Doctor's affair wasn't malpractice, judge in Philadelphia rules

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A family doctor did not commit malpractice by having a sexual affair with a patient's wife, a judge ruled.
Common Pleas Judge Sandra Mazer Moss dismissed a lawsuit by Philadelphia resident Walter Long, who sued his family physician over an alleged affair with his wife, Roseanne.
Long filed the negligence suit against Dr. Jonathan E. Ostroff after telling Dr. Ostroff during a 1998 office visit that he was having marital problems and that they were causing him to suffer from anxiety. Dr. Ostroff neglected to tell Long about the affair, according to the lawsuit.
"He said his marriage was falling apart, and he was worried about that," said Long's attorney, Timothy M. Kolman. "He told the doctor that."
Roseanne Long had previously expressed her desire to divorce her husband, and they divorced the following year, according to Judge Mazer Moss's ruling.
Many jurisdictions have recognized that a sexual relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient can constitute malpractice, but the judge said there was no therapist-patient relationship between Dr. Ostroff and either of the Longs. Dr. Ostroff is an osteopath.
"There is no authority which supports liability for a physician involved personally with a patient's estranged spouse," Judge Mazer Moss wrote.
Dr. Ostroff's lawyer declined to comment.