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By Steve Porter
The Coloradoan
1998
A Fort Collins psychiatrist is being sued in Larimer District Court for contributing to the end of a marriage by establishing a friendship with a patient that grew into a sexual relationship.
Christian Hageseth III is being sued by Paul Burson for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and outrageous conduct. The lawsuit, which is being heard by a six-person jury, does not ask for specific damages.
Burson claims Hageseth's treatment of his wife, Laurel, eventually resulted in Hageseth and Laurel Burson forming a sexual relationship and Laurel Burson filing for divorce.
The parties in the lawsuit disagree over several significant points, including when Laurel Burson's therapy with Hageseth ended and when the sexual relationship began.
Hageseth, in one court document, claimed the therapy ended in July 1995. But another document indicates he treated Laurel Burson from 1988 and "into July 1996."
Hageseth admitted in a pretrial deposition that he first had sex with Laurel Burson in June 1996.
Colorado state law, adopted in 1993, forbids medical providers from having a sexual relationship with a patient until six months after the end of treatment. Violating the law is a felony.
Also in dispute is whether Paul Burson should be considered a patient of Hageseth and thereby deserving of protection from harm resulting from a therapist's actions.
Burson claims to have been a Hageseth client, visiting his office numerous times over a period of several years primarily in conjunction with his wife's treatment.
But Hageseth claims Paul Burson was never a client, that he was never treated as a patient and was never personally billed for his services. Dr. Jon Bell, director of the anxiety and depression clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, testified Monday as an expert witness for Burson. He said he believed Paul Burson was Hageseth's client. Bell said Hageseth's actions should have been foreseen as detrimental to the Bursons as co-clients.
"Dr. Hageseth was aware of Mr. Burson's desire to continue his relationship, and Dr. Hageseth forming a relationship with Miss Burson made it foreseeable that an injury was likely to Mr. Burson," Bell said. 'if the therapist acted as a marriage counselor, both patients, husband and wife, were unquestionably patients of that therapist."
A four-man, two-woman jury received the case late Monday and will return today to resume deliberations.
Jury finds pychiatrist ruined marriage
By Steve Porter
The Coloradoan
1998
A Larimer District Court jury decided Tuesday that a Fort Collins psychiatrist must pay $217,373 for damages associated with the breakup of the client's marriage.
Dr. Christian Hageseth III was sued by Paul Burson, who claimed Hageseth counseled his wife, Laurel, to leave him and that Hageseth developed a sexual relationship with his wife.
A four-man, two-woman jury deliberated about seven hours before bringing in a decision in favor of Paul Burson.
The jury awarded Burson $117,373 in real damages and another $100,000 in punitive damages. The jury decided Burson - who attended several sessions with his wife - was a patient of Hageseth and that the psychiatrist engaged in negligent and outrageous conduct toward Paul Burson.
Hageseth said after the jury's verdict that he was sorry for the situation.
"I respect the legal process and the jury who heard my case," he said. "I apologize to those members of the community who have held me in high esteem. Matters of the human heart are not always subject to our highest values."
Hageseth said he plans to appeal.
"As to legal matters, my attorney plans appeals since it is his opinion of the law that this case should never have come to court," he said.
Laurel Burson said after the verdict she plans to continue her relationship with Hageseth.
"A goal of therapy is to become whole and well," she said. "My therapy with Dr. Hageseth ended July 21, 1995. We did not become intimate until almost one year later. He has always been a perfect gentleman and a warm, humorous companion."
Burson said she disagreed "immensely" with the trial verdict.
"Shouldn't any woman have the right to choose who to love and who to spend her life with, even if at one time he was her healer?" she said.
Paul Burson was not available for comment after the verdict.
Laurel Burson began her therapy with Hageseth in 1988, court documents indicate. Laurel Burson said divorce proceedings in her six-year marriage to Paul Burson are expected to become final in May.
Psychiatric group expels local doctor
by Sonja Bisbee Wulff
Dec. 30, 1998
The American Psychiatric Association on Tuesday announced the expulsion of long-time Fort Collins psychiatrist Dr. Christian Hageseth III.
As local medical leaders rallied in his defense, the national voluntary organization charged Hageseth with "unethical conduct involving a sexual and romantic relationship with a patient."
Despite the national ruling, Hageseth's local peers say he followed state guidelines before getting involved with - and last month, marrying - former patient Laurel Burson.
