Christian Hageseth
From Enpsychopedia
Christian Ellis Hageseth III (1941 - ) psychiatrist who promoted himself as "The Compassionate Shock Doc" and known as "Fort Collins’[CO] own Patch Adams." He resides in Colorado.
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Education
Hageseth obtained a B.A. in Chemistry (1963) from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL); B.S. in Medicine (1965) from University of North Dakota; M.D. (1967) University of Rochester. Following his internship in pediatrics (1967 - 1968) at Ohio State University, he served as a flight surgeon at the United States Navy Aerospace Medical Institute, Pensacola, FL during the Viet Nam war though was never deployed to Viet Nam. After military service and several years in general practice, he completed his psychiatric residency (1975-1978) at the Camarillo State Hospital in Southern California.
In 1983, Dr.Hageseth began providing "Humor and Health" workshops. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, he traveled around the country giving these workshops while maintaining a full psychiatric practice caseload. His audiences included such organizations as the Fox Chase Cancer Research Center in Philadelphia, the Mayo Clinic, the Commanding General’s Staff at Camp Pendleton and an inner city church in Washington, D.C. He wrote and published his first book entitled A Laughing Place, the Art and Psychology of Positive Humor in Love and Adversity. Subsequently he wrote a second book which won a Benjamin Franklin Award at the 1992 American Bookseller’s Association entitled: A Thirteen Moon Journal, A Psychiatrist’s Journey Towards Inner Peace.
The Compassionate Shock Doc
In the mid-nineties, Dr. Hageseth began to provide electro-convulsive therapy for depressed patients. Stating that he was not satisfied with how ECT was usually provided, he produced a video program entitled, Beyond Stigma, the Compassionate Application of Electro Convulsive Therapy. The program was well received at the World Psychiatry Meetings in Madrid, Spain as well as at psychiatric and psychology meetings in the United States.
Psychiatry Ends a Marriage
In 1998, Paul Burson sued Hageseth for contributing to the end of his marriage. Reportedly, Burson's wife was being treated by Hageseth and the two formed a friendship and later a sexual relationship. Laurel filed for divorce and later married Hageseth.
Man Sues Psychiatrist For Breaking Up Marriage
By Steve Porter
The Coloradoan
A Fort Collins psychiatrist is being sued in Larimer District Court for contributing to the end of a marriage by establishing a friendship with a patient that grew into a sexual relationship.
Christian Hageseth III is being sued by Paul Burson for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and outrageous conduct. The lawsuit, which is being heard by a six-person jury, does not ask for specific damages.
Burson claims Hageseth's treatment of his wife, Laurel, eventually resulted in Hageseth and Laurel Burson forming a sexual relationship and Laurel Burson filing for divorce.
The parties in the lawsuit disagree over several significant points, including when Laurel Burson's therapy with Hageseth ended and when the sexual relationship began.
Hageseth, in one court document, claimed the therapy ended in July 1995. But another document indicates he treated Laurel Burson from 1988 and "into July 1996."
Hageseth admitted in a pretrial deposition that he first had sex with Laurel Burson in June 1996.
Colorado state law, adopted in 1993, forbids medical providers from having a sexual relationship with a patient until six months after the end of treatment. Violating the law is a felony.
Also in dispute is whether Paul Burson should be considered a patient of Hageseth and thereby deserving of protection from harm resulting from a therapist's actions.
Burson claims to have been a Hageseth client, visiting his office numerous times over a period of several years primarily in conjunction with his wife's treatment.
But Hageseth claims Paul Burson was never a client, that he was never treated as a patient and was never personally billed for his services. Dr. Jon Bell, director of the anxiety and depression clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, testified Monday as an expert witness for Burson. He said he believed Paul Burson was Hageseth's client. Bell said Hageseth's actions should have been foreseen as detrimental to the Bursons as co-clients.
"Dr. Hageseth was aware of Mr. Burson's desire to continue his relationship, and Dr. Hageseth forming a relationship with Miss Burson made it foreseeable that an injury was likely to Mr. Burson," Bell said. 'if the therapist acted as a marriage counselor, both patients, husband and wife, were unquestionably patients of that therapist."
A four-man, two-woman jury received the case late Monday and will return today to resume deliberations.
