetent to proceed to trial and committed him to CMHIP to be restored to competency.

Based on the testimony of a CMHIP psychiatrist that drugging Dear with antipsychotic drugs was likely to improve the prospects for his return to competency, a judge approved the forced administration of three antipsychotic drugs: Zyprexa, Abilify and Haldol.  The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld that ruling on January 5.

In the world of drug-pushing psychiatry, severely impairing important cognitive functions of the brain with antipsychotic drugs is viewed as a means to making someone more rational.

Psychiatrist Breggin says :  “Antipsychotics are just lobotomizing drugs.”

WARNING:  Anyone wishing to discontinue or to change the dose of a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous, even life-threatening mental and physical withdrawal symptoms.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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GAO Reviewing VA’s Psychiatric Drug Practices At Congressman Coffman’s Request

Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman’s continuing concern about the overuse of psychiatric drugs in treating combat veterans has resulted in the Government Accountability Office agreeing to investigate the matter.

In a letter sent to the GAO, Coffman and New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster requested a review of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental health standards for treating veterans suffering from combat-related conditions, expressing concern that the VA’s heavy reliance on powerful psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs could be contributing to veteran suicides.

On September 27, the GAO agreed to do so and expects to complete the investigation in six months.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has long advocated a full investigation of the link between veterans’ suicides and psychotropic drugs.

An average of 20 veterans commit suicide every day in the U.S., according to the VA.  This follows years of the increasing use of psychiatric drugs as mental health treatment for veterans and members of the military.

In the years 2005-2011, military prescriptions for psychiatric drugs increased more than 30 times faster than the civilian rate, despite nearly 50 warnings from international drug-regulatory agencies that psychotropic drugs can cause suicidal thoughts and actions.

In a statement released by his office, Coffman, a Marine Corps combat veteran himself, said: “This decision is a victory for combat veterans everywhere who are suffering from PTSD and who have been prescribed a cocktail of very powerful drugs to mask their symptoms in lieu of other forms of interactive therapy that work to bring down the stress levels of PTSD to a point where they are no longer debilitating.”

Warning:  Anyone wanting to discontinue psychiatric drugs is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

If you or a veteran or other member of the military you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs or other mental-health treatment, we want to talk to you.  You can contact us privately by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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UPDATE: Colorado Springs Teen Accused Of Stabbing Young Siblings Had Been On Antidepressants

Malik J. Murphy, the 19-year-old charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of his 5-year-old sister and 7-year-old brother and with the attempted murder of his father in their Colorado Springs home on Tuesday, has a history of taking antidepressants.

Murphy was already taking antidepressants in March, when he was arrested in Effingham, Illinois, for setting fire to his parents’ SUV.  His parents told police at the time that the teen had been on antidepressants. 

The Effingham county state’s attorney involved in that case said an Illinois judge ordered psychiatric treatment and ordered the teen to take all the psychiatric drugs prescribed to him.

Murphy reportedly then had several months of intensive treatment.  It is not known what psychiatric drugs he was prescribed during that treatment, but he apparently would have had to take them all under the court order.

More recently, Murphy’s great-aunt indicated he was still on court-ordered drugs.

Antidepressants can cause worsening depression, anxiety, panic attacks, aggression, psychosis, mania, violence, suicidal thoughts and actions, and homicidal thoughts and actions.

Murphy told police he had homicidal thoughts and wanted to kill his family, according to his arrest affidavit in this latest case.

He also had suicidal thoughts, according to a family friend who said he grew up with Murphy.

Long-term antidepressant users say they can no longer feel normal emotions – they are deadened like zombies.  Users describe it as a feeling-less state of apathy and disconnection.

Murphy told a KUSA reporter, “It’s like it wasn’t me.”

This tragic incident, if true as alleged, joins a long list of “inexplicable” acts of unspeakable violence committed by adults and children taking antidepressants.

Only by fully investigating mind-altering psychiatric drugs’ known links to violence and homicide can we hope to prevent such tragic bloodshed in the future.

Warning: Anyone wishing to discontinue a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous and even life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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Colorado Springs Teen With History of Psychiatric Drugs Arrested For Fatal Stabbings of Young Siblings

A Colorado Springs teen, Malik Vincent Murphy, arrested yesterday morning for the fatal stabbings of his 5-year-old sister and 7-year-old brother and the nonfatal stabbing of his father reportedly has a history of psychiatric drugs.

Psychiatric drugs have known links to violence.  There are 28 warnings from international drug regulatory agencies concerning violence-related side effects of psychiatric drugs.

Psychiatric drugs were found disproportionately linked to acts of violence in a 2010 analysis of prescription drug side-effects data from the Food and Drug Administration’s adverse event reporting system.

Murphy’s history of psychiatric drug treatment dates at least as far back as earlier this year, according to published accounts.

Murphy was arrested for setting his family’s SUV on fire in March.  A judge ordered psychiatric treatment and ordered the teen to take all prescribed psychiatric drugs, according to the county state attorney involved in the case.

More recently, Murphy’s great-aunt has said he was on court-ordered drugs.

Murphy told police that he had homicidal thoughts and wanted to kill his family, according to his arrest affidavit.  A family friend who said he grew up with Murphy claimed that the young man had suicidal thoughts.

Suicidal and homicidal thoughts are known adverse effects of some psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants.

It is not yet known what psychiatric drugs Murphy was prescribed, or when or how he took them.

