A Fort Collins psychiatrist is being sued in Larimer District Court for contributing to the end of a marriage by establishing a friendship with a patient that grew into a sexual relationship.

Christian Hageseth III is being sued by Paul Burson for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and outrageous conduct. The lawsuit, which is being heard by a six-person jury, does not ask for specific damages.

Burson claims Hageseth's treatment of his wife, Laurel, eventually resulted in Hageseth and Laurel Burson forming a sexual relationship and Laurel Burson filing for divorce.

The parties in the lawsuit disagree over several significant points, including when Laurel Burson's therapy with Hageseth ended and when the sexual relationship began.

Hageseth, in one court document, claimed the therapy ended in July 1995. But another document indicates he treated Laurel Burson from 1988 and "into July 1996."

Hageseth admitted in a pretrial deposition that he first had sex with Laurel Burson in June 1996.

Colorado state law, adopted in 1993, forbids medical providers from having a sexual relationship with a patient until six months after the end of treatment. Violating the law is a felony.

Also in dispute is whether Paul Burson should be considered a patient of Hageseth and thereby deserving of protection from harm resulting from a therapist's actions.

Burson claims to have been a Hageseth client, visiting his office numerous times over a period of several years primarily in conjunction with his wife's treatment.

But Hageseth claims Paul Burson was never a client, that he was never treated as a patient and was never personally billed for his services. Dr. Jon Bell, director of the anxiety and depression clinic at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, testified Monday as an expert witness for Burson. He said he believed Paul Burson was Hageseth's client. Bell said Hageseth's actions should have been foreseen as detrimental to the Bursons as co-clients.

"Dr. Hageseth was aware of Mr. Burson's desire to continue his relationship, and Dr. Hageseth forming a relationship with Miss Burson made it foreseeable that an injury was likely to Mr. Burson," Bell said. 'if the therapist acted as a marriage counselor, both patients, husband and wife, were unquestionably patients of that therapist."

A four-man, two-woman jury received the case late Monday and will return today to resume deliberations.

Jury Finds Psychiatrist Ruined Marriage

By Steve Porter
The Coloradoan
1998

A Larimer District Court jury decided Tuesday that a Fort Collins psychiatrist must pay $217,373 for damages associated with the breakup of the client's marriage.

Dr. Christian Hageseth III was sued by Paul Burson, who claimed Hageseth counseled his wife, Laurel, to leave him and that Hageseth developed a sexual relationship with his wife.

A four-man, two-woman jury deliberated about seven hours before bringing in a decision in favor of Paul Burson.

The jury awarded Burson $117,373 in real damages and another $100,000 in punitive damages. The jury decided Burson - who attended several sessions with his wife - was a patient of Hageseth and that the psychiatrist engaged in negligent and outrageous conduct toward Paul Burson.

Hageseth said after the jury's verdict that he was sorry for the situation.

"I respect the legal process and the jury who heard my case," he said. "I apologize to those members of the community who have held me in high esteem. Matters of the human heart are not always subject to our highest values."

Hageseth said he plans to appeal.

"As to legal matters, my attorney plans appeals since it is his opinion of the law that this case should never have come to court," he said.

Laurel Burson said after the verdict she plans to continue her relationship with Hageseth.

"A goal of therapy is to become whole and well," she said. "My therapy with Dr. Hageseth ended July 21, 1995. We did not become intimate until almost one year later. He has always been a perfect gentleman and a warm, humorous companion."

Burson said she disagreed "immensely" with the trial verdict.

"Shouldn't any woman have the right to choose who to love and who to spend her life with, even if at one time he was her healer?" she said.

Paul Burson was not available for comment after the verdict.

Laurel Burson began her therapy with Hageseth in 1988, court documents indicate. Laurel Burson said divorce proceedings in her six-year marriage to Paul Burson are expected to become final in May.