Doctor of Colorado suspect had been disciplined by medical board Dr. Lynne Fenton, shown in an October 2009 photo provided by the University of Colorado Medical School, was treating James Holmes, 24, the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting, court documents show. (University of Colorado Medical School).
July 28, 2012, 12:43 p.m.
Aurora, Colo.—
Dr. Lynne Fenton, the University of Colorado psychiatrist who was treating James E. Holmes, according to a court filing by his attorneys, was been disciplined by the Colorado Medical Board in 2005.
State records show Fenton was reprimanded by the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, received a letter of admonition and was required to take a documentation course. Records detailing the discipline were not immediately available Saturday. Neither Fenton nor Colorado medical board staff could be reached for comment Saturday.
A University of Colorado spokeswoman said she could not comment on personnel matters, but noted that the discipline would have predated Fenton's tenure at the university. Fenton completed a residency in psychiatry at the university in 2008 before becoming an assistant professor and medical director of the student mental health service at the university's Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
Holmes, 24, had been a neuroscience doctoral student at the same school until he began the process of withdrawing in June.
According to 7News, which cited state records, Fenton was reprimanded for prescribing medication to herself, her husband and an employee. The medications, prescribed in the late 1990s, included prescriptions for Vicodin, Xanax, Lorazepam and Ambien, according to 7News.
Fenton was also reprimanded for failing to maintain a medical chart or to enter appropriate entries for the charts relating to herself, her husband or the employee, 7News reported.
As part of the reprimand, Fenton had to complete more than 50 hours of medical training and to promise not to prescribe medications to family members or employees, according to 7News.
Fenton, 51, graduated from UC Davis in 1982 and Chicago Medical School in 1986. She completed a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University Medical Center in 1990. After working as chief of physical medicine for the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio, as a physician in Aurora, and later as an acupuncturist, she completed a second residency at the University of Colorado, according to a resume on the school's website that appeared to have been removed late Friday.
Before the movie theater massacre last week, Holmes had been seeing Fenton and mailed her a package containing a notebook, according to a motion filed by his public defenders and released Friday.
Holmes is due to appear in court in Centennial, Colo., on Monday morning to face charges in connection with the shooting that killed a dozen people and wounded 58. At the same hearing, District Court Judge William Sylvester is expected to address both a request by Holmes' public defenders for access to evidence, including the package he allegedly sent Fenton, and a request by more than two dozen media outlets to unseal the case.
