Psychiatrists

A group of psychiatrists warned Monday that Gov. George Deukmejian's threatened budget cut of nearly $230 million in mental health funds would wipe out psychiatric services to all but the most chronically mentally ill. Issuing what they called a "declaration of conscience," the psychiatrists from northern and southern regions of the state joined together to deliver a broad indictment of the state's mental health program.

A UC Irvine psychiatry professor is facing a charge of grand theft for allegedly fraudulently billing Medi-Cal for $50,000 over two years, prosecutors said Friday. Kenneth Sokolski, an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCI, is also charged with two counts of submitting fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal.

The consulting psychiatrist for Camp O'Neal, the Sierra Nevada home for troubled youth central to the Convict Lake tragedy in which seven people drowned last month, was arrested Thursday in Newport Beach on suspicion of sexually abusing an adult patient. Newport Beach police also served search warrants at Dr. James Harrington White's Newport Beach clinic, his Newport Beach home and his other residences in Palm Desert and Mammoth Lakes, near Camp O'Neal.

An Encino psychiatrist was charged Thursday with conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to submit more than $730,000 in false medical bills to Medicare and several private insurance companies. The 11-count indictment against Joseph Ezra, returned Thursday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, alleged that he billed for medical exams and tests that were either not necessary, were never performed or were not performed by appropriately trained technicians.

A federal grand jury indicted an Encino psychiatrist Thursday for allegedly submitting $730,000 in false bills to Medicare and private California insurers. Dr. Joseph Ezra faces 11 counts of conspiracy and mail fraud in the billing scheme, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles Kreindler. If convicted, Ezra could face up to 55 years in prison and more than $2.7 million in fines.

A psychiatrist pleaded innocent Thursday to charges that he illegally traded on confidential information about BankAmerica Corp. that was revealed by a patient during therapy. The patient had learned from her husband about a 1986 attempt by Sanford I. Weill, former chief executive of Shearson Loeb Rhodes, to take the helm of BankAmerica Corp. and pump money into the company.

Dr. Melvin Zatin looked good on paper. On his resume he said he was a psychiatrist who practiced at San Francisco General Hospital, the University of London, England, and the Vienna Medical School of Austria, authorities said. But state medical authorities say he is a fake. Zatin is really Melin Berry Zatinsky, who is unemployed and not a medical doctor, said Jim Kovash, a senior investigator with the Medical Board of California.

Dr. Timothy Hayes, a Los Angeles psychiatrist, is one of seven activists nationwide who will be honored with the Broad Street Pump Award from Physicians for Social Responsibility at the group's national meeting Saturday in Palo Alto. Hayes, a founding member of the Los Angeles chapter of PSR, was medical/technical adviser to the television drama, "The Day After," and the feature film, "Testament."

After two years of litigation, a Brentwood psychiatrist who owes $273,000 in spousal and child support was sentenced Wednesday to four years probation and ordered to pay $4,250 per month or risk going to jail. The order against Ronald Alan Gershman, 50, came after a Municipal Court jury convicted him of two counts of contempt of court for nonpayment of spousal and child support. During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty.