Married B.C. therapists face another lawsuit over actions in MDMA therapy trial

A second participant in a clinical trial for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy conducted by two married B.C. therapists is taking them to court, alleging their actions during the study left him suicidal and cost him his marriage.

Petr Kopet filed a civil claim against Donna Dryer and Richard Yensen in B.C. Supreme Court earlier this year, alleging they dissuaded him from resuming antidepressant medications when he “fell into a deep depression” during the trial in Vancouver in 2016.

Kopet, who had signed up for the trial hoping to find treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder, says in his claim that his mental health only continued to deteriorate after that and he became suicidal.

“His mood changed to the point where others felt unsafe around him. Relationships with others were broken or damaged,” the claim says.

“The plaintiff ultimately attended at Vancouver General Hospital for emergency treatment which included placing the plaintiff back on antidepressants.”

The claim goes on to allege that Kopet later discovered Yensen and Dryer had disclosed personal information about him to another trial participant, including private details divulged during therapy sessions.

Kopet told CBC in a written statement that this discovery is what prompted him to sue.

“I knew Yensen and Dryer were awful as professional therapists during the clinical trial but I didn’t know they were that awful until … I became aware of the fact that they had been divulging copious amounts of my personal information,” he alleged.

CBC News spoke to the other trial participant referenced in the lawsuit, and they corroborated that allegation.

Kopet’s claims have not been proven in court. Yensen has filed a response denying the allegations and describing Kopet as “oppositional with a propensity to violence,” and that he was a “difficult participant” in the study.

“All of Dr. Yensen’s interactions with the plaintiff were within proper professional boundaries and consistent with the aims of the research study and the plaintiff’s voluntary participation in it,” his response reads.

Dryer has yet to file a response and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘My now ex-wife didn’t feel safe around me’

When Kopet came under their care, Dryer and Yensen were working as sub-investigators for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in a Health Canada-approved Phase II clinical trial examining the safety of MDMA, a party drug often known as ecstasy or molly, to treat PTSD.

Dryer was a psychiatrist at the time, while Yensen was an unlicensed therapist.

Earlier this year, Dryer admitted to unprofessional conduct and resigned her B.C. medical licence in response to a complaint from another PTSD patient who participated in the trial. The patient’s complaint said she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Yensen beginning when the trial was still underway, with Dryer’s knowledge.

The patient also filed a lawsuit against the couple and made a report to RCMP. 

Yensen has not denied having sex with the patient, but claimed in his response to the lawsuit that it was consensual and initiated by her. 

The lawsuit was settled out of court. Quadra Island RCMP have confirmed that they recommended unspecified criminal charges in the case, but said Crown prosecutors did not approve them.

MAPS issued a statement in 2019 calling Dryer and Yensen’s behaviour with the patient unethical, and announcing it has cut all ties with the couple and had agreed to pay the patient $15,000 for therapy.

Kopet’s claim states that he was required to stop taking his prescribed antidepressants in order to participate in the trial.

After the treatment sessions had ended but while observation was still underway, he says he asked Dryer how to deal with a “significant and dangerous deterioration in his mental health,” and she told him not to resume his prescriptions.

Kopet’s claim says she made that direction “without having carried out a detailed assessment of his mental state and risk for further deterioration and suicide.”

Kopet described his mental unravelling during that time as “horrendous” in his statement to CBC.

“I was a mess, became despondent and belligerent, and my now ex-wife didn’t feel safe around me and had to stay at a friend’s place. It became a watershed moment that ended up killing my marriage of 20 years,” he wrote.

Kopet said losing his ex-wife’s financial support left him unable to afford housing in Vancouver, and he was forced to leave the city.

“But the worst consequence for me was the loss of a life-partner and my best friend in my ex-wife. …. I still grieve that loss six years after,” he said.

His claim accuses Dryer and Yensen of negligence, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.