CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Psychiatrist accused of sexual abuse
At least three women say he violated them
One settled a lawsuit with his former employer
He’s a defrocked priest; abuse cases against him have settled
Hospital should not let him practice or see patients, group urges
And state medical board should review allegations soon, SNAP says
WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand-deliver a letter to the head of a local mental health center that employs a psychiatrist who has been accused of sexually abusing at least three girls. They will:
– Tell how the priest’s supervisors settled a sex abuse lawsuit with at least one victim, and
– Hand out copies of the former priest’s personnel file that outlined the abuse and settlement.
They will also:
– Demand that the psychiatrist be removed from his position at a local psychiatric facility,
– Beg hospital administrators to reach out to his current and former patients telling them about the allegations, and
– Urge the hospital to file a complaint against him with the California State Medical Board.
WHEN
Friday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 am
WHERE:
Outside of El Camino Hospital Behavioral Health Services, 2500 Grant Road (at North Drive), in Mountain View CA
WHO:
Two-three people who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation’s largest support group for adults who were sexually abused as kids.
WHY:
Members of SNAP recently learned that Dr. Thomas E. Havel, a Mountain View psychiatrist and an ex-Los Angeles priest – has been accused of sexually abusing at least three women and girls and that the doctor’s former employer settled a lawsuit with at least one victim.
Havel works at El Camino Hospital, where he has been a psychiatrist since the late 1980s. Previous to this, Havel was ordained Catholic priest in Los Angeles and worked there for several years. Then he joined a St. Louis-based Catholic religious order called the Marianists.
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