Although the different parties in the case disagreed on the timeline of when the therapy ended and when Laurel and Hageseth's relationship began, the jury was nevertheless convinced that Hageseth's conduct was unethical; the jury ordered Hageseth to pay more than $200,000 in damages.
Jury Finds Pychiatrist Ruined Marriage
By Steve Porter
The Coloradoan
A Larimer District Court jury decided Tuesday that a Fort Collins psychiatrist must pay $217,373 for damages associated with the breakup of the client's marriage.
Dr. Christian Hageseth III was sued by Paul Burson, who claimed Hageseth counseled his wife, Laurel, to leave him and that Hageseth developed a sexual relationship with his wife.
A four-man, two-woman jury deliberated about seven hours before bringing in a decision in favor of Paul Burson.
The jury awarded Burson $117,373 in real damages and another $100,000 in punitive damages. The jury decided Burson - who attended several sessions with his wife - was a patient of Hageseth and that the psychiatrist engaged in negligent and outrageous conduct toward Paul Burson.
Hageseth said after the jury's verdict that he was sorry for the situation.
"I respect the legal process and the jury who heard my case," he said. "I apologize to those members of the community who have held me in high esteem. Matters of the human heart are not always subject to our highest values."
Hageseth said he plans to appeal.
"As to legal matters, my attorney plans appeals since it is his opinion of the law that this case should never have come to court," he said.
Laurel Burson said after the verdict she plans to continue her relationship with Hageseth.
"A goal of therapy is to become whole and well," she said. "My therapy with Dr. Hageseth ended July 21, 1995. We did not become intimate until almost one year later. He has always been a perfect gentleman and a warm, humorous companion."
Burson said she disagreed "immensely" with the trial verdict.
"Shouldn't any woman have the right to choose who to love and who to spend her life with, even if at one time he was her healer?" she said.
Paul Burson was not available for comment after the verdict.
Laurel Burson began her therapy with Hageseth in 1988, court documents indicate. Laurel Burson said divorce proceedings in her six-year marriage to Paul Burson are expected to become final in May.
American Psychiatric Association Expels Hageseth
After the verdict, the American Psychiatric Association expelled Hageseth on charges of unethical conduct.
Psychiatric Group Expels Local Doctor
by Sonja Bisbee Wulff
Dec. 30, 1998
The American Psychiatric Association on Tuesday announced the expulsion of long-time Fort Collins psychiatrist Dr. Christian Hageseth III.
As local medical leaders rallied in his defense, the national voluntary organization charged Hageseth with "unethical conduct involving a sexual and romantic relationship with a patient."
Despite the national ruling, Hageseth's local peers say he followed state guidelines before getting involved with - and last month, marrying - former patient Laurel Burson.
These guidelines, aimed at protecting patients in vulnerable states, say psychiatrists must end a patient relationship and wait six months before entering a romantic relationship with that patient.
Though Burson's then-husband maintains Hageseth broke up their marriage, the psychiatrist said he ended his patient relationship with Burson as soon as he realized he had feelings for her. The two "waited nearly a year before becoming intimate," he said.
That was 2 years ago.
Now, though the APA ruling does not affect Hageseth's Colorado medical license, his local peers fear action pending from the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners.
Such action would be a "blow," "a catastrophe," and "appalling" to a community already short on psychiatrists, they said.
Stan Anthony, acting administrator for the state agency, said he couldn't comment on the situation, other than to say "there have been no disciplinary actions taken."
"Hageseth's Colorado medical license is active as of today," Anthony said.
The Fort Collins Individual Practice Association, which represents a majority of local physicians, looked into the issue earlier this year when Hageseth came up for routine re-credentialing.
"He met the spirit and letter of the Colorado Medical Society guidelines," said IPA president Dr. Jim Bush.
The IPA's credentialing committee and board of directors voted to re-credential Hageseth and wrote a letter on his behalf to the state medical examiners board.
"I would do anything to protect the patients," Bush said, "but I really don't see a danger."
Medical License Revoked - Crisis for Fort Collins
Another lawsuit was filed against Dr. Hageseth in June of 1999, and in December of that year, perhaps in reaction to this second suit, the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners finally took Hageseth's Colorado medical license away.
