Dr. Adam Hansen, chief resident of general surgery, has been fired after he admitted that he took a picture of a patient’s penis during surgery. Strip club owner Sean Dubowik has a tattoo at that stop that reads: “Hot Rod.”
Hansen has admitted to Dubowik that he took the picture when the patient was unconscious for gallbladder surgery. An array of torts can be alleged. These include negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and possibly intrusion upon seclusion. There is also the publication of private facts. Despite the fact that the patient is exposed in surgery, his appearance remains covered by privacy rules. Under the second restatement, a person is liable for giving publicity to a matter concerning the private life of another if the matter publicized is of a kind that (a) would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and (b) is not of legitimate concern to the public.
This seems an easy case to make and I would expect Mayo to be calculating settlement figures at this very moment.
Mayo held a disciplinary hearing soon after the incident became public. In a statement posted Friday on the Mayo Clinic Hospital Web site, CEO Denis Cortese states Dr. Adam Hansen “is no longer practicing medicine at Mayo Clinic.”
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