“A tawdry text message correspondence between a Florida psychologist and a female patient he treated (and had sex with) helped lead to the doctor’s emergency suspension last month.” Well, yes. So one would hope. Oh, but it gets much worse:
It’s hard to know which is the worst part of this sordid tale, currently being investigated by the Florida state Department of Health and detailed by The Smoking Gun. So we’ll just give you a few of the most damning lowlights:
-The patient, identified in court papers only as “HF,” had consulted the less-than-good doctor, Daniel Lerom, because of marital problems.
-Lerom attempted to file claims with HF’s insurance company for more than $1400 for what he termed “specialty consults.” During the 60-minute “consults,” the two were having sex.
-The doc allegedly begged prescription meds like Vicodin from HF for “back pain.” And at least once, stole them from her.
-Oh, and in case this wasn’t bad enough, he had the literary skills of an illiterate 8th grader who’s heavily influenced by the oeuvres of both Tiger Woods and Mark Sanford. Exhibit A: “U r soooo hot!! I worry that I m holding u back from a younger stud who can really meet ur need!! lol!” And: “wish uwere here in the shower with me to warm me up!!! Your RHL!!!” “RHL,” to the uninitiated, stands for “Red Hot Lover.”
All this would be funnier if the woman in question had not, as the report details, been suffering from depression and anxiety for the past six years, and been hospitalized after Lerom’s wife discovered the affair – giving the whole thing tragic and deeply disturbing overtones. Now, she’s charged Lerom with malpractice and negligence; fraud, one presumes, is in there somewhere. So: depressing all around. (Although, in all fairness, those texts remain risible. And what’s it going to take for middle-aged men to stop adding undignified absurdity to injury? Sexting isn’t a midlife crisis: it’s Big. Maybe even Big: The Musical.)
Florida Shrink A “Text”-Book Case [The Smoking Gun]