Stuart Shipko said that everyone is out to get him in a criminal report to the police, but the odd thing is he may be right

We've recently received a bizarre police criminal complaint from an anonymous source inside the Pasadena Police Department dated around June 12, 2013 in the mail, involving our favorite dishonest psychiatric quack, Dr. Stuart Lee Shipko of Pasadena.

Are some psychiatrists, like Stuart Shipko, quacks?

Apparently, on Monday, June 10 and Wednesday, June 12, 2013, Dr. Shipko received some threatening e-mails from someone making disparaging and insulting remarks about him and his wife, as the police report stated. So naturally, Shipko called the police to file a police complaint. Nothing bizarre so far.

However, when asked by the investigating Pasadena Police officer on the scene, Officer J.M. Longoria, who might have sent the threatening e-mails to him, Dr. Shipko oddly told the officer that he "normally does not bother law enforcement" about such matters, which suggests he gets these sorts of threats and harassments a lot from the general public, but he said he called the police on that particular instance because he was not familiar with the name of the person who sent the alleged threatening e-mails.

Shipko's reasoning on calling the police is quite bizarre on several levels, given the fact it's much easier for the police to arrest someone sending harassing e-mails, if they had a clue or knew who that person was, but Dr. Shipko claims he doesn't call the police if he knows who is threatening him. Very strange. This also suggests that Dr. Shipko often believes, deep down inside, that he deserves the verbal abuse and criticisms heaped up on him from his dissatisfied clientele.

But, then again, if they don't know who made the threats, it can be quite a big challenge for the police to apprehend whoever is making the threats.

But what's even more strange is that Dr. Shipko acknowledges that he gets harassed so often from his patients at work that he generally knows who his harassers are, beforehand, because they will identify themselves or their identity is inferred from the context of the threatening messages they send him. This suggests he knows very specifically how he fails each and every one of his clients.

But because Shipko had no description whatsoever of his assailant(s) in question or any evidence to back up his suspicions of who might have sent him the e-mails, there was little that the Pasadena Police could do to help him, so they closed the case. 

Stuart Shipko with his wife Mary Jane Horton were apparently the targets
of some threatening e-mails from any number of Dr. Shipko's enemies

As you can see from page two of the police criminal report, the description of the assailant(s) in question is left completely blank, but what's most fascinating about the police report is just how many different people Dr. Shipko listed off, who he immediately could recall that had a serious beef with his questionable and often negligent work as a psychiatrist.

It's just about anyone who has had contact with him (e.g., patients to whom he had refused to treat or were unsatisfied with his work as a psychiatrist, people undergoing insurance disability evaluations from him who were deeply dissatisfied with his evaluations for their disability statuses, relatives and loved ones of homicide victims whom Shipko had testified against and lied on the stand to defend their loved ones' murderers from facing justice in court, and generally anyone who felt he was rude, incompetent, or inconsiderate as a professional. (See the numerous complaints from his patients on social media in the Content page or listed below.)

That's just about includes everyone who has come into contact with him in his professional capacity, which may tell you something about the man's character or lack thereof. Here are some examples of complaints about Dr. Shipko that several of his former patients have shared publicly on various message boards on the internet about his competence and professionalism as a psychiatrist: 

“This man is a QUACK! Beware, he takes his money up front before he even talks to you and you can be at a disadvantage because he may not even have intention of treating your problem.…Then he told me that he does not know what to do with my case, and that to call him back the next day so he can think about it and for him to check on me. When I called him back and describe to him how the medication does not work, he was very impatient on the phone. …A week or so later, I ended up at the hospital. But he said that there is nothing wrong with me.”
— Ann from Ripoff Report

“My experience was by far the worst experience I have ever had with any physician. He was very insensitive; he did not finish listening to my story, he made an abrupt diagnosis, and sent me off without any follow up. He was very unprofessional, using vulgar language, was condescending, and was not attentive to my specific needs. He seemed, instead, to follow a very specific agenda. I left the office feeling worse than I had ever. I was lucky to later meet a different psychiatrist who helped me with my condition and guided me to regain my life back.”
— Darin from Ripoff Report

“Incompetent & useless…”
— Teri L from Yelp

“I've never walked away from a psych session feeling like I needed therapy for my therapy. What a waste of time, money, and emotional investment. It takes a lot to admit you have an issue and to seek help for it, and he is definitely not one of those doctors who will value you as a patient or even a human being.”
— Van H. from Yelp, Vitals and HealthGrades

