PHOENIX — For nearly a year, Dr. Pamela Robinson saw dozens of patients in her West Valley psychiatric office.
She wrote hundreds of prescriptions for people either recovering from suicide attempts, seeking care after in-patient hospitalizations, or suffering from several mental health conditions.
But there was a problem: Dr. Robinson wasn’t her real name.
And she wasn’t a real doctor.
Instead, Pamela O’Guinn – a repeat criminal with nine previous felony convictions - had no legitimate medical training of any kind and opened a practice under the stolen identity of an unknowing nurse practitioner across the country.
“This is your tenth and eleventh felony, and you are taking people who are in a precarious position and you are playing with their lives,” said Judge Joseph Kreamer during a sentencing hearing in July.
Under a plea deal, O’Guinn received a five-year prison sentence.
IMPOSTORS: ABC15 investigates the underground world of unlicensed healthcare
While her criminal case is now over, it continues to highlight the consistent and constant failures of our state, health, and law enforcement officials to identify, track, and stop impostor medical professionals.
“I do believe that this is really significant and really scary. And I do think this plea is a really good one for you,” Kreamer said.
In early 2020, O’Guinn opened the Engaging Life Integrated Wellness Center in a Youngtown strip mall.
She saw at least 60 patients over the following year and a half and wrote 327 prescriptions, court records show.
“Nobody cared about the fact that I have, unfortunately, a very extensive history of trying to kill myself,” one woman said in an interview. “They were playing god.”
ABC15 agreed to withhold the name of the victim, who was treated at Engaging Life for nearly a year.
She’s listed as an official victim in the case and believes every level of the system failed.
“I blame everybody,” she said. “I blame the state for not stopping it before she started. I blame Banner for not investigating, for not knowing better. I blame the prosecutor, the investigators… The criminal got a five-year sentence. So if she behaves like a good girl, she will be out in three years.”
The woman said she was referred to O’Guinn by Banner Del Webb Medical Center after in-patient treatment following a suicide attempt.
“They told me they could get my psychiatry needs, my (primary care) needs, and get a licensed therapist to work with,” she said.
Court records show at least one other patient reported that she got the same referral.
“(Name redacted by ABC15) indicated she was straight out of the Pysch Ward at (Banner’s) Del Webb Medical Center and was referred to the defendant for medical services by the hospital,” according to the victim’s statement to the court. “The defendant immediately took her two medications (anti-psychotic and anxiety) the hospital had prescribed her. She had a tough time with frequent unsavory thoughts during the three months she was off the medication.”
In response to a request for comment, Banner emailed the following unattributed statement:
“Due to patient privacy laws, we are unable to comment on patient specifics. For licensing questions, you can reach out to the applicable state licensing agency. When we were made aware of this case, we investigated and have confirmed this person has not practiced in any Banner facility."
Banner did not answer ABC15’s specific questions about the level of vetting, if any, its hospitals conduct before offering referrals or whether it has followed up with any impacted patients.
“I’m afraid to trust any new doctor, new specialist,” the woman victim said during her interview. “I investigate everyone now before I even make the phone call...I never realized I would ever have to do that: be my own private investigators to make sure doctors are really doctors.”
At her sentencing, O’Guinn apologized to the court and victims.
But she also attempted to minimize her own wrongdoing.
“I never came here, your honor, to break the law. I did not willing do anything to break the law. There was some circumstances I was not aware of those things. I take responsibility for them because I should have known. I wasn’t aware of the lady in Maine or any of those things. I wasn’t trying to be her or pretending to be her.”
A prosecutor with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office told the judge that was completely false.
“When we conducted a search of the defendant’s home, we found the victim’s identification, from Maine, in the defendant’s home,” prosecutor Matthew Williams said.
Court records also show that O’Guinn had used the license of a registered nurse practitioner in Maine to apply for an Arizona license and was using that information to bill and prescribe controlled substances.
The real nurse in Maine told the court the “whole ordeal has been traumatic, terrifying, and frustrating.”
Her victim statement said, “It’s unsettling that somebody was able to steal her DEA number so she can prescribe narcotics under her name. The defendant was putting lives in danger and could have killed somebody. There’s not enough time in prison to punish her for what she did.”
Records show other people helped O’Guinn run her bogus psychiatric practice. But so far, no one else has been charged with a crime.
ABC15 has spent years investigating impostor medical professionals and how Arizona fails to stop them. The station is still researching this case and looking into how it was handled.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
