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Haley v. Medical Disciplinary Board11/7/1991
The Washington State Medical Disciplinary Board imposed sanctions against Dr. Theodore Haley after ruling that his sexual relationship with a former teenage patient constituted unprofessional conduct. Dr. Haley appeals the Board's decision. We affirm the Board.
Facts
M. was involved in an automobile accident that required the emergency removal of her spleen on May 24, 1986, 2 days before her 16th birthday. The surgeon performing
the splenectomy was Dr. Theodore Haley, a 66-year-old general surgeon and former state legislator then practicing medicine in Tacoma. Dr. Haley was the surgeon on duty for emergencies at the hospital where M. was taken following the accident; he had no prior contact with her. After the surgery, Dr. Haley provided brief follow-up care for M. The last postoperative visit was on June 10, 1986. On December 1, 1986, M. contacted Dr. Haley to discuss the scar resulting from the surgery. Dr. Haley advised her to see a plastic surgeon and told her that she need not see him again because there was no need for further treatment.
Early in March 1987, M., accompanied by a friend, stopped by Dr. Haley's office for a brief social visit "on an impulse to see the doctor that had operated on her." One of the nurses in Dr. Haley's office testified that, whereas on previous visits M. had "looked like a teenage patient", on this occasion she "looked like a beautiful sophisticated woman". About a week later, M. returned for a second visit. Dr. Haley gave her three glasses of wine and then kissed her on the cheek after walking her to her car. She returned again in another week, and this time, by Dr. Haley's account, they engaged in kissing, hugging, and sexual foreplay in a room used to receive patients. Dr. Haley gave her his beeper number and asked her to call him. She did so a week later, and shortly thereafter -- at the end of March or early April -- they began a sexual relationship.
In March 1987, M.'s parents received an anonymous phone call informing them of an inappropriate social relationship between M. and Dr. Haley. M.'s parents dismissed the call out-of-hand. They knew of Dr. Haley only as the respected surgeon who had operated on M.
M.'s parents learned of Dr. Haley's relationship with their daughter in the early morning hours of April 6, 1987. At about 3 a.m., they discovered that M. was not in her room and not in the house. Assuming his daughter would be returning home soon, M.'s father parked his car across the street and waited. After about an hour, a pickup truck
pulled in front of the house, and M. got out and went inside. According to M.'s father, he pulled his car in front of the truck, which then sped away, and he gave chase. M.'s father testified that he chased the truck for 10 or 15 minutes through predominantly residential areas at speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour, and then followed it into a parking lot where it came to a stop. M.'s father stated that he was "flabbergasted" when Dr. Haley stepped out of the truck. He also said that Dr. Haley suggested they sit down and have a cup of coffee together, an offer he declined. After a short confrontation, M.'s father drove away.
Dr. Haley's recollections differ as to what occurred after he drove away from M.'s parents' house. Dr. Haley denied trying to evade M.'s father, and testified that after he dropped M. off and pulled away, he noticed someone following him. Reasoning that it was M.'s father and that he was probably upset, Dr. Haley stated that he drove until he found an all-night restaurant where they could sit down and talk. His memory of the ensuing encounter in the parking lot agrees with M.'s father's.
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