Most professionals understand that mixing business with pleasure can cause a wide range of problems. Messy divorces, countless social problems, and reduced productivity are all possible when dealing with a jilted lover. Few individuals consider that a malpractice lawsuit is one possible outcome from a failed relationship. Yet, a New York woman was awarded $416,500 in a recent case as a result of such a situation.

Doctor-Patient Relationships and Ethics

Having a relationship with a patient is a difficult issue for medical professionals. In many cases, the patient will consent or even seek out a relationship with the medical professional. However, the American Medical Association frowns upon such relationships, as the professional relationship will often include large quantities of private information and potential vulnerability to the doctor. As such, whether the patient can truly consent to the relationship is arguable in some situations. Terminating the professional relationship before entering into a personal relationship may satisfy state ethical rules.

Whether the relationship constitutes a breach of professional ethics is one matter; whether it constitutes malpractice is another. Medical boards will address the ethical considerations, while courts address the legal considerations. In the case of a relationship, reminds our medical malpractice attorney in Syracuse, the doctor’s actions must be related to the treatment to be considered a breach of a duty.

Malpractice and Relationships

Medical legal trouble occurs when a medical professional is negligent in his or her duties. As with any negligence case, the plaintiff must prove duty, breach, causation, and injury. Medical professionals have a duty to provide services in accordance with the standards set forth in the medical community. A breach of that duty occurs where an act or omission fails to live up to those standards, causing an injury. Each element will be contested in most trials for this type of malpractice; in a medical malpractice suit stemming from a failed personal relationship, the elements of duty and breach will be the most heavily contested.

Personal relationships can often involve both personal and professional elements. In a personal relationship, one partner can give the other advice regarding treatment for minor ailments without involving another medical professional. By merely speaking with one another, the doctor arguably may be providing mental health counseling. By providing medical services, the doctor may be assuming a duty of care. Such was the argument that the defendant’s attorney made in front of an appellate panel in the New York case.

In some cases, such arguments will be tenuous. In the New York case, the patient was being treated for panic attacks, depression, and an unspecified gastrointestinal issue. Arguments that the doctor was providing mental health services hold more merit when mental health is a component of the treatment regimen. The conduct must be related to the treatment to constitute medical malpractice. A jury could view the situation as being related, as being unrelated, or as being partially related to the treatment.

If the jury finds that the doctor was even partially negligent, comparative negligence statutes permit plaintiffs to recover for at least some of the damages. Patients concerned about being manipulated, harassed, or otherwise mistreated while in a relationship with their doctor should consider contacting an attorney experienced in the physician litigation field.

A former TV journalist, Ann Bailey submits this research for the benefit of New York patients who feel they may have been victims of medical errors. The medical malpractice attorney in Syracuse, Bottar Leone PLLC, represents all manner of consultation, litigation and settlement for victims of suspected abuse of this nature in the State of New York.