Psychologist ordered to pay patient $325,000
Category: Hall of Shame
Thursday 18 June 1998
Psychologist ordered to pay patient $325,000
Behaviour ‘disgraceful,’ judge rules in sex lawsuit
Peter Hum
The Ottawa Citizen
A judge has ordered Ottawa psychologist Dr. Arthur Blank to pay more than $325,000 in damages to a female former patient he sexually abused during and after her therapy.
In a scathing judgment released this week, Justice Catherine Aitken wrote that Dr. Blank, who treated and had sex with the woman in the early 1990s, “took negligence to a standard of recklessness and audacity that shocks the court.
“His behaviour was disgraceful, dishonourable and unprofessional and has no place in a profession that prides itself as being one of the helping professions,” Judge Aitken wrote in her ruling.
The award is among the highest awarded in Canada in the 1990s for sexual abuse by a health practitioner.
The Ottawa woman, now in her mid-40s, first saw Dr. Blank in August 1990, complaining that she was a chronic worrier who slept poorly, lacked confidence, and was too often unhappy. As therapy progressed, Dr. Blank made increasingly forceful sexual advances, telling the woman she had a “hot little body” and hugging and kissing her.
By February 1992, he was having sex with the woman in his office and billing her. He soon stopped billing her, but continued having sex with her until December 1993, when the woman stumbled upon Dr. Blank with another woman.
The woman’s contact with Dr. Blank left her an emotional wreck near suicide. While she saw him, her health deteriorated and she became agitated, anxious and extremely depressed. She had idolized Dr. Blank, considered him a “lifeline and saviour,” and after he abandoned her, she had trouble eating and sleeping. She often got up in the night and drove her car for hours. She once thought of driving into a wall to end her agony.
The woman also contracted genital warts from Dr. Blank. “When she was diagnosed … he refused to assume any responsibility for having infected her and instead tried to foist the blame onto (her husband),” Judge Aitken wrote. “This behaviour can only be described as malicious.”
The woman said she had a good marriage, but it was all but destroyed. “Over the last few years, the (couple has) had little energy to do anything other than work, exist and talk about Dr. Blank and the impact he has had on their lives,” Judge Aitken wrote.
The woman’s husband, who was awarded $30,000 in damages, collapsed at work in 1995 from extreme stress. The couple went to one session of marriage counselling, and plan to consult the counsellor again when the litigation with Dr. Blank is behind them.
The judge heard expert witnesses who said that the vulnerable patient was not able to properly consent to sex with her psychologist. “Her participation in sexual activites with Dr. Blank was not based on any understanding on her part as to what was really happening,” Judge Aitken wrote.
“He kept her in a constant state of confusion as to whether his advances were part of her treatment, evidence of his love for her, or something else. This was coupled with her overwhelming dependency on him, which he let develop unchecked, so that she was rendered incapable of coming to her own assessments or conclusions.”
In addition to operating a private practice, Dr. Blank, now in his mid-50s, was the former chief of psychology at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital and an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa.
Because of Dr. Blank’s experience, “it is inconceivable that he did not realize the extent to which his behaviour was unprofessional and unethical. It is also inconceivable that he did not realize the risks he was courting through that behaviour,” the judge wrote.
“Dr. Blank’s conduct went well beyond the merely negligent,” Judge Aitken wrote. “He knew that his actions could cause (the woman) irreparable harm. His behaviour was wilful, manipulative and exploitative.”
Last fall, the College of Psychologists of Ontario revoked Dr. Blank’s licence to practise after a professional hearing over allegations of sexual abuse against the woman.
The woman, now in her mid-40s, declined to comment on the judgment. Her lawyer, Cheryl Lean, said that the woman was greatly relieved, having waited six months for a decision since December’s civil trial.
Dr. Blank could not be reached for comments on the judgment. He did not testify at the civil trial, and his lawyer, Cam Godden of Toronto, called no witnesses. At trial, Mr. Godden had contended that the woman had exceeded a legal limitation period when she made her allegation of negligence.
The woman began her civil action on Dec. 19, 1995, and reported Dr. Blank to the College of Psychologists in March 1996.
The damages awarded to the woman include $100,000 in general damages, $25,000 in punitive damages, and more than $200,000 in special damages such as loss of past and future income, and past and future therapy.
Therapists who have seen the woman after her contact with Dr. Blank testified “his treatment of her was so negligent and so harmful that he may have rendered her inaccessible to any further psychiatric treatment,” Judge Aitken wrote.
Regarding punitive damages, Judge Aitken wrote: “Dr. Blank’s conduct … is offensive to the ordinary standards of decent conduct in our community. The court considers it reprehensible for a professional in a position of power, trust and privilege to have conducted himself in such a callous and irresponsible fashion.
