Thomas Edward Radecki (born 1946) is a former American psychiatrist, founding member of the National Coalition on Television Violence and convicted criminal. He is known for his controversial views on the effects of portrayals of violence on teens and his opposition to depictions of violence in any form. He was later convicted of abusing his position as a doctor to commit sexual offenses; he was accused of trading prescription of opioids in exchange for sex with female patients. He is serving an 11- to 22-year prison sentence.

Education

He attended Ohio State College of Medicine, class of 1973, where he received his MD. His postgraduate education was done at the

Philadelphia General Hospital The Blockley Almshouse, later known as Philadelphia General Hospital, was a charity hospital and poorhouse located in West Philadelphia. It originally opened in 1732/33 in a different part of the city as the Philadelphia Almshouse (not to be conf ...

and the

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is the flagship hospital of Penn Medicine and is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia. It is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals in the United States. Histor ...

. He received his Juris Doctor degree after studies at the Oklahoma City University School of Law (1995-1996), and the

Southern Illinois University School of Law Southern Illinois University School of Law (SIU Law) is one of four public law schools in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in Carbondale, Illinois, it is the only law school in the southern region of Illinois. History The Southern Illinois Uni ...

(1996-1998).

Career

He was licensed to practice as a doctor in West Virginia (1977-1979) and Kentucky. In 1985 Radecki cited a fictitious letter written by a character in the novel ''Mazes and Monsters'' as "proof" that the game ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' had caused the death of gamers. Radecki said in 1987 that "There is no doubt in my mind that the game Dungeons and Dragons is causing young men to kill themselves and others." In 1987 he testified as an expert on the effects of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' on behalf of Darren Molitor (convicted of murder in 1985) at an appeal, along with

Patricia Pulling Patricia A. Pulling (June 30, 1948 – September 18, 1997) was an anti-occult campaigner from Richmond, Virginia. She founded Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (BADD), an advocacy group that was dedicated to the regulation of role-playing games ...

. The court rejected his testimony. He also testified in at least 12 other cases, all unsuccessfully. It later emerged that his claims of being on the faculty of the

University of Illinois College of Medicine The University of Illinois College of Medicine offers a four-year program leading to the MD degree at four different sites in Illinois: Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, and formerly Urbana–Champaign. The Urbana–Champaign site stopped accepting ne ...

were based solely in being listed as "clinical faculty" (signifying that he was accredited to practice at a

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

). He continued to claim this faculty status for years after accreditation was removed in 1985. In March 1992, the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation revoked his medical license for a five-year minimum as a result of "allegations of inappropriate sexual activity by Dr. Radecki with one of his female patients.". Radecki resigned from NCTV, turning it over to a colleague, Carole Lieberman. His request for early reinstatement of his license was rejected, following complaints about his Surrogate Parenting Institute, a

fertility clinic Fertility clinics are medical clinics that assist couples, and sometimes individuals, who want to become parents but for medical reasons have been unable to achieve this goal via the natural course. Clinics apply a number of diagnosis tests and s ...

. His license was restored in 2002, and he was placed on probation, which ended in 2008. He was also research director for the International Coalition Against Violent Entertainment, which published a 1988 study of films and the level of violence therein, as well as a board member of the

Parents Music Resource Center The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related or sexual themes via labeling albums ...

. He has advocated for the use of

Tramadol Tramadol, sold under the brand name Ultram among others, is an opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain. When taken by mouth in an immediate-release formulation, the onset of pain relief usually begins within an ...

as a replacement of

Suboxone Buprenorphine/naloxone, sold under the brand name Suboxone among others, is a fixed-dose combination medication that includes buprenorphine and naloxone. It is used to treat opioid use disorder, and reduces the mortality of opioid use disorder ...

. In September 2012, Radecki voluntarily surrendered his Pennsylvania medical license while facing allegations of unprofessional conduct with patients. These allegations included that Radecki traded drugs to patients for sex. In August 2013,

Pennsylvania Attorney General The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General Kat ...

Kathleen Kane announced Radecki's arrest for over-prescribing, trading opioid-addiction treatment drugs for sex through a program he ran in several counties called "Doctors & Lawyers for a Drug Free Youth". In June 2016, he was sentenced to an 11- to 22-year prison term as a result of the case. In February 2018, a judge rejected a request that his sentence be reduced because of his age and because of what Radecki claimed was improperly introduced evidence in his case.

Articles

* Thomas E. Radecki, "Violent Behavior Images Diet of Media Violence," Social Alternatives, May 1987, pp. 8–21 * * * *

References

External links

Official website from 2010
archived at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

Criminal Cases, "D&D Defense" (all unsuccessful)

Dr Thomas Radecki’s List of D&D Related Deaths and Violence

Google Books search for Thomas Radecki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radecki, Thomas 1946 births Living people American psychiatrists Ohio State University College of Medicine alumni Oklahoma City University School of Law alumni Southern Illinois University School of Law alumni American criminals