Prison psychiatrist focus of investigation

Keith Paul

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Clark County officials investigated allegations involving a Las Vegas psychiatrist who treats inmates and determined that the claims -- and the fact that he has been barred from practicing medicine in two other states -- did not affect his status in Nevada.

"These allegations are nothing new. We knew about it about five or six years ago and investigated them," Undersheriff Richard Winget said. "We conferred with the district attorney's office, and they agreed with us that the allegations were a non-issue."

But Prison Health Services, which contracts with Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County jails to provide medical services, has started an investigation involving Dr. Gilles Desmarais, who is employed by PHS, a Nashville, Tenn., company. Desmarais could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Desmarais, a licensed psychiatrist in Las Vegas since 1989, was disciplined by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine in 1994 for allegedly having sex with a patient in late 1974 and early 1975, when he was practicing in that state. He also was barred from practicing in Arizona.

Desmarais, 65, admitted he married and later divorced the woman. But he denied that he had sex with her while she was his patient. Nonetheless, in 1993, just before the Massachusetts board announced its investigation, he chose not to renew his medical license in that state.

The board proceeded anyway and in December 1994 ruled that he would not be able to renew his license. Desmarais had not practiced medicine in Massachusetts since 1985, but he kept his license current.

A PHS regional vice president, in the area on other business, met with local jail officials Thursday. In a meeting with North Las Vegas jail officials she said there would be an investigation, said Capt. Dan Lake, a jail spokesman.

Lake and Winget said Desmarais would be allowed to continue treating inmates while PHS conducts its investigation.

"We've had no incidents with him, and he has a license to practice medicine in the state of Nevada," Lake said.

But Henderson Police Chief Michael Mayberry said he would not allow Desmarais into his city's jail until the investigation is completed.

"Although I understand these allegations have come up in the past, Prison Health Services is in the process of an internal investigation, and we are going to wait until we see the results," he said.

Local PHS officials referred all questions to the company's main office in Nashville. Larry Pomeroy, a company spokesman, did not return phone calls, but he faxed a statement saying there would be an internal investigation and that Desmarais originally was hired by Emergency Medical Services Associates, which was bought by PHS in 1999.

No timetable was given for the completion of the company's investigation into the allegations.

Massachusetts apparently took the allegations seriously and issued a damning written ruling.

"The respondent has engaged in conduct that undermines public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession and which demonstrates a lack of good moral character," board Chairman Paul Gitlin wrote in the ruling. "By engaging in sexual activity with a patient, the respondent crossed the boundary, which separates reasonable and appropriate professional conduct from unacceptable personal relations."

After leaving Massachusetts, the Harvard-educated doctor ran a bookstore in San Francisco for a year. He then resumed his medical practice in Wyoming in 1986 and 1987 before moving to Las Vegas in 1988.

In 1995, a year after the Massachusetts ruling, Desmarais signed an agreement with the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners that barred him from practicing medicine in that state.

But the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners renewed Desmarais' license in 1995, 1997 and 1999, even though it knew of the Massachusetts ruling. The board's deputy executive director, Maureen Lyons, declined to say why Nevada has continued to renew his license, but noted that the board has never had cause to discipline him in this state.

The federal government also dismissed an investigation against the psychiatrist that was launched after the Massachusetts decision. At stake was whether Desmarais would be excluded from taking Medicare patients.

In October 1995 the Health and Human Services Department wrote to Desmarais informing him that it had "closed our case file, and we anticipate no further action on this matter at this time." The decision meant that the doctor could continue to take Medicare patients.