However, the incident, if true as alleged, joins a long list of “inexplicable” acts of unspeakable violence committed by adults and children taking psychiatric drugs.

Only by fully investigating mind-altering psychiatric drugs’ known links to violence and homicide can we hope to prevent such tragic bloodshed in the future.

Warning: Anyone wishing to discontinue a psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous and even life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.

If you or someone you know has been harmed by psychiatric drugs, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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News for Colorado You be the Judge...

Boulder Psychiatrist Accused Of Overdrugging Female Inmates Loses License

A Boulder psychiatrist accused of overdrugging female inmates at the correctional facility where he worked – in some cases causing them to become delirious – has permanently surrendered his license to practice, under an agreement reached with the Colorado Medical Board.

According to Board documents, Charles F. Clark started patients on multiple psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs simultaneously, prescribed initial dosages in excess of the recommended starting dosages, and rapidly increased the dosages of multiple drugs simultaneously.  He reportedly ignored potentially dangerous drug interactions and reports from staff at the facility that inmates were experiencing adverse side effects and were even delirious.

Clark allegedly also prescribed psychotropic drugs that were not justified and were sometimes contraindicated by information documented in the inmates’ medical records, as well as restarted inmates on psychotropic drugs that had been stopped by other providers.

Such actions constitute unprofessional conduct as defined in the Colorado Medical Practice Act.

The Medical Board received a complaint concerning Clark’s actions in 2016.  Clark denied the allegations, but agreed in December to cease practicing while the Board investigated further.

Then in a Board order dated July 20, Clark waived his right to a formal hearing and agreed to permanently surrender his license to practice in the state of Colorado.

If you or someone you know has been overdrugged or otherwise harmed by treatment from a psychiatrist or other mental health worker, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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News for Colorado You be the Judge...

Denver Psychiatrist’s License Revoked For Practicing and Prescribing With Expired License

A Denver psychiatrist who continued to practice after his license expired in 2015 and then failed to respond to an official complaint against him violated the Colorado Medical Practice Act and has been disciplined with the loss of his license.

The Colorado Medical Board received a complaint that Gordon L. Neligh III violated state law by practicing psychiatry and prescribing Ritalin, a controlled substance, without a valid license, according to documents recently posted online by the Department of Regulatory Agencies.

The Board turned the matter over to an administrative law judge who, under Colorado law, can take evidence and make findings for the Board.

Neligh was notified of the legal proceedings, but failed to respond to the complaint and failed to appear at the proceedings.  By default, he is deemed to have admitted the allegations.

The administrative law judge found that Neligh engaged in unprofessional conduct by practicing with an expired license and by failing to respond in an honest, materially responsive, and timely manner to the complaint against him.

The judge recommended that Neligh’s license be revoked.  The Medical Board adopted the decision, effective June 15.

Online records indicate Neligh was in private practice with offices in Denver and Westminster.

If you or someone you know has experienced unprofessional conduct from a psychiatrist or other mental health worker, we want to talk with you.  You can contact us by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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Remember What Unleashed The Hatred Of The Aurora Theater Shooter

On the occasion of today’s 5-year remembrance of the July 20, 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others, remember the chilling words of the shooter which foreshadowed the massacre: “Hatred unchecked,” “no fear of consequences.”

Then consider the events that led up to shooter James Holmes writing these ominous words in a personal notebook.

Holmes, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, contacted the campus mental health center for help with his obsessive thoughts of killing people and his anxiety in social situations.

The psychiatrist who met with him immediately prescribed psychiatric drugs linked to aggression, violence and homicide, including the SSRI antidepressant Zoloft.

Within weeks, Holmes had written an alarming series of statements in the notebook where he recorded his thoughts during his psychiatric treatment:  “First appearance of mania occurs, not good mania.  Anxiety and fear disappears.  No more fear….  No fear of consequences…  No more fear, hatred unchecked.”

Peter Breggin, M.D., a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who has been involved as an expert with a number of cases of mass murder, has written that “exposing Holmes to Zoloft was like pouring gasoline on a fire.”

Breggin says Holmes was on Zoloft for about 94 days before abruptly stopping around June 30, just 20 days before his deadly rampage.

“An abrupt withdrawal might have worsened his condition, but the main contributing factor to the violence was his lengthy exposure to a drug that worsened his condition and drove him into psychosis,” he writes.  “He had a manic-like psychosis while taking the Zoloft and this would not have abated for some time after stopping the medication.”

Breggin’s conclusion: “I have no doubt that Zoloft contributed to Holmes’ escalating violence and that without it he probably would not have committed mass murder.”

At least 34 research studies and 26 warnings issued by international drug regulatory authorities have warned about the dangers of SSRI antidepressants like Zoloft.

Zoloft is also on the list of the prescription drugs most associated with the incidents of violence that have been reported to the FDA, according to a 2010 study in the Public Library of Science ONE.

Only by fully investigating psychiatric drugs’ known links to violence and homicide can we hope to prevent such tragic bloodshed in the future.

Warning: Anyone wishing to discontinue an antidepressant or any other psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a competent medical doctor because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

If you or someone you know has become violent from taking an SSRI antidepressant or any other psychiatric drug, please report it to the FDA by clicking here.  And we want to talk to you about your experience.  You can contact us privately by clicking here or by calling 303-789-5225.  All information will be kept in the strictest confidence.

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