A doctor’s constitutional right to courtship and marriage was not violated by New York state regulators who, in revoking his license, faulted his consensual sexual relationship with a patient who later became his fiance, an appeals court has ruled.
Former Rochester physician Carmen A. D’Angelo had urged the court to abandon Matter of Miller v. Commissioner of Health for State of N.Y., 270 AD2d 584 (2000), in which it was held that the absence of a proscription in the law against any physical contact of a sexual nature between a physician and patient did not, ipso facto, constitute approval by the Legislature of such relationships involving medical professionals regulated by the Health Department.