“I have been wanting to see Dr. Shipko for some time when I finally talked to him he said he was not interested in my case and I wasn't the right fit. I get it but I was willing to start different meds but he said, ‘Well good luck!’ I’m not a trial an error type of doctor, and I'm not interested. I do appreciate his honestly but to be honest, very heart breaking because it was hurtful to hear I am not interested in your case.”
— Isabel G. from Yelp

“He did not seem to listen to or care about why I might need medication. He was against the idea seemingly before he even heard my medical and personal history. Long story short, he is biased against psychiatric medications. If you need or want medication management, absolutely do not see Shipko.”
— Jessica R from Vitals

“Terrible experience. Not recommend this doctor at all. Very rude and insensitive.”
— Anonymous from Vitals

“Horrible. He has NO clue whatsoever re: what to actually do/say/think re: patient w/ severe depression. He told me (1) I knew more about MH resources than he did, (2) mental health is all messed up, and (3) go to a movie, This... for deep depression. He's bad. When I saw he has a blog on ‘Mad in America,’ I commented on there just how atrocious he was. Today, someone posted [as] ‘Linus’ verifying my conclusion -he touts himself as a forensic psychiatrist, but his lack of training clearly showed...”
— Anonymous from La Crescentia on HealthGrades

“My experience with Dr. Shipko was very negative. I felt he was extremely insensitive and follows an agenda (avoids prescription of medication at all costs) in his diagnoses. I also felt he was very rude in his communication style. I could list other reasons as to why my visit remains a bad memory, but I will just suggest to do yourself a favor and avoid his treatment.”
— Anonymous from RateMDs

And here are some reports on official court records from various court decisions and statements from prosecutors in criminal court cases, where Dr. Shipko was asked to evaluate the mental states of various criminal defendants, on behalf of the defense who were facing serious criminal charges for violent crimes, that were equally unflattering of Dr. Shipko's abilities as an expert witness:

"Defendant's [Richard Williams] mental expert, Dr. Stuart Shipko...formed his opinions in this [murder] case by reading police reports, reports by defendant's psychiatrist and Dr. Roeder, a pyschologist, and by reading a transcript of defendant's initial trial testimony, but he never met defendant."
— California Appellate Court, 3rd District, Nevada County, CA on People v. Williams

"He [Shipko] had never completed a training program in forensic psychiatry and had no expertise in that area. "
— California Appellate Court, 2nd District, Div. Six on People v. Shellhouse

"He [Shipko] certainly wasn't qualified to render an opinion in a criminal case and he was pretty up front about that. He admitted that he has no experience whatsoever prior to this case in forensic psychiatry. He had never evaluated a criminal with regard to his mental state. He admitted that is a very specialized area of psychiatry...."
— Deputy District Attorney, Ventura County, CA on People v. Shellhouse

“He [Shipko] described four mechanisms that can be caused by Paxil that equate to unconsciousness: Akathesia, or extreme restlessness, emotional blunting, delirium, and a serious sleep disorder. …On cross examination, Dr. Shipko conceded that goal-directed actions, such as searching on the internet for weapons, modifying the nails and drafting the suicide note, and clear subsequent memory, were inconsistent with delirium. …He conceded that defendant had received written materials on the ‘Paxil withdrawl’ defense before he was seen by Dr. Roeder. And Dr. Shipko admitted he could not diagnose a patient without seeing him.”
— California Appellate Court, 3rd District, Nevada County, CA on People v. Williams

Normally, you would think someone who thinks this many people are out to get them is some kind of paranoid freak who is getting close to the edge of being delusional or psychotic himself; however, in Shipko's particular case, all the possible people, whom he thinks may be out to get him, appear to be 100% bonafide cases of having some form of contempt or true hate for him in his professional capacity as a practicing psychiatrist.

Dr. Stuart Shipko talking about the problems with anti-depressant
medications known as selective seratonin reuptake inhibitiors

This is most unusual, since the generally humanitarian nature of a doctor's or psychiatrist's job, to compassionately help people with their problems in life, makes a physician's position in society one that is very respected and revered within the community. 

After all, the standard of practice for any physician is to tell the truth and deal with the patient in an honest, caring and open manner. So what's there to really hate or despise about doing that kind of work, as long as it's honest?

