We have helped hundreds of people who have been the victims of sexual abuse in Illinois. Most of those people have been forcibly raped or assaulted in some way. Whatever acts occurred were not consensual in any way.

It’s also possible to have a sexual abuse lawsuit when the sex is consensual. In fact, we have helped people sue a lot of Illinois doctors and lawyers who were sleeping with their patients or clients. but not raping them.

How can you sue a lawyer or doctor in Illinois for consensual sex?

The answer is that if your doctor is actively treating your or your attorney is actively representing you, they have a balance of power over you. In other words, even if it appears consensual, they can manipulate or control you in an unethical way.

So if you are a criminal defense attorney and sleep with your client, there could be at least an appearance that they won’t do the best job for you if you refute their advances or break it off.

The same goes for doctors. It’s most common with psychologists, but it can happen with any medical practitioner. It’s most gross with psychologists as you are talking to them for help which makes you vulnerable with them. We’ve also seen this with plastic surgeons and OBGYN’s.

For all sorts of professionals, there are ethical guidelines about your behavior. Right at the top of the list is that you can’t sleep with your clients.

There’s not an exception because it’s consensual or you both really want it. If you and your attorney want to get together, they should fire you as a client before anything happens. I’ve actually seen that happen in a lot of divorce cases where a lawyer and client get emotionally close. Even in that case, it’s in my opinion inappropriate for them to start a relationship with you. But it’s definitely a lawsuit if they do and continue to represent you.

And if you and your doctor want to date or sleep together, they should fire you as a patient first. And just like with a lawyer, this means that they should make sure you have new representation before anything happens. And for both professions, the new representation should not be in the same practice or firm.

If you have any questions about this or were in any sort of sexual relationship with a licensed professional who you also hired, we’d love to speak to you for free and in confidence. Call us at 312-346-5320 any time.