Doctor Sued For Sex "Treatments"

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MrsSpringsteen

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An Oregon woman whose doctor convinced her that he could cure her lower back pain by having sex with her is suing him and his medical clinic for $4 million, according to legal documents obtained on Monday.

The doctor, Randall Smith, who was 50 at the time, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the state's Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute "treatments" involving the woman.

"Dr. Smith's medical treatment included intercourse in which he told plaintiff was needed to help alleviate plaintiff's lower back and lower extremity pain," the former patient said in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which charges battery, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, was filed on Friday in Multnomah County court.

"We never comment on lawsuits," said a spokesman for the Adventist Medical Group clinic in Gresham, Oregon where Smith worked. Smith could not be located for comment.

Though he pleaded guilty to submitting false health care claims, a felony, Smith maintained the sex with the 47-year-old woman was consensual.
 
I saw this on 60 minutes or one of those shows like that. It was either this guy, or there are others like it. This paticular "doctor", spent years manipulating vulnerable women. Had many on medications they didn't need to be on. He knew which ones to prey on. Finally got caught by hidden camera.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
This paticular "doctor", spent years manipulating vulnerable women. Had many on medications they didn't need to be on. He knew which ones to prey on. Finally got caught by hidden camera.

That's a very good point, and if this is the same guy it certainly is nothing to joke about

Maybe vulnerable people can be convinced about practically anything, when you're in a fragile emotional state and on certain medications logic can go out the window
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I saw this on 60 minutes or one of those shows like that. It was either this guy, or there are others like it. This paticular "doctor", spent years manipulating vulnerable women. Had many on medications they didn't need to be on. He knew which ones to prey on. Finally got caught by hidden camera.

There are plenty of guys like this. They're all over. There was a similar lawsuit here a few years back.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:


That's a very good point, and if this is the same guy it certainly is nothing to joke about

Maybe vulnerable people can be convinced about practically anything, when you're in a fragile emotional state and on certain medications logic can go out the window

Yeah, I can't relate, but I guess if these were particularly vulnerable women and maybe he'd given them certain meds that made them more vulnerable....
 
regardless of the woman's state of mind, this was a gross abuse of power on the doctor's part. consensual or not, he knew it was wrong to have sex with her within the realm of the doctor-patient relationship.

while i think the doctor deserved a bit more of a reprimand than losing his licence and 60 days in jail for fraud, the $4 million civil suit is a bit much. i know it's not easy to equate dollar amounts with pain and suffering, but it becomes meaningless when practically anything can be grounds for a multi-million dollar suit.
 
Perhaps the 4 million is a punitive amount?

But that truly is sick. It's when the people you depend on and trust just do this to you, makes people more wary on whom they should trust.
 
Sevikins said:
Perhaps the 4 million is a punitive amount?

yeah, but it just seems so disproportionate compared to the losing his licence and sixty days in jail. where's the balance between the two?

and to clarify my above post, i didn't mean for this case to fall into the "practically anything can be grounds for a multimillion dollar suit"--that was more in reference to the ridiculous cases we hear about more and more often. there was definitely a wrong committed in this case, and this is no light matter. i still think the $4 million is a bit much, though.
 
The $4 Million may be the "pain & suffering" component. Only juries can award punative damages, thus you cannot state an amount in the complaint.

You could build an argument that the clinic knew or should have known of the doctor's improper behavior. If there were any prior complaints, even if done to clinic personnel, the clinic is open to its own liability.
 
dandy said:
regardless of the woman's state of mind, this was a gross abuse of power on the doctor's part. consensual or not, he knew it was wrong to have sex with her within the realm of the doctor-patient relationship.

I agree completely. As usual you have simplified the issue in your usual brilliant way :)

I have heard/read of psychiatrists doing this too :|
 
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