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Prison Health Services Doctors Caught in Scandals
PHS regional medical director Dr. Trevor P. Parks was accused of not being certified to provide healthcare for the 12,000 prisoners covered by a $123 million contract between PHS and the City of New York to supply medical treatment at Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center.
In light of questions concerning his board certification for internal medicine, Parks resigned on July 14, 2010. PLN had previously reported that Dr. Parks operated a PHS subsidiary called PHS Medical Services P.C. that provided healthcare services at Rikers Island – an arrangement that state officials called a sham. [See: PLN, Nov. 2006, p.6]. Dr. Parks said he had resigned to concentrate on his appeal of a recommendation by the American Board of Internal Medicine to suspend his certification.
“They’re just concerned with something that I got caught up in, and I’d really rather not go into it,” he stated. PHS’s contract with the city requires the company’s medical director to be board certified. Until they were notified by a reporter, city health officials, who oversee the PHS contract, were unaware that Parks’ board certification was in question.
In an unrelated incident, PHS Dr. Franck Leveille, 60, a 12-year employee at Rikers Island, was arrested in the early morning hours of July 28, 2010 for sexually abusing a female prisoner. Leveille was charged with criminal sexual conduct for an incident that occurred in March 2010; under New York law, it is illegal for staff to have any sexual relations with a prisoner.
In addition to his position with PHS, Leveille also works as a family specialist at the Brooklyn Medical Plaza. If convicted he faces more than four years in prison.
“This physician is charged with exploiting an inmate in his care, according to the criminal complaint, and violating his fundamental professional responsibility,” said Department of Investigations Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn.
Sources: www.nbcnewyork.com, http://abclocal.go.com, New York Times
