Illinois psychiatrist disciplinary actions, October 2013

December 18, 2013

In October 2013, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) took the following disciplinary actions:

Placed psychiatrist Hisham Sadek on indefinite probation for a minimum of four years and fined him $50,000 for submitting inaccurate reports to the Department.

Placed psychiatrist Cholet Josue’s license in “refuse to renew” status following disciplinary action against Josue by the medical licensing authority of the state of Maryland, which reprimanded him and placed him on probation for a minimum of 18 months. According to documents issued by the Maryland State Board of Physicians, Josue’s privileges at the geriatric health care facility where he worked were suspended in October 2010. He shortly after resigned. The issue which resulted in the suspension was Josue’s unprofessional conduct toward a patient. Per the document, Josue was observed “using one hand to forcefully cover Patient A’s mouth, while using his other hand to push against the back of Patient A’s head, while telling the patient to ‘shut up’.”

Placed psychiatrist Jopindar Harika on “refuse to renew” status, after he was disciplined by the state of Pennsylvania, which suspended his license in April 2012, pursuant to the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County under section 4355 of the Domestic Relations Code (which regards matters of support, visitation and custody).

Temporarily suspended psychiatrist Renee Cook for breaching established physician-patient boundaries and inability to practice medicine with requisite judgment skill and/or safety.

Placed the license of psychiatrist Sidney Moragne in “refuse to renew” status following disciplinary action against Moragne by the state of Tennessee, which placed him on probation in August 2013, for “unprofessional conduct, dishonorable or unethical conduct, dispensing, prescribing or otherwise distributing any controlled substance or other drug to any person in violation of any law of the state or of the United States.”

Placed the license of psychiatrist Allan L. Levy in “refuse to renew” status following disciplinary action against him in the state of Maryland, which reprimanded him and placed him on probation in December 2012 for failure to meet the appropriate standard of care in the case of twelve patients and failure to keep appropriate records.

Placed the license of psychiatrist Ravikumar Kanneganti in “refuse to renew” status following disciplinary action taken against him in the state of Texas, which assessed a $500 penalty and required him to obtain continuing education in chemical dependency and psychopharmacology due to his failure to exercise diligence in ensuring that a patient followed his instruction on the use of dangerous drugs he had prescribed, and his failure to stop prescribing the medications after he knew or should have known the patient was abusing the drugs.