Cliff Stearns: “often times in life while you are looking at a problem, you find there is a parallel set of activities that are…”

“often times in life while you are looking at a problem, you find there is a parallel set of activities that are occurring at the same time while you are looking at your present problem. I have such a case this morning, I think, which is a good example. Last April the U.S. Department of Justice charged a staff psychiatrist, a female at a VA Medical Center, with obstruction of justice. It seems that in 1992 a male patient sued the female psychiatrist at the VA alleging that the psychiatrist committed medical malpractice when she engaged in sexual relationships with him during an office visit in 1991. Now, what happened is the psychiatrist requested that the United States Justice Department certify that under the Federal Tort Claims Act that the Justice Department would defend her and substitute itself as a defendant because the alleged misconduct occurred within the scope of her employment. She was a psychiatrist for the VA Medical Center, and she felt the suit should be covered under the Federal Torts Claim Act and that the Justice Department should defend her.”