Child psychiatrist Winterhoff: Youth Welfare Office ends cooperation

Due to the serious allegations against Michael Winterhoff, the first youth welfare office terminates its cooperation with the child psychiatrist. In the meantime, more and more people are getting in touch.

After massive allegations by former patients and custodians against the Bonn child psychiatrist Michael Winterhoff, the Sankt Augustin youth welfare office terminates its cooperation with the doctor. Based on the report, one sees serious indications of a technically unjustifiable, harm-causing working method of the child psychiatrist.

WDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) reported on the treatment methods of the well-known child psychiatrist, who wrote numerous books and was repeatedly a guest on talk shows. Former patients accuse Michael Winterhoff of having prescribed sedative neuroleptics for years, especially the drug pipamperon.

Winterhoff defends the approach

The drugs prescribed by the child psychiatrist can cause numerous side effects. They range from fatigue to severe weight gain to diabetes and heart disease. Studies suggest that they help reduce brain mass.

Winterhoff announced on request that the use of Pipamperon was harmless as long as the treatment was controlled by child psychiatrists. He weighs the benefits and risks of drug treatment. In many cases, it is the use of this drug that makes curative educational treatment possible in the first place.

Parents and guardians of the children, many of whom were in youth welfare facilities, complained that they had not been adequately informed about the medication. In at least one case, the legal guardians were apparently not informed at all. Winterhoff replies that he always assumed that the custodians had given their consent.

In some cases, the children’s legal guardians found that Winterhoff had billed a different diagnosis to the health insurance companies than he had given them. The television documentary was shot after discussions with more than 20 former patients. Winterhoff diagnosed many with “developmental retardation with fixation in early childhood narcissism”. He also describes this clinical picture in his books. According to our research, however, the diagnosis is not recognized in specialist circles.

Other affected people will contact you

According to information from WDR and SZ want several more victims to take legal action against the Bonn child psychiatrist. Corresponding criminal charges are currently being prepared and will be submitted to the public prosecutor’s office in the next few days. The Siegburg attorney Mehmet Daimagüler, who represented relatives of the victims in the NSU trial in Munich, filed a first criminal complaint with the Bonn public prosecutor’s office on the basis of the ARD– Report filed against the doctor. The public prosecutor’s office in Bonn must now check whether there is sufficient initial suspicion of the alleged criminal offenses and whether they will initiate investigations.

Report to the WDR-editorial staff the story and the SZ other affected persons and experts from youth welfare who would like to report on their experiences with the child psychiatrist Michael Winterhoff.