North Carolina Psychiatrist Adam McDonough Suspended for Sexual Relationship with Patient

June 16, 2025

On February 28, 2025, the North Carolina Medical Board ordered that the license of Winston-Salem psychiatrist Adam McDonough be indefinitely suspended due to alcohol use and relapse and an inappropriate sexual relationship with a patient for whom he was providing psychiatric care.

McDonough acknowledged that he was unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of illness, drunkenness, excessive use of alcohol, drugs, chemicals, or any other type of material, or by reason of any physical or mental abnormality, within the meaning of North Carolina statutes.

McDonough acknowledged that his conduct constituted unprofessional conduct, including, but not limited to, a departure from, or failure to conform to the ethics of the medical profession, or the committing of any act contrary to honesty, justice, or good morals, within the meaning of North Carolina statutes. 

Background: On July 1, 2024, the Board received a complaint alleging that McDonough had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with Patient A.

McDonough began treating Patient A in 2016 until approximately July 2021. In August 2021, after the formal termination of treatment, McDonough entered into a sexual relationship with Patient A, which lasted approximately eight months.

McDonough admitted that several sexual encounters took place at the office after hours and advised that the relationship with Patient A was part of an alcohol relapse. 

Patient B: McDonough began treating Patient B in 2021. Due to McDonough’s inadequate documentation and the use of multiple medications, Patient B’s risk of developing tardive dyskinesia may have increased.

Patient C: On March 13, 2022, the Board received a complaint from Patient C alleging substandard care by providers supervised by McDonough. Patient C became upset and began to harass them. She was discharged from the practice and had a restraining order issued against her. McDonough called Patent C and offered to contact crisis intervention due to concern for her safety. She disclosed that she was sitting in a parking lot alone, allegedly drinking alcohol. McDonough stated he would meet her there and requested that her husband be present.

McDonough arrived around 9:30 p.m. and spoke with Patient C for approximately two hours in her vehicle. Patient C reported that McDonough arrived with a beer that he drank, and he shared his own problems of substance abuse with Patient C’s husband. He claims that he did not enter any formal documentation of this encounter into the medical record because the clinical decision-making was not the intent of the parking lot visit; the safety of Patient C was.

Source: Consent Order in re: Adam Carlton McDonough, M.D., North Carolina Medical Board, February 28, 2025.