Medical board files accusation against psychiatrist Ellis M. Schwied

May 21, 2013

On March 19, 2013, the California Medical Board issued an Accusation against psychiatrist Ellis Michael Schwied for gross negligence, repeated negligent acts and failure to maintain adequate and accurate records.

These charges involve Schwied’s treatment of two patients.

In one case, Schweid diagnosed a 20-year-old female patient with anxiety disorder and social anxiety though his records do not contain substantiations for such diagnoses. He prescribed a tranquilizer and gave samples of an antidepressant but neglected to schedule a follow-up appointment.Upon discovering who the patient’s mother was, he asked if she minded if he dated her mother, which he began doing shortly after. This caused the patient several episodes of anxiety. Schweid would transmit more samples of the antidepressant to the patient via her mother or by leaving them on her porch in an unmarked bag. His records however showed no notations for the additional samples.

In the other case, he prescribed Adderall to an adult male patient without diagnosing him for a condition for which such a drug would be prescribed. Schwied prescribed 60 tablets and wrote another prescription for 60 tablets only five days later. The records show no phone call, conversation or other reason for this. During the course of treatment, Schwied revealed information to the patient about his personal, private life, including details about his wife, who was battling cancer. Schwied established a personal relationship with the patient in which he and his wife would attend musical events in which Schwied performed, as well as other social events.

Comments
Eric
2018-04-02 16:53:42
I was a patient in 1984 and resonate with the negative reviews on other sites:
I was a troubled 16 year old diagnosed with ADD at the time. Although I liked Schwied as a person, he was constantly taking phone calls while I was trying to open up about my life, specifically sexual abuse I had experienced at home. I was also uncomfortable when he mentioned a few times that he found my mother attractive. I continued to see him early adulthood. He told me how much he was making while running the UCI Psychiatric Adolescent ward and his strategy for getting a raise. He also told me he was going to buy a house in Mission Viejo with a pool and the price, then asked me a lot of questions about mortgages as I was working in that industry. I leave this review, having read the other many negative reviews, not out of revenge. But rather it saddens and frankly angers me that he could have done a better job and helped nail my father for pedophilia, had he been paying attention. And I want the others who had a negative experience with this doctor to know that these problems go way, way back.

Donna Berg
2020-10-13 13:28:15
Dr. Schwied destroyed my marriage and my family. He prescribed my ex husband with Adderall, and it made him very agitated and abusive, and bursts of rage. He was diagnosed with ADHD, but I tried multiple times to tell Dr. Schwied that the medicine was not the right thing and that his sister told me he had bipolar disorder. She had paranoid schizophrenia and worked in a mental hospital. I had also found out that he molested his sisters, and he kept having multiple affairs and seeing prostitutes. He had very angry outbursts, and was abusive, he even did it to other people including his own father I later found out. I even told Dr. Shreene privately when I showed up at his office that he was nothing but a drug dealer. He told me lots of men in LA are on Adderall and they%u2019re making a lot of money and doing fine! After I divorced I found his discharge papers from the Marines. I was told he had an honorable discharge. He told me later he had a break down. It was a discharge code of 264%u2014 unsuitable character, and behavioral disorders. I believe he may be borderline personality, or schizophrenic himself. The last affair he had the person he was with took everything that we worked for, used him and coerced him with her husband to buy property they were trying to dump. Everything we worked for we lost through the divorce. The worst part is my children. I can%u2019t even go into all the problems we have had and still have because of his constant sending him prescriptions in the mail and not seeing him. I had even talk to pharmacist, and they told me he should take a break and all he was experiencing was the side effects. One of the side effects was mimics schizophrenia! I told him I was going to report him if he didn%u2019t take him off. It was too late because I had already decided I was not going to stay in the marriage because my ex-husband had no desire, nor could he probably do the work that it would take to recover and get sober. The drugs made an already mentally ill man even worse. The drugs made him OCD, and his alcoholism got worse, along with his delusions, and fantasies. All I know is my children and I paid a very high price and still do. He also was an alcoholic. Adderall is one of the most dangerous medicines, (speed), yet doctors dole it out out like candy. I asked husband had a drug problem all through high school along with pot. I have been separated and divorced from him for over 18 years now. But I hope and pray this man does not ever practice medicine again. Like I said he is nothing but a drug dealer. He would never listen to me and what I was going through with the drugs he was prescribing. Doctors take an oath to help people to stay well, but this doctor has no business being a doctor! Schwied destroyed all my hopes and dreams a family, and everything I had hoped for. I have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress, and betrayal trauma due to all the drama, and chaos my ex-husband put me through because of not only his mental state, but being prescribed medicine that was only adding to his mental disorders and his destructive behavior. I could only help this man never practices medicine again, and justice will be served.

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