“A strong message must be given that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Judge Aitken has also ordered Dr. Blank to pay the woman’s legal costs and pre-judgment interest on the general and punitive damages. Ms. Lean said that in all, Dr. Blank has been ordered to pay more than $400,000.
No criminal charges were ever laid against Dr. Blank.
In 1996, Dr. Leo Pilo of Etobicoke was ordered to pay approximately $300,000 in damages to a woman known as DMM, for abusing her from the time she was 9 until she was 20.
Also in 1996, Dr. Alexander Alfred of Toronto was ordered to pay $30,000 to a former patient he sexually abused from the age of 17. Four years earlier, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered B.C. Dr. Morris Wynrib, who gave drugs to a chemically dependent female patient in exchange for sexual favours, to pay $30,000 in damages.
Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:00 pm | Trackback URI | Email This Post | Print
I have evidence that my wife is being brainwashed by her psychologist. He was treating her depresion, and shortly after the start of her treatments from him, she wanted to kill herself. With less than a 28 hour stay in a lock down, she was “diognosed” as being bipolar. She was put on medications, and my wife and I had some of the best sex we had ever had. But that stopped as quickly as it began, and her medication were “adjusted.”After two more visits with him, she stopped sleeping with me. A month later,and a couple more visits to this guy, she had lost all affection for me, and no longer would kiss me. She started to skim money from our bank accounts, and spent it on who knows what. She skimmed nearly $500. in just two months, until I finnally woke up and opened all new bank accounts. She then forged a check from the new account, and denied the act. She was having intimate conversations with men on the internet, and had set up dates with this one man of whom she seemed to know very well. I was not able to talk to her either her doctor or her therapist due to HIPA. I read all I could about her disorder, and that scared me to death. I started to follow my wifes behavior and actions. I suspected she was manic, for she was spending money she was not supposed to have, and she had shown all the behavior of a spouse having some sort of an affair.
I took note that on Tuesday nights, she would spend nearly twice as long in the bathroom. She was shaving every inch of her body. She would paint her nails, something not out of the ordinary, but not something she did the same day week after week.
I go to find out she had appointments to her therapist first thing Wednesday mornings. I was unaware she had kept seeing this person, for our insurance would not pay for him. (Much later, I find out he never charged her from the beginning of her sessions, and continued to let her see him for nearly 10 months, four times a month at $150. per session, for free) There are so many details I have left out here. My wife was seen walking out the door on one occation(a Wed.) with a next to nothing skirt and see through blouse. This was not the first time. She had a appointment with our pastor once directly after her therapy session, and she said she was dressed “inappropriately for public” much less for her therapist.
I have told several people what I have obsearved, and they have all come to the same conclusion. There was something going on. I told my wife she was no longer to see this guy, and that I was being billed by our insurance. She said she would take care of the “mistake” on the billing, but I told her not to see him again. She went bullistic, yelling at me she would never wear the skirt again, and said she never went to her therapist wearing it. (a neighbor saw her). A week or two later, we got a bill from her therapist for nearly $4K, with his “discount” it was a little less. My wife was showed no concern for this bill what so ever.
So many things have happened since. My cell phone records show that this guys office has called my wife on several occations since she stopped seeing him. She denies she has talked with his office or him. Then she yelled at me and said it should be against the law to look at her phone usage. I kept track of all events, and after a Thursday night call from this office, she would go out without explaination Friday afternoon.I saw a pattern, and tried to keep my wife from going out. She hated me for this.
There are many details and circumstantial evidence I have failed to write here. My suspicions are founded, but would not stand up in court. I have thought of going to the police, but with what? I have considered hiring a PI, but really can not afford it. My wife detest me now, and we are in divorce proceedings. I have tried to have her tell me where she goes on her Fridays, and she just tells me “nowhere!” My wife told me several time that her therapist had hypnotised her. (he does not have a licence to do this in Colorado, by show of public records) I still think my wife is manic, and I have a strong indication she is having sexual relationships with someone. But these are symptoms of her disorder. I have even thought her therapist my be setting up “dates” with other men or groups of men, for she has returned on occation with clothes askew and hair tossed and out of her character.
I read these articals in these pages, and the senerio is nearly exact. She was being treated for depression, then post traumatic stress syndrome(sp?), but never for the bipolar she had been diognosed for(partially by him). She now is not rational in any part of her life, makes poor desisions in financial affairs,she is on edge all the time, screams she hates me every time I ask her whereabouts, and overall she seems confused and disoriented around the house. She defends her therapist at every mention of his name, and tells me nothing is going on and that I am paranoid. She tells me that I am insane to think that anything is going on between her therapist and her, and that I am just jeolous because he is the only one that has ever made her feel good, and that he is the only one she trusts!!!
So I sign off. I can not possibly write down all the events that have gone on…I have tried to keep a daily log of out of place events. Sign me my real name, Bruce Chamberlin in Colorado