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< BACK TO Fresh Intelligence The Shady Past of Hilton's Shrink SPECIAL TREATMENT Hilton, Sophy (inset) First Dr. Charles Sophy got Hilton out of testifying in a $10 million slander suit against her by socialite Zeta Graff, arguing that Paris is too "emotionally distraught and traumatized" by her incarceration to testify. Then the Beverly Hills healer paid an unauthorized visit to Hilton in jail and somehow helped secure her release (albeit temporary) just three days into her 45-day sentence. How, exactly, he swayed L.A. County officials to go easy on the heiress (against judge's orders) is a mystery many members of the media would like answered. Sophy, however, has stonewalled, and now Radar has discovered that the tight-lipped doc's résumé and past ethical dealings are as shady as his persuasive legal hocus-pocus. Until yesterday, for example, Sophy claimed on his website to hold an "Associate Clinical Professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, Neuro-Psychiatric Institute." He does not. According to well-placed sources at UCLA, he's an unpaid volunteer clinical instructor—"an entry-level position at best," the source tells Radar. "He cannot claim himself to be a professor here by any means." Sophy has yet to return Radar's messages seeking comment, but it seems our probing reached him. He changed his website late Wednesday. It now says he's "a clinical instructor" at UCLA rather than a proper professor. [Before and after screen grabs after the jump.]  BEFORE Sophy's website early Wednesday  AFTER Sophy's site today Also, Sophy has been mistakenly referred to as an M.D. (specifically by Men's Health). He's a D.O., a doctor of osteopathy, a slightly different classification, though D.O. schooling and training mirrors that of M.D.s. Osteopaths focus on alternative treatments, prevention, and patients' total wellness rather than specific symptoms. And osteopathic psychiatrists make up about 10 percent of the American Psychiatric Association, of which Sophy has been a member for more than a decade. So why wouldn't he be forthcoming about his exact credentials? "Some of the D.O.s in our organization don't go out of their way to make the distinction," says a spokesperson for the American Osteopathic Association. "It's a personal choice, but I don't know why any D.O. would not want that to get out." This isn't the first celebrity case for Sophy, who's also a go-to medical expert for PBS and Fox. He famously agitated on behalf of Michael Jackson during the king of pop's 2003 molestation trial. Shortly after Sophy was hired as the medical director of L.A. County's Department of Children and Family Services (a position he still holds), he raised eyebrows by ordering up a memo that seemed to exonerate Jackson. Soon after the confidential document landed on his desk, it was posted on the Smoking Gun and was subsequently used by the pop star's attorneys and media supporters to plead his innocence. The memo might have helped Jackson, but Sophy was accused of leaking it, a charge he denies. "I'm involved in the Jackson case ... but not the way that you think," Sophy told Celebrity Justice. The incident continues to dog him years later. [Ed note: This item has been updated from an earlier published post to include a deeper explanation of osteopathy, Sophy's background, and the change made to his website.] 
Thank you for your deeper explanation of Osteopathic Medicine, and I hope your readers are able to distinguish that the stigma you place on D.O.s in this article is exactly why many are not forthcoming regarding his/her credentials. The fact that Dr. Sophy chose to embellish his role at UCLA should not reflect poorly on the thousands of well-trained and well-qualified physicians that chose to attend osteopathic medical schools. We train for the same number of years and take the same or comparable tests to become fully licensed in any field of medicine, from family medicine to sub-specialties like oncology, transplant surgery, cardiology, radiology, etc. For more information about D.O.s, I encourage you to educate yourself at www.osteopathic.org Thank you, Posted by: drthomas on June 25, 2007 7:55 PM I was quite disheartened when I read your comment on DOs. We take all of the same courses as a MD student. Additionally, we take courses on how to augment our lab data with extra physical findings. Our diagnoses are based on all the data our patients present to us. We treat patients using the same medications as MDs. The only difference is the philosophy we employ. We try to remember the patient in a full context and treat all body systems at the same time. Posted by: DrDel on June 26, 2007 11:20 PM I also add to the thanks for the greater explanation of Osteopathy. However, this mistake had already been perpetuated to a MSNBC report. I know the differences because I am, in fact, a D.O. (and also a Ph.D.) student at Michigan State University, the U.S. News and World Report's 5th Highest Ranking Primary Medical School in the country (which is ranked among all M.D. (allopathic) and D.O. (osteopathic) schools in the country). I also know that what a D.O. student is required to learn and be board certified is the same if not more than a M.D. Case in point, I am less than a week away from taking my USMLE Step 1 (the same 8hr board exam all M.D. students in this country must take and pass). I say, often learn the same or MORE, as I also am taking the COMLEX board exam in two weeks (which is another 8hr board exam required by the National Board of Osteopathic examiners). So for the past 4 weeks, for 12-13 hrs/day I have been sitting and studying, sitting some more, and studying. To read this report made me frustrated and upset enough to take myself away from studying and write this. My third point in questioning whether a D.O. is a doctor relates to Dr. Richard Jadick, the brave military physician who saved dozens of lives during the battle for Fallujah. He was the featured in the March 20th, 2007 Newsweek cover article (which also was coincidentally mis-titled "Hero M.D." by a journalist who also failed to understand the difference and thought a D.O. was an M.D. with more training (which is false technically, but seems correct in some ways). I invite you to visit the MSNBC website with the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11787394/site/newsweek/ Lastly, I think it's important to realize that there is the same percentage of bad doctors with M.D. as there are with a D.O. behind their name. Human nature is by far the greatest component of what type of doctor you are going to be. If someone doesn't care about their patients, then they will be a crummy doctor no matter how much training, what school they went to, or where and what you specialty of medicine they are practicing. I have no doubts that the doctor in this case may have made mistakes, may have padded his resume, but this is nothing new in professional society. I can think of many reports of academics, CEOs and the like who were found to have huge errors and euphemisms on their resumes and they most certainly were not all D.O.s Sincerely, Eric Schauberger Posted by: eric on June 27, 2007 11:06 AM Advertisement |
    
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