OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A former psychiatrist at the Oklahoma Forensic Center has claimed in a lawsuit that the state’s mental health agency didn’t let him adequately treat patients.
Robert McIntyre alleges in his lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services that his orders were subject to changes by a supervisor in another city who had not seen the patients.
McIntyre was hired last year as a staff psychiatrist at the state’s inpatient treatment center for people who are found not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial.
McIntyre also alleges in the suit that he couldn’t rely on his pharmacy orders being filled because the center didn’t carry certain medications he wanted to prescribe.
The state also sent dangerous patients to the center, a practice that led to some staff injuries, said Daniel Gamino, McIntyre’s attorney.
“We think (that) during the recruitment process they did not disclose to Dr. McIntyre drastic limitations that he was going to work under,” Gamino said. “If he had been told all of those limitations, he probably wouldn’t have taken the position. They purposefully withheld that information from him.”
Oklahoma Department of Mental Health spokesman, Jeff Dismukes, wrote in an email to The Journal Record (https://bit.ly/1XRTcmv ) that the agency disagrees with McIntyre’s claims.
McIntyre has asked the court for damages in excess of $10,000 in the suit.
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Information from: The Journal Record, https://www.journalrecord.com
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