FIRST OFF . . .

A Bethesda, Md., psychiatrist who said on the Oprah Winfrey show that people should not take drugs for psychiatric conditions will appear before Maryland medical licensing authorities Tuesday to respond to a complaint lodged by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The organization said it had received reports that many mental patients across the country had stopped taking their prescribed medication following Dr. Peter Breggin’s comments on Winfrey’s show in April. Breggin, who is fighting the complaint, says his First Amendment rights are being trampled on and claims that he’s being “harassed by the Establishment,” which he says has long been hostile to his unconventional views on the treatment of the mentally ill. The medical society will forward the results of its investigation to the Maryland Commission on Medical Discipline, which has the power to reprimand doctors or lift their medical licenses.