Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Paris Hilton's Psychiatrist Doctor is not an M.D.

As reported on Radar Online

See also this update on this site

Update: Note that the anti-osteopath bias is as seen on Radar Online, although this may have been picked up from one of their sources. We have observed a number of message boards where the MD vs DO debate has been running hot and heavy. It is our understanding that being an MD is a prerequisite to being a Psychiatrist, since it is a prerequisite for a license to prescribe drugs. Here's the hot news ....

Radar has discovered that Dr. Charles Sophy, the psychiatrist that visited Paris Hilton in jail and aided with her initial release, is neither the UCLA professor his website claims he is, nor the board-certified M.D. he's reputed to be. (Not that anyone could tell by reading his press, which often cites him as an M.D.)

Sophy is actually a D.O., or Doctor of Osteopathy. Though osteopaths are still considered licensed doctors in America (not, however, in Europe) and Sophy serves as the legitimate medical director of the L.A. County Department of Family and Child Services, he does not seem eager to tout his full credentials—perhaps because a D.O. is considered by many M.D.s to be the fake Rolex of the medical profession.

Sophy claims on his website that he is triple board certified in psychiatry, family practice, and adolescent psychiatry, though he makes no reference to the fact that these are osteopathic boards and not titles issued by the Medical Board of California. Sources from both the Medical and Osteopathic boards confirm his background.

Even more suspect, Dr. Sophy, who often appears as an expert on PBS and Fox News, claims to hold an Associate Clinical Professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, Neuro-Psychiatric Institute—which he does not.

Instead, according to academic officials at UCLA, Sophy is merely a volunteer clinical instructor. "This is an entry-level position at best," the source tells Radar. "He cannot claim himself to be a professor here by any means."

This is not the first red flag when it comes to Sophy's practices. In the Hilton case, he has made unauthorized, early morning visits to Paris throughout the trial and has argued to keep her out of court on the grounds that she is "not capable" of testifying. Fishier still, Sophy was closely involved with the Michael Jackson molestation case in 2003 and was accused of leaking a social worker's memo about the pop star's innocence to the press—a memo he had unique access to from his then-newly minted position as director of the L.A. County DFCS. He would not comment on the memo, telling the press simply: "I'm involved in the Jackson case ... but not the way that you think."

Several phone calls to Dr. Sophy's office and the L.A County DFCS were not returned.
He could be in very big trouble if he was prescribing psychiatric drugs, dangerous as they are, without an appropriate license.

14 comments:

Nirav said...

Osteopathic physicians are not the "fake rolexes" of the medical community as you claim. They are fully licensed medical doctors who can serve in any medical specialty. Several of the leading physicians throughout the country are D.O's. Look up how many D.O.s work at the leading hospitals around the country. This year, osteopathic students have matched at hospitals including, but not limited to, Yale, Harvard, Hopkins, Mass Gen., Columbia - the list goes on. I am appalled at such ignorance. Please edit your blog accordingly.

texdo said...

D.O.'s are the same as M.D.'s, it is just a different school. There D.O.'s in every medical speciality (Surgery, Internal medicine, Cardiology..every single one). You need to be more careful and do your research before you put down more than 59,000 physicans. You have probably seen a D.O. at a hospital or a clinic or maybe operated on by one and never known it.

Unknown said...

If Sophy is credentialed as a psychiatrist by the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry, he IS a psychiatrist. MDs and DOs, while technically separate professions, often practice similarly and are legally equivalent. Each type of physician practices medicine to the same standard of care. Some areas of the country have more DOs than other areas. One thing is certain: a DO is not the fake Rolex of the medical profession.

Unknown said...

You frickin douchtard! Do a little research. You don't need an MD to be board certified in any medical specialty. A DO degree is the legal equivalent in all fifty states. I can't believe you would post such blatently libelous claims without doing the five minutes of research that would have been required to realize that you are WRONG.

LizUMDS said...

Osteopathic physicians most certainly can be licensed as board certified psychiatrists, or any other medical and/or surgical specialty. They are licensed to practice medicine, presribe all classes of drugs and perform surgery in all 50 states. Your utter ignorance of this degree and profession does NOT make it a "fake rolex."

Do a bit of research and you will find D.O.'s teaching and practicing at almost every major research and academic medical center in the U.S., including Johns Hopkins and Harvard. 6% of all U.S. physicians are osteopaths and they treat 10% of the total population. The American Medical Association has passed many resolutions proclaiming osteopathic physcians to be equivalent in every way to their allopathic counterparts, and encourage equal consideration for D.O.s in all allopathic residency programs.

