ABSTRACT
Over the past several years, psychiatrists have increasingly appeared as parties in legal disputes ranging from criminal actions, to contract claims and malpractice suits. Indeed, psychiatrists today face a broad range of potential liabilities as a result of their professional activities. Consider the following scenario. A former patient has accused her psychiatrist of engaging in sexual activity with her during the course of treatment. As a result, the psychiatrist faces criminal sexual assault charges, he is being sued by the former patient for battery and malpractice, the hospital with which he had been affiliated has terminated his privileges, and his insurance carrier says it will not bear the costs of his defense nor pay any damages assessed against him at trial. This example (which, unfortunately, is not unusual) illustrates the three types of legal dispute a psychiatrist is most likely to encounter during his/her professional life: criminal, contract, and tort.