In Shipko's case, however, he appears to acknowledge to the Pasadena Police that his entire clientele either loathes him or holds his abilities in either low regard or even in great contempt after just one meeting—which is how long the majority of his relationships with his patients last—and the reason for their low opinion of the man seems to emanate from their personal opinions that Dr. Shipko is seen as rather a dishonest or disingenuous person, a huckster who doesn't seem to care about them, the truth, his reputation or integrity as a medical evaluator and treating psychiatrist and only seems concerned about getting paid.

The fact that a disability insurance company mentioned in the report, UNUM, seems to favor Dr. Shipko as their go-to medical evaluator against many workers with disability claims from the insurance company, despite all the complaints they get about Dr. Shipko, suggests an unholy alliance between an unscrupulous physician and equally unscrupulous insurance company who doesn't want to pay out bona fide insurance claims. Would anyone ever trust UNUM as an insurance company after they get referred to a highly questionable evaluator like Dr. Stuart Shipko? Probably not.

Many of Dr. Shipko's former patients have confirmed on the internet message boards that Dr. Shipko is simply insensitive to their problems, holding them in judgment whether they are worthy of being treated as patients for their problems; however, he will take their money anyway after just one useless and futile session with him with no treatment or follow-up before dropping them as patients, which by all established standards of care is most definitely considered dereliction of duty by a physician, which places a patient's safety and well being in jeopardy. 

Immediate impressions of the man from several people who have encountered Dr. Shipko in his professional capacity also find him to be rude, boorish, vulgar, manipulative, contemptuous, lazy, inattentive, disingenuous and even downright arrogant—a man who always places his own selfish interests above those of his patients, his profession, or even above the truth, simply for the motive of looking for his next pay-check. 

Thus, the perception about the man is that he only speaks from the point of view of his own self-interests or from some sense of self-preservation deep inside, rather than trying to get to the underlying problems of his patients or properly diagnosing and treating them as a responsible physician, which all psychiatrists are duty-bound to do for their patients.

Integrity and professionalism mean nothing to Dr. Shipko, as he is willing to prostitute his so-called expert medical opinion to anyone for the right price, even if that means going against what he believes is his true convictions or even the obvious truth. Others seem to believe Dr. Shipko is too just incompetent and inept to identify the underlying diagnoses of anyone whom he is given the task to evaluate and treat. 

Most bizarre of all, Dr. Shipko simply doesn't prescribe any medications to his patients under any circumstances, which differentiates psychiatrists from psychologists. So why is he even in the field of psychiatry at all, if he is not willing to do the basic tenets of his profession?

One needs not look any further than his disastrous court appearances as a paid psychiatric gun-for-hire to see that no court ever found his supposed "expert opinion" to be the credible medical facts in any case he was involved in. No judge or jury, to date, has so far upheld Dr. Shipko's medical opinions as being an established fact in any of the cases that we could find in which he was involved in as a so-called medical examiner and expert witness.
    

Dr. Shipko looking as contemptuous as always in court

Dr. Shipko has literally lost every known court case he was ever involved in, drawing even the ire of the victims' families, who see through Shipko's manipulations to simply try to get the accused off, all to justify his fees as a so-called "forensic expert witness."

In virtually all the cases we could find, Dr. Shipko has either never met or examined the subject in person, or just met the subject briefly without really examining them, and simply put a convenient diagnosis on them, based solely on their situations, to suit the needs of their lawyers to fabricate some kind of defense argument, while ignoring his direct impressions of the subject in question.

Psychiatrists and doctors cannot simply diagnose situations because that's not considered medicine. They can only diagnose the people they examine directly. Circumstances and situations in life are simply not considered medical conditions or diseases.

Yet, all that Dr. Shipko is willing to do in most of his so-called forensic psychiatric cases is to read the evidentiary files and documents of a given criminal case, dismiss what he sees in person (if he even bothered to do that at all) and make up a diagnosis based solely on what he reads as his clientele's needs to be found "not guilty." This is the hallmark of a quack.

Some of his outlandish claims in court are completely baseless with absolutely no scientific basis or backing. For example, Dr. Shipko has claimed in numerous court cases that Paxil—and even on one occasion Prosac—was the sole reason why the defendants (or victim in one case) committed murder, suicide, kidnapping, or some other violent alleged act. 

Shipko repeatedly claimed in court that the medication Paxil, a mood altering drug used for depression, induced states of psychotic "unconsciousness," considered to be a severe persistent psychotic thought disorder or a transient episode such as delirium, in his clients to the point of creating homicidal thoughts in these individuals. Therefore, in Dr. Shipko's opinion, they were considered to be not guilty of the acts they committed.

