Psychiatric Help Anyone?

From the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bal-md.hs.doctor19nov19,0,3070237.story

Suspended Towson psychiatrist undergoes hearing

Outcome unclear in case of alleged improper conduct with boys

 

By Meredith Cohn and James Drew

Baltimore Sun reporters

November 19, 2009

 

The Towson psychiatrist whose license was suspended early this month after he was accused of improper conduct with boys he was treating faced the state board that oversees doctors Wednesday in a hearing.

 

The closed-door hearing was a chance for Miguel Frontera to provide information to the Maryland Board of Physicians, which will decide whether to permanently revoke or reinstate his license. Frontera arrived with his lawyer, Natalie Magdeburger, who declined to comment.

 

The outcome of the hearing was unclear, though Frontera has the right to request another hearing. He has not been charged criminally, but for now cannot see patients.

 

The board began investigating Frontera in April after the Baltimore County police turned over two reports from 2006 and 2009 of alleged abuse that occurred years earlier, according to the board’s suspension order.

 

Jason League, chief of the child abuse-sex offense division of the county state’s attorney’s office, said the boys told police investigators that Frontera touched their genitals during physical exams.

 

“The difficulty for us lied in proving any kind of sexual gratification,” he said. “We did not believe we could prove criminal intent.”

 

Still, League said the reports were sent to the physicians board because it didn’t seem that Frontera was “conducting himself in a way that a psychiatrist should.”

 

The board investigated the two cases and three more with similar facts. The boys, mostly between 10 and 12 at the time, were primarily being evaluated for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the order says.

 

The board referred the cases to a psychiatrist, who called Frontera’s conduct in the practice of medicine “unprofessional” and immoral,” according to the order. The board also referred the cases to the Maryland Psychiatric Society, which reviewed the cases along with five others and found Frontera “failed to meet appropriate standards for the delivery of quality medical care.”

 

The situation has one advocate for abused children warning parents and caretakers to get help if they suspect abuse. They should call the police, child protective services or a center that deals with such cases, said Adam Rosenberg, executive director of the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, which helps families deal with abuse.