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Small Firm Specializes In Patient Abuse By Therapists — Far More Common Than Many Suspect
In the late 1970s, Stanley J. Spero was a successful trial lawyer in Cambridge, Mass., with a typical roster of medical malpractice and auto product liability cases. That all changed when a deeply troubled young woman told him that her psychiatrist had sexually abused her numerous times. At the time, no one had ever successfully sued a therapist in Massachusetts for sexual abuse of a patient.
Spero and Jorgenson set state precedent in 1983 when they won a $280,000 verdict against the psychiatrist. Since then, the team — who formally became partners in 1993 — have handled more than 400 cases of therapist abuse throughout the country and become national experts on the issue.
"I want my children to know that you can make a difference in this world. Not always a big difference, but in your own way. I know we've made a dent in this problem."
— Stanley J. Spero
Written by Elaine McArdle, August 18, 2003
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The Boston Globe
June 3, 2018
She accused her psychologist of sexual misconduct. The board found her credible — but he still has a license to practice.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
2018
Doctor told police his patients were witches, years before sex abuse alleged.
The New York Times
September 18, 2005
A California Murder Case Raises Troubling Issues — Attorney Spero comments on Polk case.
"This is probably one of the greatest acts of betrayal that people can experience." — Stanley J. Spero
The Boston Globe
August 23, 2001
State Revokes Psychiatrist's License — Top psychiatrist at UMass Memorial/Marlborough Hospital took nude photographs of one patient and made 12 loans to another.
"He believed that helping her meant replicating the abuse she suffered as a child." — Stanley Spero
Boston Herald
August 23, 2001
Doc's license yanked after affair with patient — Medical director of psychiatry at Marlborough Hospital carried on a torrid seven-year affair with a patient with multiple personalities.
"He did have sex with a number of her different personalities." — Stanley J. Spero
The Boston Globe
September 5, 2000
Cambridge lawyer Stanley Spero filed complaints against therapist with the state board and in Hampshire Superior Court.
"His argument is, 'I'm somebody who has this new technique. I'm a creative therapist and I'm being punished for it.'" — Stanley Spero
The Associated Press
August 29, 2000
State board orders therapist's license revoked for at least three years after making sexual advances during therapy.
"The man is a rogue. He has no sense of limits or boundaries." — Stanley Spero
Houston Press
August 17, 2006
The White Coat Club — "Women complain that doctors get away with pretty much anything."
"Physicians, mental health workers, anybody who gets involved in this kind of work, they can identify people who are very, very vulnerable, and they take advantage of these vulnerabilities." — Stanley Spero
Newsweek
April 13, 1992
Sex and Psychotherapy — Sex between therapists and patients is specifically forbidden by the Hippocratic oath.
"The legislators are opposed. One of the issues frequently raised about patients is, 'They're adults, they're not psychotic. Why can't they say no?'" — Linda Jorgenson
The New York Times
May 22, 1992
At the Bar — On lawyerly lasciviousness and new efforts to deal with a "dirty little secret."
The task fell to two Boston lawyers, Linda Jorgenson and Pamela Sutherland, whose findings appeared in the Arkansas Law Review.
Los Angeles Times
August 10, 1992
A Broken Trust — Patients who accuse therapists of sexual misconduct are often left feeling battered by courts, ethics panels.
"It's worse than your first teen-age infatuation." — Linda Jorgenson
The Washington Post
November 2, 1995
When a Trust Is Violated — Maryland debates measure making therapist-client sex a crime.
"Stricter regulations certainly would deter some professionals from having sex with clients." — Linda Jorgenson
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
October 15, 1992
Therapists who have sex with patients betray a trust.
"My biggest judgment was $1.4 million." — Linda Jorgenson
USA Today
September 21, 1992
Psychiatrist gives up license, still faces suit — Harvard psychiatrist Margaret Bean-Bayog quits practicing medicine.
"Consent is the sticking point. Many victims of such abuse return time after time to their therapists." — Linda Jorgenson
The Boston Globe
July 14, 1989
Couple awarded $1.2M in sex case involving their former therapist — Cambridge couple awarded $1.27 million by Middlesex Superior Court jury.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
February 4, 1991
"Discovery" Applies To Abuse By Therapist — SJC extended its "discovery rule" to psychotherapist malpractice.
"It sometimes takes victims of therapist abuse many years to discover the nature of their harm." — Linda Jorgenson
ABA Journal
November 1992
Unfair Advantage — When lawyers have sex with clients are they violating professional ethics?
"We take on the responsibility not to harm and that means if we do something to gratify ourselves at our client's expense, we should be held responsible." — Linda Jorgenson
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