Amen Clinic Lawsuit: Trinh Case, Wage Probe & SPECT Rulings

Amen Clinics, the psychiatric chain founded by Dr. Daniel Amen and built around SPECT brain imaging, has faced one publicly documented medical malpractice lawsuit, a completed wage-and-hour investigation that never produced a filed case, and a steady trickle of consumer complaints. No federal or state regulator has taken formal action against the company or against Dr. Amen, whose medical licenses carry no recorded discipline.¹

The Trinh Malpractice Case

The one documented malpractice lawsuit against Amen Clinics was filed in August 2013 in San Francisco County Superior Court by Sam Trinh on behalf of his son, Christopher Trinh. In February 2012, Christopher, then 31 and with a history of mental illness, had a psychotic episode near Riverside Elementary School in San Pablo, California, wearing body armor, firing a handgun, and threatening bystanders.² He was charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of resisting an officer, later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and was confined to Napa State Hospital.³

The lawsuit named the Amen Clinic, Dr. Todd Elwyn, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, The Permanente Medical Group, and Dr. Stewart Chiu Wong.⁴ The complaint alleged that Dr. Elwyn, working through the Amen Clinic, failed to diagnose Christopher with obsessive-compulsive disorder and prescribed medications contraindicated for OCD patients, including Pristiq, Concerta, Vyvanse, and a supplement called Brain and Memory Boost. A separate allegation faulted Kaiser’s Dr. Wong for authorizing Concerta and Vyvanse prescriptions without examining the patient.³

Why the Clinic Could Not Get Out Early

Amen Clinics moved for summary judgment, arguing that Dr. Elwyn was an independent contractor rather than an employee. In July 2015, Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith denied the motion. The court found a triable issue on whether the clinic could be liable under the doctrine of ostensible authority, pointing to evidence that Dr. Elwyn used the Amen Clinic logo and appeared on its website, which could lead a patient to reasonably believe he was an agent or employee of the clinic. The Permanente Medical Group’s own summary judgment motion had been denied months earlier, in March 2015.⁵

Settlement

Shortly after the court refused to dismiss Amen Clinics, the parties resolved the case. A notice of settlement of the entire case was filed on August 13, 2015. Because Christopher had a disability, a petition to approve the compromise of his claim was set for a court hearing in October 2015. The settlement terms were not made public.⁵

The Wage-and-Hour Investigation

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org investigated Amen Clinics over allegations that some hourly employees were required to work off the clock during unpaid breaks or before and after shifts without proper pay. The investigation focused on non-exempt workers including patient care coordinators, patient outcome managers, and customer service representatives. As of February 2026, the investigation was listed as complete, and no active lawsuit or class action had been filed.⁶

Consumer Complaints

The Better Business Bureau profile for Amen Clinics lists 11 complaints in the most recent three-year window, with four closed in the last 12 months. The recurring themes:⁷

Refund and deposit disputes, with several complainants describing a $500 initial deposit as effectively non-refundable and saying their money was forfeited even though they never received services.
Cost transparency, with patients reporting initial evaluations of around $5,000 and saying they felt blindsided by the expense. The clinics do not accept insurance.
Advertising concerns, with multiple complainants questioning the scientific validity of SPECT imaging and accusing the clinic’s website of overstating the diagnostic value of its scans. One described the marketing as “false advertising”; another alleged the clinic uses “aggressive business strategies” despite what they called a lack of independent scientific support for SPECT.
Communication failures, including abrupt appointment cancellations, ignored refund requests, and a lack of follow-up from clinic directors.

In its responses, Amen Clinics generally apologized and offered to have a clinic director contact the patient. In several instances, complainants replied that they were never contacted or that the issue remained unresolved.

How Courts Have Treated SPECT Evidence

The scientific credibility of the clinic’s core diagnostic method has been tested in a criminal appeal, which matters to anyone weighing legal claims that rely on Dr. Amen’s readings. In People v. Bruce Brooks, decided by California’s First District Court of Appeal, the defendant had been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life. He tried to introduce SPECT scans interpreted by Dr. Amen to argue that organic brain damage prevented him from forming the intent needed for premeditated murder.⁸

The trial judge excluded the evidence under California’s Kelly-Frye standard, which requires scientific evidence to be generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community. The appellate court affirmed. It found that the defense had failed to show SPECT was generally accepted for determining cognitive impairment or its effect on mental states, noting the “lack of any testimony that there’s any quantitative percentage of blood flow, specific cognitive functions or other factors that will be impaired or even affected.” The court also upheld the trial judge’s discretion in questioning Dr. Amen’s qualifications as an unbiased expert, citing his ownership of Amen Clinics and his commercial promotion of SPECT. The appellate justices found no published decision anywhere supporting the admissibility of SPECT to show that brain damage impaired a defendant’s ability to form specific intent.⁸

Regulatory and Licensing Status

No federal regulator has taken formal action against Amen Clinics or Dr. Amen. The FDA regulates dietary supplements as foods rather than drugs, so the supplements sold through the clinics do not require FDA review for safety or effectiveness before reaching patients. The FDA and FTC have pursued other brain-supplement companies for deceptive advertising, but Amen Clinics has not been among the targets.⁹ Dr. Amen holds active medical licenses with no recorded complaints or disciplinary actions.¹

Amen Clinics is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, was founded in 1989, and operates 11 U.S. locations. Dr. Amen has stated the company grosses roughly $20 million annually and maintains a database of more than 200,000 brain scans.⁹

1
McGill University Office for Science and Society. Is Everyone Else Wrong? The Dr. Amen Story
2
East Bay Times. Police: Gunman Was Raving Before Arrest Near San Pablo School
3
Courthouse News Service. Kaiser Approved Meds Without Eval, Dad Says
4
Trellis Law. Case Management Statement Filed by Defendant Amen Clinic
5
Plainsite. Sam Trinh v. Amen Clinic et al.
6
ClassAction.org. Amen Clinics Overtime Lawsuits
7
Better Business Bureau. Amen Clinics Complaints
8
Psychology Today. Appellate Court Upholds Exclusion of SPECT Evidence
9
NPR. Everyday People Fear They Have CTE. A Dubious Market Has Sprung Up to Treat Them