Fort Collins psychiatrist loses license
Dec. 1, 1999
By Sonja Bisbee Wulff
The Coloradoan
Dr Christian Hageseth III has closed his longtime practice under order from the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners.
For more than a year, the state regulatory board has been investigating a formal complaint filed by the ex-husband of former patient Laurel Burson, who is now Hageseth’s wife.
Last week, the board permanently revoked his medical license, effective immediately.
“They’ve taken away my ability to care for people,” said Hageseth, who’s practiced in Fort Collins for 21 years. “It’s immensely painful.”
Paul Burson, who won a civil suit against Hageseth in Larimer District Court, Claims the psychiatrist counseled his wife to leave him and then developed a sexual relationship with her. [...]
Hageseth married Laurel Burson on Oct. 30, 1998, and continued his local practice - until last week when he lost his license. Hageseth said he feels “bad that people got hurt,” but he called the board’s decision “irregular and highly unfair.”
“I have had four experts evaluate me,” he said. “All four say I’m safe to practice, and there’s no danger.”
Hageseth said he’s seen other psychiatrists get romantically involved with patients yet receive only a slap on the wrist from the medical board.
Hageseth, who’s already spent $50,000 in legal fees plans to plead his case to Gov. Bill Owens.
“All I did was love this sweet woman,” he said.
Another news item gives more details:
Loss another crisis for those who need help
By Sonja Bisbee Wulff
The Coloradoan
The Fort Collins mental health community is reeling from the abrupt loss of psychiatrist Dr. Christian Hageseth.
In a community already short on psychiatrists, Hageseth has maintained a full practice, including a large number of indigent patients, for the past 21 years. Recently he has handled almost a third of patients hospitalized at Mountain Crest.
But now when these patients call his office, they get a recording directing them to the Yellow Pages.
The Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, has revoked Hageseth’s license, his patients are learning this week through the mail.
“We felt it immediately,” said Dr. John Nagel, medical director at Mountain Crest, who has been deluged with calls from panicked Hageseth patients, some in urgent need of medication.
Nagel criticized the state medical board for not giving Hageseth the two or three months needed to transition psychiatric patients smoothly to new physicians.
“It puts a lot of people and a lot of lives at risk,” he said.
The most vulnerable patients are those among the low-income population, said Joan Cmar, a therapist with Poudre Health Services District’s Mental Health Connections.
With the shortage of local psychiatrists, people with health insurance have trouble accessing care, said Cmar, who’s also received numerous calls from Hageseth’s patients. For people who can’t pay, it’s next to impossible, she said.
“(Hageseth) connected to the indigent population more readily than any other psychiatrist in town, Cmar said. “It’s going to be a huge loss for the community.”
The other major concern is for psychiatric patients who require hospitalization.
Only four psychiatrists - including Dr. Cliff Zeller, who was recruited this fall - remain on staff at Mountain Crest.
“We have been in something of a scramble to cover all the bases,” Nagel said.
The result will be more instability, Cmar said.
Untreated mental illness can lead to family difficulties, unemployment, violence, suicide and a host of other problems, she said.
Mountain Crest is actively recruiting psychiatrists, with a couple of possibilities in the works. However, since the candidates are not from Colorado, they would have to go through a lengthy licensing process.
“It’s probably months off,” Nagel said.
Hageseth loses second lawsuit
Former Psychiatrist Loses Another Lawsuit
by Jenn Farrell
The Coloradoan
July 7, 2000
Former Fort Collins psychiatrist Christian Hageseth III, who lost his license to practice medicine in December, last week lost a negligence suit brought by a patient.
A local jury ruled June 27 that Ray Smith suffered $146,548.10 in damages while under Hageseth's care, including past and future medical bills and noneconomic loss for pain and suffering.
But the six-member jury also found that Smith was 5 percent responsible for those damages, bringing the amount owed by his former psychiatrist down to $139,220.69.
Smith was Hageseth's patient from October 1996 to July 1997. The lawsuit, filed in June 1999, claimed that while he was Hageseth's patient he experienced symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. He also had a history of depression.
Hageseth prescribed medications that Smith claimed exacerbated his disturbances.
Smith's claim was based on Hageseth's behavior from June to July 1997. Hageseth became unavailable to his patients in June, Smith said, and in early July terminated his treatment.
