(Hopefully) The Last of The Red Hot Lovers

The issue of sexual relationships between therapist and patient is serious, this one made the news recently: The following is a quote from the AP report.


TAMPA, Fla. — A psychologist is accused of having sex multiple times with one of his female patients and billing her insurance company $1,400 for "sessions," according to records from the Florida Department of Health.


Dr. Daniel Lerom, 49, and a 37-year-old patient identified only as "H.F." had a sexual relationship between February and May of 2009, department board members wrote in a report filed in January. Lerom also repeatedly asked H.F. for her prescription medications, saying he needed them for back pain.


The relationship ended when Lerom's wife discovered the affair, the report said.


Lerom's license has been suspended and the patient is suing him, claiming malpractice, gross negligence, breach of duty of care and infliction of emotional distress, among other things.


She claims in the lawsuit she suffered a "complete emotional collapse" and was institutionalized after being rejected personally and professionally by Lerom.


Lerom did not return messages left at his home and office. An assistant for patient H.F.'s attorney said the attorney would not be commenting on the case.


Both the lawsuit and the Department of Health documents are filled with extensive, and often salacious, details.


According to the report, Lerom would often text H.F. after their trysts, often at her condo or a hotel. He said that he was "falling in love with her" and gave her jewelry from Tiffany's.


"U r sooo hot!!! i worry that i m holding u back from a younger stud who can really meet your needs!! lol!!" one alleged text from Lerom to H.F. said.


Another: "if i were there i would rub u all over and kiss u all over!!! that's the dr. dan cure!!! XOXOXO."


The doctor also referred to himself as a "RHL," or, "red hot lover."

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Some Thoughts:

1. That is so 1980's hollywood. At what point are those in the therapy biz gonna figure out that sleeping with your patient is malpractice?

2. As a professional therapist, he should lose his licence to practice, and face whatever legal or civil consequences come his way.

3. As a 49 year old man, for texting "u r sooo hot," and calling himself "RHL," he should receive the death penalty.

4. Did you know that many of the founders of psychotherapy had sexual realtionships with their patients? The list includes: Jung, Balint, Groddeck, Rado, Rank, Reich, and Tausk. One of Freud's inner circle, Sandor Ferenczi, had a particularly interesting number of such relationships including the following, noted in a letter from Elma Palos-Laurvik, his stepdaughter, whom he seduced and then abandoned amply demonstrated these factors. Mrs. Palos began an analysis with Ferenczi after the suicide of her lover, at the recommendation of her mother, Gisella Palos, Ferenczi's mistress. Mrs. Palos later recalled her "therapeutic" experience in a letter to Michael Balint:

"...So, after a few sessions (on the couch) Sandor got up from his chair behind me, sat down near me on the couch and obviously carried along by passion, kissed me and in a state of great excitement told me how much he was in love with me and asked me if I could love him. I don't know if it was true or not, but I answered him 'yes' and I hope that I really believed it...I don't remember for how many days or weeks Sandor came daily to lunch with us as my fiance before I realized that already I loved him less than I had thought during the analysis."

5. 19 States have enacted laws making it a crime to have sexual activity with a patient.

6. Yes, there are many factors involved in why such horrific boundary violations occur. Therapists should have a good education regarding the very emotionally sensitive nature of therapy. Transference reactions certainly are likely to be a large issue in these boundary issues. But, in my opinion, there should no longer be any excuse for such destructive behavior, and therapists who have sex with patients should be tossed out of the professional pool.