Note: Minnesota Attorney Elliot Olsen has recently settled a case against a therapist who had a sexual relationship with a former patient. Read about the settlement for a patient who had an affair with her therapist. Contact Elliot at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or elliot@pritzkerlaw.com.
According to a story in the StarTribune, “Dr. John A. Beall, who formerly practiced at the Allina Medical Clinic in Eagan, was cited for ‘unprofessional and unethical conduct’ following an investigation by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice.”
Under Minnesota Statutes, Section 147.091(t), doctors are prohibited from sexual contact with patients:
The following conduct is prohibited and is grounds for disciplinary action: . . . (t) Engaging in conduct with a patient which is sexual or may reasonably be interpreted by the patient as sexual, or in any verbal behavior which is seductive or sexually demeaning to a patient.
According to the Star Tribune, Dr. Beall admitted to violating this statute and others:
“Beall admitted that he began a 20-year sexual relationship with one patient in 1984, when she sought treatment for a back injury, and that he continued to treat her with escalating amounts of narcotics through 2007, often with no documented reason.”
“In November 2004, he began treating another woman he had met a few months earlier on a ‘social networking’ website, according to the board document. Over the next two and a half years, they had sexual relations during at least eight clinic visits, the document says, although he ‘denied that he pressured her to perform the acts.’”
“Beall also prescribed several drugs to the woman without recording them in her medical record. One treatment was for a sexually transmitted disease that she got from him, he acknowledged.”
There are so many legal issues involved that the facts of these patients’ cases could be used for a law school exam. Although the Minnesota Medical Board of Practice did little more than apply a sharp slap on Dr. Beall’s wrist (only a suspension of his license, not a revocation), these patients can contact our Minnesota law firm regarding a lawsuit seeking money damages.