Smith said Hageseth knew he was ill and that the abandonment was unprofessional.
Smith declined comment about the jury's decision.
When contacted by the Coloradoan on Thursday for comment, Hageseth said "I just wish you'd let it alone."
He said four psychiatrists testified in his favor during the trial.
"I've done so much for this community for so many years," he said.
Hageseth treated patients in Fort Collins for 21 years before the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners forced him to close his practice. [...]
It should be noted that the above lawsuit was filed against Hageseth over actions he took during the first year of his relationship with Laurel Burson and he was undoubtedly under great stress. It is surprising that this is not mentioned as a possible causative factor.
Court Reinstates Hageseth's License
In 2001, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the Board of Medical Examiners decision and gave Hageseth his license back, though on stipulation. According to the public information officer for the Department of Local Affairs, Chris Lines, Hageseth's license allowed him to work on research-type clinical trials. It did not allow him to prescribe medication. From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
2-17-2001
It took more than a year, but earlier this month, the state Court of Appeals reversed a 1999 Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners decision and reinstated Hageseth's medical license.
In its reversal, the Court of Appeals found that the evidence did not support the board's decision. The board failed to specify or identify a statute Hageseth had violated or to explain how it concluded he was not safe to practice medicine.
"There is no basis in this record for the board's conclusion," the court's ruling states.
The board could still appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, but the couple said that is unlikely.
Also the Fort Collins IPA, or Independent Practitioners Association, the administrative group to which Hageseth belonged, conducted its own investigation and decided Hageseth could continue to practice, said Dr. Jim Bush, president of the Fort Collins IPA.
However, the judge concluded Hageseth had failed to meet generally accepted standards of medical treatment of Laurel.
The judge ruled he had improperly engaged in a sexual act with Laurel within six months of the termination of his professional relationship with her.
The judge recommended that the medical board place Hageseth on indefinite probation and allow him to continue to practiceprovided he continue to receive treatment for depression. While on probation, other doctors would be allowed to monitor and evaluate his practice.
Despite the judge's recommendations, the medical board revoked Hageseth's license.
A New Job, A Deadly Disaster
For two and a half years Hageseth worked at the Feiger Health Research Center where he served as a clinical investigator in phase II and Phase III clinical trials. Apparently the research position did not work out and Hageseth began working for an online pharmacy, prescribing medications.
In June 2005, Hageseth reportedly approved a 90-capusle prescription of flouxetine, a generic form of Prozac, to a student at Stanford University in California.
On June 11, 2005, after finishing his freshman year at Stanford, where his father is a structural biology professor, McKay logged onto JRB Health Solutions' www.USAnetRX.com, which does not require actual prescriptions from pharmacists, to order the fluoxetine with a credit card. He filled out a questionnaire and stated that his reason for ordering the pharmaceutical was “treatment for the symptoms of adult attentions deficit disorder in relation to depression.” His symptoms were “moderate depression and major attention deficit.”
Hageseth, a JRB subcontractor, authorized the prescription in about three hours and 20 minutes, and the prescription was then received by the Gruich Pharmacy Shoppe in Biloxi, Miss.
The fluoxetine arrived at McKay's Menlo Park, Calif., home on June 16. (Fort Collins psychiatrist embroiled in ground-breaking criminal case)
On Aug. 2, 2005, 19-year-old John McKay was dead. He was discovered sitting in a car inside the family garage. The car was running, a garden hose that had been connected to the exhaust pipe was strung into the driver's side window, socks had been stuffed inside the exhaust pipe around the hose and along the cracked opening of the window.
Toxicology tests showed alcohol, acetaminophen and fluoxetine in McKay's system.
His parents told the press that their son's suicide by carbon monoxide was completely surprising.
“I think John would still be alive if he hadn't been able to get those pills,” David McKay, John's father, told the San Jose Mercury News. “He didn't realize the risks. They didn't inform him of the risks. I'd like to see these people held responsible.”
The McKays filed suit with San Francisco Federal Court against JRB, Hageseth and the Gruich Pharmacy on charges of wrongful death and negligence. This was likely one of the first lawsuits of its kind.
