Medical Board Revokes License of Virginia Psychiatrist Guyton Register on Sex, Drug Charges

March 15, 2022

On April 26, 2021, the Virginia Board of Medicine revoked the license of Roanoke psychiatrist Guyton Register, having found him to be unfit for the performance of his professional obligations and duties and unable to practice with reasonable skill and safety and committing a felony.

On February 18, 2020, Register was arrested in South Carolina for driving under the influence, possession of controlled substances, and driving an unregistered and unlicensed vehicle. Police found him to be in possession of multiple controlled substances which he had unlawfully obtained for his own use by writing the prescriptions for individuals with whom he did not have bona fide practitioner-patient relationships. This is a felony. 

Register was also found to have engaged in conduct of a sexual nature that a reasonable patient would consider lewd and offensive: On September 15, 2020, a patient who had been under Register’s treatment for two years stated during a Board investigative interview that during treatment, Register had instructed him to keep a journal documenting the number of times he masturbated. The patient was not seeing Register for any sex-related issues and did not follow Register’s instructions.

On their last visit, Register asked the patient what he could do to “satisfy him.” When the patient said he did not know what Register meant, he reported that Register’s legs were wide open in his chair and that he moved his chair closer to the patient while repeatedly looking down at this crotch and then up at the patient. Register additionally asked the patient if he was “satisfied sexually.” At that time, Register was working at a medical facility, from which he was allowed to resign in lieu of termination for refusing to undergo a drug screen.

Register also prescribed narcotics between June 2018 and January 2020 to individuals with whom he did not have a practitioner-patient relationship and for no demonstrable medicinal or therapeutic purpose. A former girlfriend told investigators that she had never been his patient, although he had written some “refill” prescriptions for her.

Register willfully refused to provide information and records as requested by the Board’s representative pursuant to an investigation or to the enforcement of a statute or regulation.   

Source: Order in re: Guyton Shawn Register, M.D., license no. 0101-244062, case nos. 188885 and 203083, before the Virginia Board of Medicine, Apr. 26, 2021.