These guidelines, aimed at protecting patients in vulnerable states, say psychiatrists must end a patient relationship and wait six months before entering a romantic relationship with that patient.
Though Burson's then-husband maintains Hageseth broke up their marriage, the psychiatrist said he ended his patient relationship with Burson as soon as he realized he had feelings for her. The two "waited nearly a year before becoming intimate," he said.
That was 2 years ago.
Now, though the APA ruling does not affect Hageseth's Colorado medical license, his local peers fear action pending form the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners.
Such action would be a "blow," "a catastrophe," and "appalling" to a community already short on psychiatrists, they said.
Stan Anthony, acting administrator for the state agency, said he couldn't comment on the situation, other than to say "there have been no disciplinary actions taken."
"Hageseth's Colorado medical license is active as of today," Anthony said.
The Fort Collins Individual Practice Association, which represents a majority of local physicians, looked into the issue earlier this year when Hageseth came up for routine re-credentialing.
"He met the spirit and letter of the Colorado Medical Society guidelines," said IPA president Dr. Jim Bush.
The IPA's credentialing committee and board of directors voted to re-credential Hageseth and wrote a letter on his behalf to the state medical examiners board.
"I would do anything to protect the patients," Bush said, "but I really don't see a danger."
Former psychiatrist loses another lawsuit
by Jenn Farrell
The Coloradoan
July 7, 2000
Former Fort Collins psychiatrist Christian Hageseth III, who lost his license to practice medicine in December, last week lost a negligence suit brought by a patient.
A local jury ruled June 27 that Ray Smith suffered $146,548.10 in damages while under Hageseth's care, including past and future medical bills and noneconomic loss for pain and suffering.
But the six-member jury also found that Smith was 5 percent responsible for those damages, bringing the amount owed by his former psychiatrist down to $139,220.69.
Smith was Hageseth's patient from October 1996 to July 1997. The lawsuit, field in June 1999, claimed that while he was Hageseth's patient he experienced symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. He also had a history of depression.
Hageseth prescribed medications that Smith claimed exacerbated his disturbances.
Smith's claim was based on Hageseth's behavior from June to July 1997. Hageseth became unavailable to his patients in June, Smith said, and in early July terminated his treatment.
Smith said Hageseth knew he was ill and that the abandonment was unprofessional.
Smith declined comment about the jury's decision.
When contacted by the Coloradoan on Thursday for comment, Hageseth said "I just wish you'd let it alone."
He said four psychiatrists testified in his favor during the trial.
"I've done so much for this community for so many years," he said.
Hageseth treated patients in Fort Collins for 21 years before the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners forced him to close his practice.
For a year prior, the state regulatory board investigated a complaint filed against Hageseth by the ex-husband of former patient Laurel Burson, who now is Hageseth's wife.
Paul Burson, Laurel Burson's ex-husband, won a civil suit against Hageseth in Larimer District Court in April 1998 and was awarded $217,373 in damages.
Hageseth was expelled from the American Psychiatric Association for "unethical conduct."
Hageseth denied Burson's claim that he counseled his wife to leave him.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan
2-17-2001
Court reinstates Hageseth's license
It took more than a year, but earlier this month, the state Court of Appeals reversed a 1999 Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners decision and reinstated Hageseth's medical license.
In its reversal, the Court of Appeals found that the evidence did not support the board's decision. The board failed to specify or identify a statute Hageseth had violated or to explain how it concluded he was not safe to practice medicine.
"There is no basis in this record for the board's conclusion," the court's ruling states.
The board could still appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, but the couple said that is unlikely.
Also the Fort Collins IPA, or Independent Practitioners Association, the administrative group to which Hageseth belonged, conducted its own investigation and decided Hageseth could continue to practice, said Dr. Jim Bush, president of the Fort Collins IPA.
However, the judge concluded Hageseth had failed to meet generally accepted standards of medical treatment of Laurel.
The judge ruled he had improperly engaged in a sexual act with Laurel within six months of the termination of his professional relationship with her.
The judge recommended that the medical board place Hageseth on indefinite probation and allow him to continue to practice provided he continue to receive treatment for depression. While on probation, other doctors would be allowed to monitor and evaluate his practice.
Despite the judge's recommendations, the medical board revoked Hageseth's license.