"The problem is unscrupulous, professionally negligent Internet physicians who blindly approve prescriptions for patients they know nothing about, with no regard for the risks or consequences, just to make some quick and easy money," John McKay recently wrote to The Stanford Daily. (Source)
However, according to court documents, this was not the first time that McKay, a national debate team champion, had tried to commit suicide. He also had a history of abusing alcohol, online gambling and cutting himself. He had even diagnosed himself with depression, ADHA and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Mid-2006, a summary judgment from the civil trial stated that “plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that fluoxetine was a cause of John's suicide.”
Hageseth Admits Violating the Court's Ruling
As it happened, in June 2005, when McKay ordered his prescription, Hageseth was in violation of the Colorado state's court ruling. On August 12, 2005, ten days after John McKay committed suicide, Christian Hageseth signed documents with the Colorado licensing board stating that he admitted he prescribed medications via the Internet in violation of the restrictions on his medical license. Additionally, the Medical Board of California started an investigation into the incident, finding that Hageseth was practicing without a California license while treating a California resident, and the board turned the case over to the San Mateo District Attorney's Office in April 2006. The DA filed criminal charges in May of 2006.
When quoted in the media after the young man died, Hegeseth explained that the internet pharmacy was the “last possible thing” he could do in medicine and that he was now poor and unemployed.
Critics of Hageseth point out that it is difficult to determine whether he thought he wouldn’t get caught, or whether he misunderstood the terms of his restricted medical license, or thought that prescribing on the Internet wasn't the same as prescribing to a patient in person, or in some other way justified his actions in his own mind, the bottom line is that writing prescriptions for psychoactive drugs to individuals that have not been examined and cannot be followed closely, is unethical.
A legal tug of war began, with California issuing an arrest warrant, whilet Hageseth fought extradition.
In October of 2007, he was stopped for speeding in Sidney, Nebraska. The police officer checked the computer and saw the California arrest warrant so Hageseth was taken to the Cheyenne County (Nebraska) jail. He was extradited to California after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a special request from prosecutors.
Hageseth Goes to Jail
Fugitive doctor jailed
By Michelle Durand
The Daily Journal, San Mateo County, California
Nov. 26, 2007
The Colorado doctor facing prosecution for filling a Stanford student’s online Prozac prescription prior to the teen committing suicide is back in San Mateo County after failing to fight extradition from Nebraska where he was recently arrested on a traffic charge.
Dr. Christian Ellis Hageseth III, 66, will appear in court Nov. 30 to enter a plea and hear a defense motion to reduce his $500,000 bail.
Hageseth had been in custody in Cheyenne County, Neb. while awaiting extradition back to California on a $500,000 arrest warrant. Hageseth’s defense attorney Carl Briggs hoped his client could avoid extradition as he had on an earlier warrant seeking his transport from Colorado. However, Hageseth lost his legal battle last week and is now in the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City awaiting prosecution on one count of practicing medicine without a license.
In June 2005, John McKay, a freshman at Stanford University and former student at Menlo-Atherton High School, purchased 90 capsules of generic Prozac via credit card at the online pharmacy site USAnewRX.com which was then shipped from the Mississippi-based Gruich Pharmacy Shoppe.
Online sites like the one used by McKay do not require a physical examination prior to receiving a prescription. Instead, the buyer fills out an online questionnaire which a doctor is supposed to review before signing off on the drugs. Hageseth signed off on the prescription of fluoxetine without a consultation. On Aug. 2, 2005, McKay committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, reportedly with alcohol and fluoxetine in his system.
At the time of McKay’s online purchase, Hageseth was not allowed to fill prescriptions because he had a restricted medical license because of an unrelated relationship with a patient he later married.
The following February, McKay’s parents, David and Sheila, filed a federal lawsuit against Hageseth and the pharmacies, alleging negligence and wrongful death. That lawsuit has now been dismissed.
Meanwhile, the Medical Board of California launched its own investigation and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges last May.
Instead of coming to California, Hageseth began a legal battle to remain in Colorado. Briggs has consistently maintained his client is not on the lam because he cannot legally be prosecuted when he wasn’t physically in the state when the prescription was issued.
A state Appeals Court recently ruled that Hageseth can be prosecuted in this state and local prosecutors expected him to voluntarily surrender.
