He gave the woman, who was around 60 years his junior, gifts and massaged her: an 81-year-old psychiatrist was sentenced to a conditional fine by the Zurich District Court.
“The psychiatrist should have been aware of the big age difference and his position of power,” says the single judge.
Of course, every experienced court journalist knows that what is performed in a courtroom during a trial is not to be taken at face value, it is a show. There is often bluffing, tactics and sometimes lying. Nevertheless, the appearance of an 81-year-old accused psychiatrist at the Zurich District Court is irritating, and this is completely detached from the criminal allegations.
The man is still professionally active and regularly carries out therapies with mentally ill patients. According to his information in a 60 percent workload. In the courtroom, however, he not only shows great problems in understanding the questions acoustically, he also repeatedly misinterprets simple, clear questions in terms of content. As a process observer, one does not want to imagine the therapy talks that he is conducting.
The man is on trial for allegations of taking advantage of a patient’s plight. Between November 2017 and July 2018, he treated a young woman who came to his practice as a 19-year-old with suicidal thoughts. The patient revealed her life story to him. It was clear to him that she had relationship problems, school and financial problems and was under “extreme family pressure”. According to the indictment, it was therefore clear to the accused that the patient was looking for support and solutions and was therefore susceptible to gifts and favors from the psychiatrist.
A heart follower and tutoring
The accused gave the young woman books, agendas or stones that were symbolic of the topics “love” or “family”. He organized a language stay for her and also supported her financially. He organized tutoring for her with another patient and with his son. He loaned her a MacBook. He is said to have offered her money again and again. At first she refused, two or three times she accepted several hundred francs. For her birthday, he gave her two envelopes, one with a heart keyring, the other with a card with a couple hugging and 150 francs. He is also said to have offered the woman therapy sessions outside of the practice.
When he greeted and said goodbye in the practice, he hugged the patient regularly, and according to the indictment his hand touched her buttocks. He then reportedly held a therapy session at his home in July 2018. During the session, he performed a foot reflexology massage on her. Then he is said to have pulled down her shirt and bra straps and also massaged her back, smeared oil on it and touched her buttocks again. He is said to have asked the patient to take off her bra completely. When she is said to have said several times that she was sick and that she wanted to go, he is said to have let her go.
The public prosecutor, who does not have to appear in court in the single-judge proceedings, applies for a conditional fine of 180 daily rates of CHF 160 and a fine of CHF 5,700.
Hugs and gifts given
In the courtroom, the suspect, who has no criminal record, denied the allegations that he had massaged the back and that he regularly grabbed the patient’s buttocks. The woman accuses him wrongly. But he admits the hugs and gifts. These would have had a therapeutic background. The patient had a massive self-esteem problem. The money he gave her was by no means intended for her, but for her mother, who had serious financial problems. It was about paying travel expenses or the costs of a language stay. He is generally very helpful and social.
He maintains friendly relationships with his patients, but this is always due to the therapy, the psychiatrist explains. His attentions would have a therapeutic purpose. Everything he does is unconditional. He thinks it’s a nice thing if he can make the patient happy.
The initiative for the hugs came from the patient herself in the first session, he claims, because she finally found someone who understood her. The man had logged all therapy sessions, but not those at home. When asked why he gave her the foot reflex zone massage, he replies: He also has training as a naturopath in such massages and is a doctor. “I could take responsibility for it.”
The single judge wants to know why the woman with the back massage and the touching of the buttocks should wrongly accuse him. She is probably looking for someone to blame for her problems, says the psychiatrist. In retrospect, there is a suspicion that the woman also suffers from a borderline personality disorder. However, he had never diagnosed one during therapy. His diagnosis was depression with suspected ADHD.
«Out of the professional role tipped»
The patient’s lawyer calls the psychiatrist’s questioning a “fairy tale hour”. He’s even pleading for a sexual assault conviction. The then 77-year-old psychiatrist was completely out of his professional role. He didn’t know any better than courting a 19-year-old mentally ill patient. As a private plaintiff, the woman is not making any financial claims for damages or satisfaction. It’s not about revenge or money, but simply that the psychiatrist can no longer do to another patient what he did to her. He must be taken out of circulation. There are other patients who have had similar experiences. However, they did not dare to file a criminal complaint.
Defense counsel is requesting a full acquittal. The psychiatrist’s methods are not unusual and not unprofessional. The back massage and the touching of the buttocks are pure inventions of the patient. The attention he gave her was a therapeutic necessity. He didn’t put any psychological pressure on the patient, but made an above-average effort for her, which should actually have led to a thank-you letter. But this ended with a criminal investigation.
Psychiatrist “not very credible”
The single judge found the accused guilty of taking advantage of an emergency and punished him with a conditional fine of 150 daily rates of CHF 190 each. There will be no connecting buses. The statements of the psychiatrist are not very credible, partly contradictory, partly wrong. It is strange that he bases the allegedly false accusations on a borderline personality disorder, which he never diagnosed in her as a psychiatrist.
The patient, on the other hand, gave constant, detailed and uncontradictory statements. She impressively described her inner turmoil and her feelings. It was typical of such attacks that she only filed a criminal complaint a year later. The court also evaluated the patient’s chat histories from the time available as evidence, about which she exchanged views with those around her and in which she reported about the psychiatrist’s strange practices.
The psychiatrist “did not keep the necessary therapeutic distance at all”. He took advantage of the patient’s dependency on him. The oil massage and touching the bottom are sexual acts for the court. The emotional dependency of the patient led to the loss of self-determination. She wasn’t able to say no. The psychiatrist should have been aware of the large age difference and his position of power.
Judgment GG210307 of March 10, 2022, not yet final.