We place our trust in doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, and expect them to adhere to the accepted standards of medical care and treat you with respect. However, oftentimes, unsuspecting patients become victims of sexual abuse or sexual assault by doctors.
Whenever a medical professional inappropriately touch you, insists that you remove clothing that covers the parts of your body that are not being examined, or engages in any other form of sexual misconduct during an examination or medical treatment, that doctor fails to abide by the code of ethical guidelines laid out by the American Medical Association (AMA).
It is true that sexual abuse and assault can happen in any industry and to anyone, but in the healthcare industry, doctors tend to abuse vulnerable, traumatized, and even mentally unstable victims. “In Pennsylvania, it is unacceptable and prohibited by law for a medical professional to abuse his or her power and engage in any form of inappropriate sexual behavior,” says our Philadelphia medical professional sexual abuse attorney at The Weitz Firm, LLC.
Doctors and physicians usually prey on patients who are more likely to feel ashamed of the doctor’s sexual behavior or abuse are less likely to report sexual medical malpractice out of fear that they will not be believed or they will be judged, or simply because of lack of evidence and a high likelihood of the hospital covering up for the sexual predator among its employees.
Unfortunately, it is true that hospitals tend to cover up for their employees who engage in sexual misconduct by either ignoring complaints of inappropriate sexual behavior from patients or even tampering with evidence (i.e. “accidentally” deleting security footage that captured the act of indecency) or otherwise helping the sexual predator retain his or her position in the hospital or other institution.
Luckily, with an experienced sexual medical malpractice attorney Philadelphia by your side, you will be able to hold a doctor or doctors who sexually abused or assaulted you accountable for their actions as well as sue the hospital for attempting to cover up or failure to prevent the incident (for example, if the hospital has received similar complaints about this particular medical professional from other patients in the past, it should have taken appropriate measures to investigate these complaints and punish the abusive doctor).
Contrary to the popular belief, sexual assault and abuse by doctors do not fall under the umbrella of “medical malpractice.” Our Philadelphia medical professional sexual abuse lawyer explains that medical malpractice deals with negligence and carelessness on the part of doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other healthcare providers. Sexual abuse is no “negligence,” but rather “intentional conduct” that must be punished criminally.
Medical professionals who engage in sexual abuse or sexually assault their patients are almost never first-time offenders. The vast majority of sexual predators among doctors have been sexually abusing or assaulting their patients for years, if not decades. Many of them have managed to go unpunished for so long thanks to their hospital (employer) covering up the sexual misconduct. Others, meanwhile, have used coercion, threats, intimidation, deception, or even the promise of free service to silence patients and prevent them from taking legal action against medical professional sexual abuse.
Being sexually assaulted or abused by a doctor, physician, surgeon, or any other medical professional can leave long-term physical, emotional, psychological damage (not to mention that you may be exposed to the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases), which is why it is important to seek compensation by pursuing a criminal case against the medical professional for engaging in abusive, inappropriate, and unwanted sexual behavior during an exam, treatment, or therapy.
Get a free consultation from our attorneys at The Weitz Firm, LLC, by calling our offices today. Let us determine the best legal strategy to punish the sexual predator and seek compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other damages and losses.
We are highly selective in the cases we undertake to ensure that can give each client his full attention. You can schedule an appointment for a personal injury consultation at our Philadelphia office by calling us, or by filling out our online intake form.
