Psychiatrist David Israelstam gives up California medical license

May 21, 2013

On April 22, 2013, the Medical Board of California accepted the surrender of psychiatrist David Israelstam’s license.

The California Board reprimanded Israelstam in August 2011 in response to a June 15, 2011 disciplinary action taken against him by the Wisconsin Medical Board, which reprimanded him for negligence.

According to those records, Israelstam treated a 21-year-old female patient beginning in 2007.

He initially prescribed her two antidepressants, an antipsychotic, a mood stabilizer, a tranquilizer and an anticonvulsant and was provided with her treatment records, which showed that the patient had a history of physical and sexual abuse by her stepfather.

At the conclusion of a January 2009, appointment, Israelstam told the patient that he knew a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome who was looking for a young woman with whom to have a sexual relationship and asked if that was something that the patient would be interested in. She said she was not and not long after she ceased seeing Israelstam due to being uncomfortable about what occurred.

Further, in March 2013, Israelstam was charged in Madison, Wisconsin with two counts of possession of child pornography.