CA--Psychiatrist accused of sexual abuse

Psychiatrist accused of sexual abuse

At least three women say he violated them

One settled a lawsuit with his former employer

He’s a defrocked priest; abuse cases against him have settled

Hospital should not let him practice or see patients, group urges

And state medical board should review allegations soon, SNAP says

WHAT:

Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand-deliver a letter to the head of a local mental health center that employs a psychiatrist who has been accused of sexually abusing at least three girls. They will:

- Tell how the priest’s supervisors settled a sex abuse lawsuit with at least one victim, and

- Hand out copies of the former priest’s personnel file that outlined the abuse and settlement.

They will also:

- Demand that the psychiatrist be removed from his position at a local psychiatric facility,

- Beg hospital administrators to reach out to his current and former patients telling them about the allegations, and

- Urge the hospital to file a complaint against him with the California State Medical Board.  

WHEN

Friday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 am

WHERE:

Outside of El Camino Hospital Behavioral Health Services, 2500 Grant Road (at North Drive), in Mountain View CA

WHO:

Two-three people who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation's largest support group for adults who were sexually abused as kids.

WHY:

Members of SNAP recently learned that Dr. Thomas E. Havel, a Mountain View psychiatrist and an ex-Los Angeles priest - has been accused of sexually abusing at least three women and girls and that the doctor's former employer settled a lawsuit with at least one victim.

http://www.elcaminohospital.org/Find_a_Doctor/modId/946/key/ResultsDetails/id/1541

Havel works at El Camino Hospital, where he has been a psychiatrist since the late 1980s. Previous to this, Havel was ordained Catholic priest in Los Angeles and worked there for several years. Then he joined a St. Louis-based Catholic religious order called the Marianists.

Havel was first publicly accused as a child predator in 1988, when a former student at St. Philip the Apostle in Pasadena filed a civil  lawsuit saying that the priest molested her when she came to him for counseling. http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20130731/more-church-abuse-scandal-files-released-by-5-catholic-religious-orders. 

At least two other victims have come forward, according to Havel's file.

Havel left the priesthood in 1997 and has been on staff at El Camino Hospital since. Church documents also say that Havel has been on the faculty at Stanford University Medical School.

Havel's secret personnel file was released in 2013. http://www.lorpb.com/documents/Thomas-Havel.pdf.

Members of SNAP believe that Havel poses a risk to patients, who probably do not know about his past. They also believe that the California State Medical Board should be made aware of the lawsuits, allegations, and settlement, since all go against the board's code of ethics.

Copies of the letter will be available at the event.

Contact:

Tim Lennon  (415-312-5820 cell, t[email protected])

Melanie  Sakoda (925-708-6175 cell, [email protected])

Barb Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])