Chicago area psychiatrist skates on license despite numerous infractions
There is no question that in his long career Dr. Jonathan Gamze has affected people for the better.
In preparation for this article, I spoke with Kim Ahern.
She told me that her son is now thirty-six, married, and is an engineering consultant.
At thirteen, such an outcome seemed like a pipe dream.
He had what Kim described as “severe ADHD.”
He had an incident.
A classmate was picking on his younger sister on a bus, calling her horrible names.
Her son came to his sister’s rescue, a situation which escalated until her son pulled a knife.
Kim emphasized that this was not a harmful knife, but one the school gave him, but he pulled a knife, nonetheless.
In the aftermath of Colombine, the school was having none of it.
He was expelled.
Enter Dr. Gamze. Upon the referral of another psychologist, Dr. Gamze examined her son.
He determined that her son was not properly medicated.
He was taking a medication which needed to be administered multiple times daily.
Dr. Gamze switched him to medication which he took once a day.
Within a week, her son had a whole transformation.
Dr. Gamze wrote a letter, and through Kim’s tenacity, the school reversed its expulsion decision.
The rest, as they say, is history, and her son enjoys success today.
He has learned to cope with ADHD.
Kim told me that Dr. Gamze was critical in her son’s turnaround, and he took a complex situation, cut through it, and figured out the solution.
It’s not all positive experiences with Dr. Gamze. On Yelp, he has thirteen reviews. Some are bad like this one.
This doctor showed a complete lack of regard of care in terms of medicine. I was exceptionally disappointed with the amount of disrespect flagrantly thrown straight in my face, though not literally. I just felt as though my money was stolen. Dinero. I needed that cash 4theapwle
Of the thirteen, nine are five-star reviews, including Kim’s, while only three are one-star reviews. Here is another five-star review.
In the years that I've been seeing Dr. Gamze, I've never really met another doctor with the capacity for such compassion, and interest in his patients. I would recommend - and have recommended - him to many people looking for a psychiatrist in the area.
I will freely admit that when I first walked into his office (long before it was located here), I was more than opposed to taking medications, because I knew it wasn't an exact science. He was polite, and listened to me as I listed my doubts; he didn't tell me I was wrong, but instead told me that he felt that sometimes, people require an extra push to escape depression.
He let me know that I didn't have to take a medication I felt wasn't working, so long as I gave it a chance (i.e. - several weeks to start doing *something*), and contacted him if I had questions, concerns, or needed someone to talk to.
He's actually a really wonderful person.
I reached out to all the reviewers, but only Kim responded.
He was also previously sued, a suit which was dismissed.
Dr. Gamze’s career is more than three decades long. Good and bad reviews are to be expected.
What’s more troubling is the numerous Department of Financial and Professional Regulation infractions. Here are three orders: one, two, and three.
Dr. Gamze sued an attorney who represented him.
He then subsequently retained Jacqueline Stein, who was not sued.
I reached out to Dr. Gamze and to Ms. Stein. Ms. Stein did not respond to my email, while Dr. Gamze declined to comment when reached by phone.
In the course of this litigation, the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation noted that the findings were tame compared to what the Department could have done.
This is a shocking admission. This suggests that Dr. Gamze was overprescribing medication on a mass scale.
Yet, he continues to practice in good standing.
This is another example of the haphazard and unequal way in which medical license discipline is administered.
In February 2022, I interviewed Jim Singer who had his medical license terminated for what amounted to a coding error.
More on Jim’s story here.
Dr. Eric Hensen was facing a suspension of his license for not requiring masks in his office in 2020.
More than a decade ago, I did a story about a nurse in Texas targeted by the Texas Medical Board, after the nurse exposed how patients were used as guinea pigs.
Corrupt or sham peer reviews use the peer review process to unfairly take licenses from whistleblowing doctors.
The medical licensure process is uneven, with punishment doled out in varying degrees depending on the doctor it targets. This is another example.
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