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IMPORTANT FACTS
1. Patients who have
been sexually assaulted by a therapist are very likely to attempt suicide
2. One in every 100 patients
sexually involved with a therapist commits suicide.
3. According to one study,
nearly half of the patients sexually abused by psychiatrists were already victims
of child sexual abuse, incest or rape.
4. Courts have recognized
that a patient�s apparent �consent� to sexual relations with a therapist cannot
be used as a defense because of the vulnerable state of the patient and the
serious betrayal of trust by the therapist.
5. The Hippocratic Oath,
named after a physician who practiced around the fifth century
B.C., and sworn to be followed by all psychiatrists, prohibits sex between doctors
and patients.
CHAPTER
THREE Sexual Abuse Destroys Lives
In his 2001 report, �Sex Between Therapists and Clients,� Kenneth Pope, the
former head of the Ethics Committee of the American Psychological Association,
said: �The health care professions at their earliest beginnings recognized the
harm that could result from sexual involvement with patients.� The Hippocratic
Oath, named after a physician who practiced around the fifth century B.C., prohibits
sex with patients. The historical consensus among health care professionals
that such activity be prohibited as destructive continued into the modern age.
In the landmark 1976 case of Roy v. Hartogs,one of the first in which a woman
successfully brought suit against her therapist on these grounds, the court
held: �Thus from [Freud] to the modern practitioner we have common agreement
of the harmful effects of sensual intimacies between patient and therapist.�
The ultimate toll of that harm is patient suicide. About 14% of those who
have been sexually involved with a therapist will make at least one attempt
at suicide. One in every hundred patients succeeds.
Factoring in the fearful silence of most victims�only an estimated 1% actually
report the abuse�tens of thousands of patients of psychiatric therapists have
committed suicide, and thousands more have been hospitalized because of the
harm caused to them.
According to a 1989 Australian study, �The Seduction of the Female Patient,�
nearly half of the patients sexually abused by psychiatrists were already victims
of child sexual abuse, incest or rape. Psychiatrists used the patients� vulnerability
to further victimize them. They told them that their problems really stemmed
from �sexual dysfunction� and that the psychiatrist needed to teach them how
to overcome their dysfunction by achieving orgasm and having oral sex.
�I was very sick and I went to him for help,� one patient revealed. �I had
an incredible attachment and dependency on him. He said, �The best psychiatry
goes on in secrecy.� He forbade me telling anyone about the sexual relationship
and told me I couldn�t trust anybody.�
If a patient ever complains, offending psychiatrists first blame the patient�s
�mental illness,� then the patient�s inability to �come to terms� with their
earlier traumatic experience. Finally, psychiatrists frequently argue that the
patient consented to the �relationship,� despite the obvious abuse.
Sharon Hamilton, a professional dancer in Australia, is a tragic example of
this. During a charity performance in a jail, she suffered minor injuries when
a prisoner attacked her with a knife. Seeking compensation, she was referred
to psychiatrist Harry Bailey, who put her under �deep sleep treatment��a drug-induced
coma with electroshock�assuring her this would assist in her lawsuit. But Bailey
seduced her, beginning a torrid affair. Whenever Hamilton became disgruntled
or threat- ened to expose him, she was subjected to more �treatment.� Within
five months of Hamilton�s $100,000 award for the knife attack, she handed over
control of her finances to Bailey�s accountant, who invested $30,000 in Bailey�s
private hospital. Hamilton became pregnant and had an abortion at Bailey�s suggestion.
He denied that he was the father. Less than a year later, Hamilton committed
suicide.
During a State government inquiry, Justice John Slattery described this exploitation:
Bailey �developed a sexual relationship with her� and �used this to dominate
her and to influence her if only indirectly to give him money.� Their relationship
�involved physical assaults, possible abduction, threats, including threats
to
have her committed to an involuntary institution, borrowing money from her,
and causing her to appoint him sole executor and sole beneficiary under her
will.�
In another case, in 1992, psychiatrist Margaret Bean-Bayog faced medical malpractice
charges and a civil suit by the family of a Harvard Medical School student,
Paul Lozano, who committed suicide after treatment by her. Charges alleged that
Bean-Bayog used therapeutic techniques to conduct a lurid and bizarre sex relationship
with Lozano. She sent him notes complimenting him for �phenomenal sex.� Lozano
killed himself after Bean-Bayog ended their relationship.
Dr. Gary Shoener, Director of the Walk-In Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
is adamant about such conduct: �Consent is no defense. So even if it looks like
the patient had a romance with the therapist, if it happened during the course
of the professional relationship, it is a felony statutory rape. It means that
if you prove it happened, you don�t have to prove anything else.�
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