Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2001
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Feedback: http://extranet.globe.com/LettersEditor/default.asp
Address: P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
Contact:  2001 Globe Newspaper Company
Author: Anne Barnard

POLICE: DOCTOR GOT SEX FOR PILLS

Lowell Psychiatrist Faces Fraud Charges

[A] Lowell psychiatrist traded prescription drugs for sexual favors, lived 
with a patient who was a known heroin user, and may have prescribed 
narcotics to feed the habits of dozens of drug addicts, authorities said 
yesterday.

Dr. Michael Louis Mavroidis, 53, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a single 
charge of prescribing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. He was 
arrested Wednesday and barred from practicing medicine after authorities 
accused him of coercing a patient into performing sexual acts in return for 
Xanax and other medications. Mavroidis denied any wrongdoing.

The allegations stem from a two-year investigation involving the state 
medical board, Lowell police, and Attorney General Thomas Reilly's Medicaid 
fraud control unit. The investigation is continuing, but police said it 
acted this week ''to get him off the street.''

''It was pretty well known that you could get anything you wanted off this 
guy,'' said Lowell Police Superintendent Edward F. Davis III.

Police say shutting down Mavroidis's private medical practice, on Merrimack 
Street in downtown Lowell, will make a significant dent in prescription 
drug abuse in the area. Local treatment facilities in Lowell are prepared 
to deal with a spike in patients suffering from withdrawal symptoms, said 
Davis.

Mavroidis, a board-certified psychiatrist and neurologist, was released on 
his own recognizance. Through his lawyer, Robert M. Walsh of Manchester, 
N.H., he issued a statement saying he expected to be vindicated.

''For many years I have provided medical services to psychiatric patients 
in Lowell and the surrounding communities,'' he stated. ''Many of these 
patients have long-term and severe psychiatric illnesses. The charges that 
have been brought against me are based on a report by a patient with such a 
long-term illness and a history of encounters with law enforcement.''

Though the current criminal charges are based on a single incident, medical 
regulators alleged a broader pattern of abuse when they summarily suspended 
Mavroidis's license Wednesday, based on the account of a young man addicted 
to Xanax and heroin, whom they called Patient A.

The patient began seeing Mavroidis, the board's complaint says, 
''specifically because he had heard on the street that [the doctor] freely 
issued narcotics prescriptions.''

During their visits, the complaint states, the two would ''talk 
informally,'' and Mavroidis would provide the patient with Xanax, Ambien, 
Neurotin, Zyprexa, and other prescriptions, without discussing how they 
might interact with each other or with heroin.

On one visit, according to the complaint, Mavroidis taunted the patient 
with a bottle of Xanax, making gestures that showed he wanted oral sex. The 
patient complied and Mavroidis gave him some loose Xanax pills, an exchange 
that became routine until the visits ended in August, the complaint says.

In addition, the board accused Mavroidis of living with another patient, 
itself an apparent violation of medical ethics, since psychiatrists are not 
supposed to have close personal relationships with patients. ''Patient B'' 
received many prescriptions between Oct. 2, 1997 and Aug. 31. Last 
December, police raided the house the two shared and charged Patient B with 
possession of heroin and a hypodermic needle. The patient pleaded guilty 
and was sentenced to six months in prison.

Nancy Achin Sullivan, executive director of the Board of Registration in 
Medicine, said the case was of particular concern to the board because of 
the allegation that Mavroidis preyed on addicts, who are vulnerable both 
because of their dependency and because they fear authorities will not 
believe them.

''Instead of being held hostage and having their addiction fed, people who 
have substance abuse problems should be able to go to a doctor and get 
help,'' she said.
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