A Pennsylvania psychiatrist whose medical licence was revoked after she admitted having a sexual relationship with a former patient has been allowed to continue practising while she appeals the decision.
Dr Amy MacIntyre, 53, was found by the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine to have engaged in sexual misconduct, unprofessional conduct, negligent practice and improper prescribing of controlled substances involving Justin Kopicki.
Kopicki first saw MacIntyre in 2004, when he was 17 and recovering from childhood leukaemia. The board found that their consultations later moved into discussions about his sex life and relationships before the professional boundaries between them broke down.
According to the board’s report, MacIntyre told him she “wanted to climb on top of him” before kissing him in her office. The pair had sex days later at Kopicki’s father’s home, the inquiry found.
The sexual relationship continued from 2011 until 2017, including after MacIntyre stopped billing him for sessions. She nevertheless continued prescribing him a changing combination of about a dozen psychiatric medicines, including Xanax and Adderall, according to the findings.
The board said MacIntyre also gave Kopicki expensive presents, including a $5,000 saxophone and a Cartier watch, and took him on trips to Turks and Caicos, Walt Disney World and Las Vegas.
She sent him naked photographs, employed him in her office and at one point proposed marriage, the report said. Investigators also found that she introduced him to her young daughter while she remained married to her husband, Bryan MacIntyre.
Among the allegations examined by the board was that MacIntyre told Kopicki in April 2017 that she had miscarried his baby. Kopicki later described the alleged claim as “a way to perpetuate the relationship”, adding: “You make up pregnancies to keep somebody around.”
The relationship came to an end after MacIntyre went to the Kopicki family home in 2017, where she allegedly shouted and demanded to see him. His father called 911, according to the board’s report.
Kopicki cut off contact with her that July and later brought a medical malpractice claim accusing her of inappropriate sexual contact, isolating him from friends and family and threatening to stop his prescriptions. The case was settled in 2020 for an undisclosed sum without MacIntyre admitting liability or wrongdoing.
The settlement included a non-disclosure agreement, but Kopicki complained to the medical board in 2021, arguing that the public interest in exposing MacIntyre’s conduct outweighed the agreement. Officials examined thousands of messages exchanged between the pair before disciplinary proceedings were brought.
MacIntyre admitted sexual misconduct and unprofessional conduct involving a patient, as well as failing to keep proper medical records. She disputed the allegations concerning improper prescribing.
Giving evidence in 2025, she said she had felt “trapped” and feared for the safety of herself and her family. She claimed she had been coerced into having sex with her patient.
The board rejected that account, accusing her of giving “shifting explanations” and suffering “memory lapses” about the relationship. It concluded that “no sanction short of revocation would adequately protect the public or maintain confidence in the medical profession”.
MacIntyre’s licence was revoked in May and she was ordered to pay more than $11,000 in costs. However, Commonwealth Court Judge Stella Tsai ruled on August 13 that she could continue working while the appeal was considered, citing a shortage of specialist child and adolescent psychiatrists in the Philadelphia area.
Her lawyer, Gary Samms, said he was “gratified” by the decision. The MacIntyres did not respond to requests for comment.
Kopicki, now 39 and living in Oregon, described the ruling as “egregious”. He said: “That judge’s decision should shock the senses of the medical community as well as patients who are seeking psychiatric care.”
He has argued that female professionals are not always subjected to the same scrutiny as men accused of sexual misconduct. “Everybody is tiptoeing around the insane gender bias in this situation,” he said.