Yet, all the defendants in question, could recall their actions and events of their crimes in detail while on the stand at trial, had planned out their acts of violence in question ahead of time, and in one case methodically plotted out an elaborate kidnapping scheme six months ahead of time. Clearly, this is not what being "unconscious" or even psychotic is in terms of what the fields of psychiatry or psychology define those states of mind to be.

This is not considered forensic psychiatry let alone psychiatry, which is why all the courts so far who have heard him in court have summarily discarded his entire testimony and expert opinion as a medical expert. 

What Shipko tries to do instead is act like an investigator, lawyer and trier of facts—although crooked ones at that—to act outside the role of an impartial expert witness. He simply has no credibility as a forensic psychiatrist as it is very clear he doesn't understand what that role entails or what being a psychiatrist is for that matter, and it is quite obvious he is a willing prostitute his so-called expert opinions to the highest bidder, especially if that means lying in court. All these acts of dishonesty and malfeasance are OK with him, even under the penalty of perjury.

Dr. Shipko is a fraud who claims to be an ER doctor and forensic psychiatrist

The Ventura County DA's office further said that Dr. Shipko has no expertise in the field of forensic psychiatry when they stated, "He certainly wasn't qualified to render an opinion in a criminal case and he was pretty up front about that. He admitted that he has no experience whatsoever prior to this case in forensic psychiatry. He had never evaluated a criminal with regard to his mental state. He admitted that is a very specialized area of psychiatry," in the criminal court case of People vs. Dennis Shellhouse.

This is curious since one of Dr. Shipko's patients had been quoted as saying, "[H]e touts himself as a forensic psychiatrist, but his lack of training clearly showed.” Is what Dr. Shipko says all just a lie, or is Dr. Shipko suffering from some sort of delusional disorder or psychosis, himself?

Dr. Shipko has told several of his patients, in fact, that he is a forensic psychiatrist and had previously been an emergency medical doctor; however, a detailed examination of his professional and educational background shows Dr. Shipko has absolutely no training or relevant credentials in either of those fields. To quote his own words on his Choose Help referral page, Dr. Shipko claims:

Initially I was an emergency medicine physician, and later went into psychiatry because of an interest in the patients with stress related disorders. Years later these patients were considered to have panic disorder - a diagnosis that did not even exist back then. I think that the emergency medicine background was so important. Back then there were no CT scanners or MRIs and the doctor had to really examine the patient and make observations. I think that this gave me the background in observation that was needed to draw good conclusions concerning the beneficial effects and adverse effects of the psychiatric medications that later became so popular.

So what's going on here with all these false and misleading claims by Dr. Shipko on his own professional history and background? And what does he mean that emergency medicine doctors had no CT scanners or MRIs when he was a so-called emergency medicine physician? They've been around as very essential diagnostic tools for doctors, especially ER physicians, for decades, along with x-rays, ultrasounds, blood work, and other diagnostic studies.

It actually sounds like Dr. Shipko worked as an urgent care physician, which doesn't require any specific credentials and training to work in, rather than in emergency medicine, which, much like forensic psychiatry, requires very specific training, credentials and board certification to be called an emergency medicine physician.

Clearly, Dr. Shipko is nothing more than a fraud because his CV does NOT list any training or credentials at all in either emergency medicine or forensic psychiatry, so he would never be considered as an ER doctor or forensic psychiatrist in the eyes of the medical profession.

Mental health experts would consider these sorts of flagrantly false and misleading claims made by a doctor as being examples of "grandiose" or "delusional" behavior, but a much simpler explanation of Dr. Shipko's erratic behavior is that he has a deep-seeded inferiority complex about his lowly position as an inept and incompetent psychiatrist, which he tries to compensate for by being a dishonest bullshit artist or poseur, propping up his own self worth and ego by pretending to be something that he is not.

In any case, these sorts of lies made by a physician are considered to be highly unethical and dishonest conduct within the medical profession.

This kind of pathetic and very fragile ego complex shows that Dr. Shipko is truly a sad sack in life. It is such as pity that a trained psychiatrist has absolutely no insight into his own problems and shortcomings as a medical professional to seek help for this kind of pathetic dishonest behavior.

It certainly looks like a desperate cry for help any way you look at it. There's no doubt about it.  

But in truth, how in the world would a psychiatrist this inept, incompetent and morally-challenged ever be expected to help out anyone else, if they can't even have a basic understanding of or insights into their own problems and shortcomings? How can anyone trust someone this insincere and disingenuous, who only thinks of himself and his own interests, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?