Ethical Boundaries: Example #1 of Crossing an Ethical Boundary

HEADLINE: Therapist Jailed for Sexual Relationship with a Patient

KENOSHA (WI) – “Hippocrates warned against it. Freud condemned it. But sex between therapists and their patients still happens from time to time, and a rather dramatic case in Kenosha demonstrates why Wisconsin state law considers it a crime.

To say that [the therapist] failed to respect professional boundaries with a patient is indisputable. To assume she should have known better is an understatement.”

Reference November 20, 2014, Marquette University, FOX 6 Now Milwaukee

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Mark lost his job, started drinking heavily, became depressed, and wanted to die – that’s when he met his therapist.

“She has a New York accent — I’m not going to lie – that turned me on,”  Mark said to the news media.

Mark and therapist soon traded sexually explicit DMs but thereafter they started hooking up at motels. Before long, they were throwing caution to the wind, “and we would have sex in her office for the entire (therapy session).”

Once discovered, the therapist had to surrender her therapist’s license to the state. And she was charged with two felony counts of sexual exploitation.

Mark eventually was committed to a mental health institute.