Community Corner

Registered Sex Offender, Greenwich Doctor Can Resume Medical Practice

Dr. Clifford Berken is a Stamford resident and former Greenwich physician, the Connecticut Health Investigative Team reports.

State health officials are allowing a Stamford resident and former Greenwich doctor who is a registered sex offender to resume practicing medicine, the Connecticut Health Investigative Team, or “C-HIT,” reports on the New Haven Independent’s website.

According to C-HIT, the state Department of Public Health’s Connecticut Medical Examining Board is allowing Clifford Berken to resume practicing under strict conditions. Those include, C-HIT reports:

  • Berken’s license is on probation for five years,
  • Berken must be overseen by a psychiatrist or psychologist,
  • Berken cannot treat patients under the age of 18
  • Another employee must be present during “any examination or treatment of a patient” by Berken.

Berken is a registered sex offender in Connecticut and New York, following his arrest and sentencing in New York State on a first-degree charge of attempting to disseminate indecent material to a minor, C-HIT reports. The 58-year-old, an internist and gastroenterologist arrested in New York in 2008, had surrendered his medical privileges at Greenwich Hospital and shut down his private practice in Greenwich, according to C-HIT.

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It isn't clear what, if anything, Berken will be required to do in terms of notifying patients of his sex offender status. A spokesperson with the Connecticut state health department could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman with the Westchester County District Attorney's office declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

The nonprofit Connecticut Health Investigative Team is a Web-based news service that describes itself as “dedicated to producing original, responsible, in-depth journalism on issues of health and safety, in Connecticut and the surrounding region.”

Find out what's happening in Greenwichwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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