Instead, in October, Sidney, Neb. police stopped him for allegedly speeding and learned of his outstanding arrest warrant.
Colo. Doctor Charged In Web Prescription Flap
CBS4, Denver
November 29, 2007
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) A Colorado doctor has been arrested in California, facing felony charges for prescribing medicine over the internet.
Officials said Fort Collins psychiatrist, Dr. Christian Hageseth, apparently knew nothing about the patient before prescribing Prozac, an antidepressant. The patient later committed suicide.
The criminal charges against Hageseth are not related to the patient’s death, but he faces civil charges for that. The criminal charges are based on a violation of California law, but both California and Colorado regulators say when it comes to the internet, the boundary lines are hard to draw.
The patient, John McKay, was a student at Stanford University. He committed suicide two years ago after buying Prozac from an online pharmacy. Studies have shown the drug can lead to suicidal thoughts and patients should be monitored.
Hageseth was the doctor who approved the online prescription, but he never met or talked to McKay.
“Prescribing medication is practicing medicine,” San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. “You can’t do that in this state if you’re not licensed by this state, and he is not licensed by the State of California.”
Hageseth’s attorney argues that’s not true.
“He ‘e-prescribed.’ He wrote an e-prescription in Colorado and uploaded it to a server in Texas,” attorney Carl Briggs said.
“A Colorado doctor is using a server in Texas to get meds to a kid in California; those are very difficult lines to trace back through, so it is a concern to the Board of Pharmacy,” Chris Lines with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies said.
Hageseth also violated Colorado rules.
“There has to be a preexisting patient practitioner relationship to be in compliance with the regulations as they are,” Lines said.
However, regulators admit right now, there’s no good way to make sure doctors are following the rules on the internet. It’s a concern for in every state in the U.S.
“I think everyone would like a precedent set where everyone’s needs were met and everyone was protected,” Lines said. “The internet opens up a whole new series of freedom of speech questions and freedom of activity questions that at this point, it doesn’t seem we’re prepared to deal with.”
For now, it’s one case at a time, which will begin to set a precedent. All eyes are on this case, including those of the patient’s father, David McKay, who is also suing Hageseth.
“I would hope it would send a message to those who are operating illegally that they will be held accountable,” McKay said.
Hageseth was also working with a restricted license, under investigation for having an improper relationship with a patient. Although those charges were later dropped and his license re-instated, he was not allowed to write prescriptions for anyone during the time he filled McKay’s online request.
Hageseth was extradited to California and is being held on a $500,000 bond.
Doctor extradited to face charges in patient’s suicide
By Coloradoan staff
Dec. 1, 2007
Dr. Christian Hageseth III of Fort Collins has been extradited to California to face charges that he illegally prescribed Prozac for a Stanford student who later committed suicide.
Hageseth, a psychiatrist, was to enter a plea Friday in San Mateo County, Calif., to one an count of practicing medicine without a license. However, the judge delayed the hearing until Tuesday so that she could consider defense motions filed earlier this week regarding Hageseth’s bond.
Hageseth is expected to enter a not-guilty plea to the charge, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Hageseth was extradited from Nebraska, where in October he was arrested near Sidney during a traffic stop.
Authorities say Hageseth prescribed Prozac for John McKay through the online pharmacy USAnewRX.com. At the time, Hageseth’s restricted medical license did not allow him to give prescriptions.
Two months later, McKay killed himself. He was found with alcohol and the drug in his system.
Hageseth lost his license in Colorado in 1999 due to a relationship that led to his marriage to a former patient, Laurel Burson. However, in 2001, the state Court of Appeals reversed the Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners decision and reinstated Hageseth’s medical license. Still, under the conditions of his reinstated license, he was not allowed to write prescriptions.
Hageseth is being held on $500,000 bond.
Hageseth Pleads Not Guilty - Bail Reduced
Doc pleads not guilty to practicing sans license
Colorado physician accused of prescribing Prozac online
By Michael Manekin, STAFF WRITER
San Mateo County Times12/05/2007
REDWOOD CITY — A Colorado doctor accused of filling an online Prozac prescription for a Stanford student who later committed suicide pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he practiced medicine without a California license.
