{"id":638916,"date":"2018-10-26T06:59:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T12:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=638916"},"modified":"2018-10-25T17:17:04","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T23:17:04","slug":"psychiatrist-over-medicated-hundreds-of-children-in-his-care-search-warrant-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/10\/psychiatrist-over-medicated-hundreds-of-children-in-his-care-search-warrant-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychiatrist over-medicated hundreds of children in his care, search warrant says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike many doctors, Albuquerque psychiatrist Edwin Bacon Hall, 74, accepted patients on Medicaid and saw them in a timely manner. He often treated foster children, who were sent his way with the approval of their legal guardian, the Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD).<\/p>\n

On at least one occasion in his office, he prescribed drugs while dressed as a clown. But what really drew attention was his habit of handing out pills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHall has been a scourge of child psychiatry, and people have known about his bad practices for years,\u201d said George Davis, CYFD\u2019s former director of psychiatry. \u201cHe was widely known as one of the worst prescribers in New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hector

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Attorney General Hector Balderas, whose office is investigating Albuquerque psychiatrist Edwin Bacon Hall.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, the longtime Albuquerque practitioner is under investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General\u2019s Office in connection with the drug overdose deaths of 36 patients, according to a search warrant filed in Second Judicial District Court on Sept. 5.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Hector Balderas\u00a0declined to comment on whether any of the deaths involved a minor. But the ongoing investigation includes an examination of Hall\u2019s prescriptions to both children and adults, he said.<\/p>\n

The warrant accuses Hall of over-medicating 754 children in his care, prescribing an \u201celevated\u201d number of psychiatric medications that were \u201coutside normal prescribing habits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law enforcement sources say Hall is also under investigation for alleged child abuse and Medicaid fraud. His attorney, Molly\u00a0Schmidt-Nowara, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Agents with the state\u2019s Medicaid Fraud Control Division are now scouring records and correspondence from the doctor\u2019s Girard Avenue office. According to legal documents, the foster children he saw there — many of them under age 10 — received \u201cegregious,\u201d \u201cunprofessional\u201d and \u201cillogical\u201d quantities of psychiatric drugs.<\/p>\n

Alyssa Otero, 21, recognizes this firsthand. At 14, after being in and out of foster care all her life, she was deeply depressed and taken to Hall for treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I met him, he was in a clown outfit,\u201d she says. \u201cThe orange hair, the makeup, the nose, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otero, a youth leader for NMCAN, an Albuquerque foster care advocacy group, remembers it all too clearly.<\/p>\n