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A Colorado doctor pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Mateo County Superior Court to one felony charge of unauthorized practice of medicine, for prescribing pills over the Internet to a Menlo Park youth without possessing a California medical license.
Dr. Christian Ellis Hageseth, 67, allegedly prescribed generic Prozac to Stanford University student John McKay, 19, on June 6, 2005. Mr. McKay committed suicide two months later, on Aug. 2, in his home on Oak Street in Menlo Park. The coroner’s report showed that Mr. McKay had the medicine, as well as alcohol, in his system at the time of his death.
Menlo Park police Officer Felicia Byars, who was dispatched to the home after Mr. McKay’s mother found his body, testified she found a rum bottle at the home that was three-quarters empty.
Dr. Hageseth filled a 90-capsule prescription for Mr. McKay through the Web site www.USAnewRX.com.
However, the doctor was not legally allowed to practice medicine in California because his license had expired, according to Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow. He had a restricted medical license from Colorado at the time he prescribed the drugs.
Defense attorney Anthony Gibbs has argued that because Dr. Hageseth never set foot in California, he never practiced medicine in the state. However, Judge John Grandsaert found that because Dr. Hageseth knew the mailing address was in California, he knew that the medicine would be used in a state where he had no practitioner’s license.
A trial is scheduled for Oct. 20 at 8:45 a.m.
Mr. McKay had just finished his freshman year at Stanford at the time of his death. He was a 2004 graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School, where he was president of the debate team for four years. His parents are David and Sheila McKay of Menlo Park.
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