Dr. Christian Hageseth, 46, was extradited last week from Nebraska, where he had been cited for speeding, and was being held in San Mateo County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Moments after Hageseth entered his plea, a Superior Court judge lowered his bail to
$250,000, explaining that the doctor may still pose a threat to the public, but never illegally dodged criminal charges in San Mateo County.
County prosecutors have tried to bring Hageseth to justice since filing charges in May 2006. But Hageseth has long fought county prosecutors’attempts to extradite him, claiming that filling a drug prescription from Colorado via the Internet grants him immunity from charges that he illegally practiced medicine in California.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach said Tuesday that Hageseth never “eluded authorities” when he fought extradition to San Mateo County. Rather, the physician was merely “using his legal remedies” to fight the charges against him.
Then, she cut the doctor’s bail in half.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow said outside of court that she was relieved that the judge didn’t set bail any lower.
“(Two-hundred fifty thousand dollars) is still a significant amount of money, and hopefully it will ensure that if the defendant is able to post (bail), then he will continue to appear in court,” Ow said.
If the judge slashed Hageseth’s bail even further, prosecutors would have been concerned that the doctor might leave the state, Ow said.
Defense attorney Anthony Gibbs assured the judge in court that his client “has every probability of returning for trial.” He then told the judge that the physician had voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine in Colorado, adding “it would be ludicrous to think that Dr. Hageseth will go out and fill prescriptions.”
In June 2005 Hageseth prescribed generic Prozac online to 19-year-old John McKay, a freshman at Stanford University. On Aug. 2, 2005, McKay committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, reportedly with alcohol and the generic Prozac in his bloodstream.
McKay linked up with Hageseth through a Web site called Usanetrix.com, an Internet portal advertising prescription drugs. Unlike visits with a conventional doctor, patients who visit the online pharmacy do not submit to a physical examination. Instead, prospective buyers fill out an online questionnaire which a doctor is supposed to review before prescribing the medication.
Hageseth filled the prescription of generic Prozac for McKay without a consultation, according to prosecutors.
The California medical board investigated the incident and urged the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office to file criminal charges. Nearly a year after McKay’s death, prosecutors charged Hageseth with one count of practicing without a state medical license.
Hageseth’s lawyers filed a motion in Superior Court to try to get the case dismissed on the grounds that the state court lacked jurisdiction to try the doctor under state law, but a judge refused the request. The attorneys then appealed the decision; however, a state Appeals Court ruled in May that county prosecutors could try the doctor.
Defense attorney Carlton Briggs has argued that if Hageseth is convicted, many more out-of-state physicians prescribing medication online in California would be vulnerable to prosecution.
However, Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe argues that the case against Hageseth will not “open up doors to additional prosecution … because, whatever the outcome, it will send a message to any doctor who is thinking prescribing drugs online is a lucrative business.”
Meanwhile, David and Sheila McKay have filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Hageseth and two companies affiliated with the online pharmacy, alleging negligence and wrongful death of their 19-year-old son. A federal judge in the state’s Northern District dismissed the suit in September, but the McKays have appealed the ruling.
Sheila McKay said outside of court Tuesday that a criminal conviction for Hageseth represents an opportunity to send a clear message to online pharmacies and doctors that “it’s not OK to churn out prescriptions to young people.”
Hageseth is scheduled to return to the Hall of Justice on Dec. 19 to set a preliminary hearing date. He faces up to three years in state prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
Still Another Lawsuit
Prof. sues doctor after son’s 2005 suicide
December 5, 2007
By Andrew Valencia
Stanford Daily
San Mateo County, Calif. — Structural biology Prof. David McKay has filed a lawsuit against a Colorado doctor who illegally prescribed Prozac to the professor’s son, John McKay ‘08, prior to his suicide. In the summer of 2005, Dr. Christian Hageseth III prescribed the medication to John McKay via an online pharmacy called USAnewRX.com. At the time, Hageseth did not have a valid medical license to prescribe medication, and McKay committed suicide two months later on Aug. 2, 2005. The medication was found in his system along with alcohol.
Prof. McKay has filed the suit against Hageseth in San Mateo County court, where Hageseth has been extradited to face criminal charges for practicing medicine without a license.
Evil Shrink, Victim or Just Plain Unlucky?
