Rhode Island Psychiatrist Monissa Solberg Surrenders License; Had 'Intimate Relationship' with Patient

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Psychiatrist Monissa Solberg has agreed to voluntarily surrender her license to practice medicine in Rhode Island following a state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline investigation that concluded that she “had an intimate relationship with an existing patient,” according to the Department of Health.

 

Under the terms of a consent order signed earlier this month by Solberg and Health Department director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the psychiatrist has agreed to surrender her license no later than Nov. 6.

 

Solberg did not respond to attempts to reach her at Wellness Rhode Island, a psychiatry and counseling practice with offices at 334 Broadway, where she is listed as a practitioner.

 

The Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline began an investigation of Solberg after receiving a complaint from an unnamed person “who had knowledge of [her] having an intimate relationship with” a patient whom she had been treating after his release from a program for depression at Butler Hospital, according to the five-page consent order.

 

According to the order, Solberg denied that she had had an inappropriate relationship with the patient while she was treating him, and that she ceased treating him in May 2016.

 

She testified that the two went on a vacation to Iceland in November of that year and that he sprained his ankle while there. He received a prescription for an opioid medication while in Iceland, and ran out of the medication after returning to Rhode Island.

 

According to the order, Solberg told the board’s investigative committee that she then prescribed the man a 10-day supply of the medication and conducted a physical examination.

 

In addition to determining that Solberg had had an intimate relationship with an existing patient, the investigative committee determined that she did not properly document the care she gave the patient prior to providing him a prescription, and did not document educating the patient on the risks of opioids.

 

Source: "Providence psychiatrist surrenders license over ‘intimate relationship’ with patient," The Providence Journal, Aug 30, 2018