Congratulations, you've now established yourself as a thoroughly un-credible source for any sort of analysis in the psychiatric or medical community. A "fake rolex" of the medical blogosphere, if you will.

Not A D.O. said...

While it is true that D.O.s often perform the same tasks as M.D.s, it is also true they have an entirely separate licensure board. They take different exams, have opportunities to perform separate (and much shorter) residencies, and have practice restrictions in some states. It is also much easier to gain admission to D.O. schools. For these reasons, the D.O. degree has often been referred to as a "dufus of osteopathy" as well as the "fake Rolex" of the medical profession.

Sickmind Fraud said...

Note the Updated Story, linked above, that gives proper professional recognition to Osteopaths.

I can expect college students to rant long and hard, and get easily insulted over various slights.

For those less respectful of the need to investigate psychiatry, please look up the numbers of people in psychiatric hospital graveyards. It is far larger than you think.

I quoted a story and gave my source. within a day of that story, I posted an update on the front page clarifying the role of Osteopaths.

But some freshmen obviously haven't learned to follow up and see if another did something to correct a statement based on incomplete data.

The smallest people have the biggest sense of their own importance. Not that we should insult them anyhow.

The most important people here are the victims of medical and psychiatric incompetency and greed.

Noah said...

I am glad to see you have corrected the misinformation regarding osteopathic medicine. There is essentially no difference between a DO and an MD - in terms of education, training, and practice. The residencies are not "much shorter" as someone posted below - they are in fact exactly the same. DOs and MDs work side by side doing the same things in the same hospitals and clinics.

Sickmind Fraud said...

Well, I have received a couple of comments that are outraged at the perceived slight. The authors feel that any quick and full correction on the front page of the blog to the erroneous passages, even before they had a chance to complain, is insufficient apology to their perceived honor.

At least one felt that this blog should be pulled down.

I, of course, feel that the perceived slight to his honor is out-weighed by the need to expose the thousands of deaths, the thousands of rapes, and millions of dollars in fraud that exist in the mental health arena.

I suspect that the author in question did not think things through in full. If a student physician, they are probably full of their inspiration and hope for the future.

But they do not see how woefully arrogant such requests make them seem, that the perceived slight to THEIR honor is more important than the actual slights to the lives of these thousands of people.

Such thinking and similar arrogance has been at the root of many wars. It is a basic human foible, and it is a common error in the use of the valuable principle of mutual respect.

I could have quoted such comments to my front page, linking to their blogs, and holding such arrogance up to ridicule. I instead give them a chance to reconsider their thinking.

Anonymous said...

"Not A D.O." is clearly not, as he states, a DO.
S/he is likely (my guess) either part of the "old boys" generation of ill-informed, elitist MD's, or not a physician at all based on the the following assertions:
(1) "DO's perform the same tasks as MD's." Get out of town?! Last time I checked both parties are fully-licensed physicians. DO's do NOT have practice limitations in any state in the US. Stop implying that DOs are not physicians by saying, "they perform the same tasks" while neglecting to clarify that they do so as regular physicians.
(2)"DO's take different exams and have much shorter residencies."
Again, you kid me not?! Last time I checked, in addition to the COMLEX, DO's can (and do) take all steps of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (the "MD exam"). As for "shorter residencies," this is blasphemous. Plenty of DO's go through the allopathic (MD) match and complete MD residencies. Those same residencies can, however, be completed via osteopathic residency programs which are just as long in duration (yes, much to your chagrin, even derm, rads, and orthopedic surgery).
(3) I strongly encourage you to refine you definition of "dufus" and "fake." Please tell me if the Chief of Trauma Surgery at NY Presbyterian/Columbia University is a "fake rolex?" Perhaps I'm simply imagining things? http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp?uni=mm3161&DepAffil=Surgery

mikem said...

This article is a load of horse shit! DOs are real doctors you moron! They are fully certified to practice medicine just as MDs are in the United States....get your facts straight DUMB SHIT!

Angela said...

What an idiot! Osteopaths have MORE training than MD's. On top of it, any foreign medical grad no matter what country they come from can test and be awarded the MD upon immigration here. If you are a D.O. (Osteopath) in America, you must attend an American medical school. You cannot get it in the USA without attending a US medical school. Osteopaths have been around since the 1800's and are an American Institution. This blog owner is severely uneducated.

Anonymous said...

please, leave earth.

Unknown said...

The entire college admission process can be exhausting and nerve-racking but there are few things worse than writing the personal statement for college applications. See more psychiatry residency personal statement