Evaluating the case of Dr. Hageseth is difficult because the evidence can be interpreted different ways depending on a person's biases. Much of this evidence has been preserved by the owner of the website ECT.org, which is focused on the issue of Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy. Clearly Dr. Hageseth would run afoul of anyone who had a negative view of ECT since he was promoting it widely and advertising himself as "The Compassionate Shock Doc".
Nevertheless, it should be noted that Dr. Hageseth has a history of helping the indigent and, based on the evidence, wasn't out to make a lot of money.
Dr. Hageseth's promotion of ECT - when it is accepted within a corrupt industry - can't be faulted to him directly. Many good doctors follow therapeutic procedures that are approved and promoted by the AMA and pharmaceutical companies, and other companies with vested interests, all the while not knowing that they are possibly harming patients. Most doctors with a busy practice do not have the time to either read all journals and studies, or do the research themselves. The corrupting element exists at the top, not at the bottom, where individuals like Dr. Hageseth labor in the community.
What about his relations with a patient, whom he later married? It isn't likely that this can be taken as evidence that Dr. Hageseth was a bad man. Very often, psychotherapy leads to divorce; that's a fact. Moreover, many women in therapy need nothing so much as to leave a domineering, controlling husband to get better. Though there was some dispute over the matter of timing, it appears that he and his future wife did try to fulfill the letter of the law. The suit itself, filed and won on a technical point of law, seems like revenge and harassment from an individual who could not accept that his wife no longer wished to be married to him. The second lawsuit is possibly related to the first since Dr. Hageseth was no doubt very stressed while supporting his future wife/wife through what must have been a very difficult divorce. Psychiatrists are human, too.
It is notable that both the son and the wife of Dr. Hageseth wrote letters supporting him to the owner of the ECT website. She published them with scorn, having already made up her mind about Hageseth, but they are presented here as inside peeks into the life of a man who is clearly compassionate, and, at the same time, all too human and vulnerable.
Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 14:35:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Christian HagesethSubject: Not the Doctor but his son.
Juli, I came across your web site today for the first time. You may recognize my name.
Let me leave my comments to this:
It is far easier to criticise than to do - as you are showing. The men you blast have all applied themselves for, on average, 14 years of education - after high school - Just to begin practicing psychiatry. Any crazy bitch can get a web site.
More people listen to you when you sling mud than when you speak the truth. You reach out exclusively to what you term the victims and survivors - the truth would inculde all perspectives without using words which provide insight into your clear bias.
I hope you are well intentioned but doubt you are. I hope that you can help the number of people my Dad helped in his career - but am sure you will not.
I see you are involved in criticism not action, slinging mud not pursuing the truth and most horrifyingly you preach your personal opinions, in the context of educating.
You call in to question my Dad’s motivation for the making of his video - have you ever criticized your own motivation? Should you choose to open your site up to an actual debate I would gladly apply the same critical eye to your motivations as you did to my fathers - could you possibly be courageous enough to handle that?
Sincerely, Christian Hageseth IV (The son of one of your victims)
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From: “Dr. Christian Hageseth” To:Subject: Just Plain Wrong Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 09:50:10 -0600
Well, imagine how it feels to read such erroneous, gossip about one’s own husband.
I am not sure just what kind of crusade you are on, but it would be helpful to get your facts straight.
My husband, Dr. Christian Hageseth, does NOT have sex with his patients, again check your facts, or do you want to read like the National Enquirer? Shame on you.
The Appellate Court of Appeals of the State of Colorado reversed the Colorado State Medical Board’s decision to revoke Dr. Hageseth’s license. They stated in the official record that�the medical board failed to prove their case.
God help you if you should ever find yourself suffering from severe intractable depression that no therapy or drug can touch. I only pray that you will have a doctor like Dr. Hageseth who administered ECT in the most compassionate way possible, who cared for his patients and changed their lives. One of the greatest results of ECT is that it allows subsequent medications to be effective when before ECT they were not.
You are scaring away people who desperately need ECT. You are lying on the web where people can read it.
Shame on you, shame on YOU.
Laurel Hageseth
References
Christian Hageseth Website Bio
Court Reinstates Hageseth's License
Documents
Christian Hageseth medical license surrender order
Christian Hageseth medical license restrictions order