Embattled shrink placed on indefinite probation

SALINE CO.— It appears that the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (IDPR) has taken further action against the license of an area shrink who has been accused of overmedicating patients and having an inappropriate relationship with at least one of her male clients.

On January 9, Dr. Julie Handwerk’s license to practice was placed on indefinite probation “for breaching required patient-physician boundaries with a patient of her practice.”

DUI drugs

Handwerk and her “practices” came to light in 2012 when she was connected to two Saline County police officers who ended up in trouble.

The first was Harrisburg officer Brent Stanley, who, sources have indicated, had been a patient of Handwerk’s.

In 2012, Stanley was removed from duty and charged with DUI, accused of being under the influence while on duty.

The case against Stanley ultimately fell through because he was not driving when the arrest took place.

Accused of violence

The second officer was Kyle G. Schwartz, Jr., who had suffered the tragic death of his son in a traffic accident in 2010 and the ugly breakup of his marriage when his wife allegedly ran off with the preacher who had been counseling Schwartz through the death of his son.

Seven months after Schwartz became a patient of Handwerk, he was in a physical altercation with the preacher and charged with Aggravated Battery.

Schwartz pled guilty to the charge nearly a year later, saying, “I just wanted to put it all behind me.”

Overmedicated

But that wasn’t the end of the story for either officer.

An investigation into the situation revealed that both men had been not just medicated by Handwerk, but arguably overmedicated.

One area doctor who looked at one of the men’s prescriptions Handwerk had written for him said he weren’t sure how the man was standing upright, much less still breathing.

Sexual advances

But it doesn’t appear to be the prescription of an over abundance of psychotropic drugs Handwerk allegedly prescribed the men that got her in trouble with IDPR; instead, it was her obsession with at least one of the men who had come to her for help…and whom she was heavily medicating.

Handwerk is said to have communicated that she would leave her husband and take up with this patient.

She is also said to have made more than a few sexual advances toward the man.

Found in a coma in parking lot

Sources indicate that Handwerk herself was unstable at the time, as well as medicated, but there is no indication where, if she were taking prescription pills, she obtained her prescription…or if she had one.

“She drove to Marion and they found her in the Kroger parking lot in a coma,” the former patient said. “They took her to Heartland Regional Hospital where she stayed for three days and when she came out of her coma she was transferred to Deaconess Gateway for three weeks. Then she comes out and goes right back into practice. That’s crazy.”

Horrified former patient 

One of Handwerk’s former patients took matters into his own hands and sought out a second opinion over concern that he was being overmedicated.

“My depression got worse and I had to find a new doctor. Be careful of wolves in sheep’s clothing…” one reported to Disclosure his experience, while another said: “…Concerned more with herself than others…” and: “I found another doctor who said Julie had me dangerously over-medicated. It took them weeks slowly backing me off all the pills she had me on. When I go back and read my file, I can’t believe I did those things. I can’t believe the person in the file is really me. When I first looked, I thought they had given me someone else’s file.”

Leaving town?

At the IDPR’s website, under professional activities Handwerk lists “Medical Director, Ferrell Hospital Senior Care” in Eldorado.

Under practice information she lists both Ferrell Hospital and Sage Psychiatric in West Frankfort.

It is unclear if she is working at both places, or neither one.

Sources indicate that Handwerk may be preparing to leave the area in the wake of the scandal.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, Neb., it appears she may be planning to return to that state.

Sources have indicated that a ‘For Sale’ sign has been placed in front of her house north of Eldorado.

Whether this is Handwerk’s handiwork or the sign was placed by one of the patients she allegedly abused/took advantage of is unclear.

What seems to be clear is that this may very well be just the tip of the iceberg in the meltdown of Handwerk’s professional career.