AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A former child psychiatrist at a state psychiatric hospital in Texas has been accused of sexually abusing seven teenage boys there since 2003, records show.
In a suspension order issued in November, the Texas Medical Board accused Dr. Charles Fischer of sexually abusing the boys, ages 13 to 17, at Austin State Hospital, where he was a psychiatrist in the child and adolescent unit more than 20 years, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday.
The board accused Fischer of abusing a 16-year-old patient in 1992 at the Waco Center for Youth, a state-run psychiatric facility for children 18 and under, and a patient at Southwest Neuropsychiatric Institute in San Antonio whose age was not given.
Fischer, 59, has not been charged criminally but agencies including the Texas Rangers and the Austin Police Department are investigating, the American-Statesman said. On Nov. 24, the Department of State Health Services, which oversees the state-run psychiatric facilities, fired him and the state medical board suspended his license.
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State investigators reopened past cases involving Fischer based on an 8-year-old accusation of child sexual abuse at Austin State Hospital.
The Department of Family and Protective Services has re-interviewed people who accused him of abuse, reviewed earlier complains and scrutinized police reports. The investigation led to a 54-page file containing with detailed allegations against Fischer.
"The victims' statements in the file contained indications of a disturbing pattern of grooming, building trust and then abusing young boys who were sent to [Fischer] for the expressed purpose of getting help with their own [psychiatric] issues," Texas Medical Board attorney Christopher M. Palazola told the board at a recent hearing.
