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California Business and Professions Code Section 729

Legal Research Home > California Laws > Business and Professions Code > California Business and Professions Code Section 729

(a) Any physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, alcohol and
drug abuse counselor or any person holding himself or herself out to
be a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug
abuse counselor, who engages in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy,
oral copulation, or sexual contact with a patient or client, or with
a former patient or client when the relationship was terminated
primarily for the purpose of engaging in those acts, unless the
physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse
counselor has referred the patient or client to an independent and
objective physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug
abuse counselor recommended by a third-party physician and surgeon,
psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor for treatment,
is guilty of sexual exploitation by a physician and surgeon,
psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor.
   (b) Sexual exploitation by a physician and surgeon,
psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor is a public
offense:
   (1) An act in violation of subdivision (a) shall be punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than six
months, or a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by
both that imprisonment and fine.
   (2) Multiple acts in violation of subdivision (a) with a single
victim, when the offender has no prior conviction for sexual
exploitation, shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
for a period of not more than six months, or a fine not exceeding one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.
   (3) An act or acts in violation of subdivision (a) with two or
more victims shall be punishable by imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for a period of 16
months, two years, or three years, and a fine not exceeding ten
thousand dollars ($10,000); or the act or acts shall be punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one
year, or a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by
both that imprisonment and fine.
   (4) Two or more acts in violation of subdivision (a) with a single
victim, when the offender has at least one prior conviction for
sexual exploitation, shall be punishable by imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for a period of 16
months, two years, or three years, and a fine not exceeding ten
thousand dollars ($10,000); or the act or acts shall be punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one
year, or a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by
both that imprisonment and fine.
   (5) An act or acts in violation of subdivision (a) with two or
more victims, and the offender has at least one prior conviction for
sexual exploitation, shall be punishable by imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for a period of 16
months, two years, or three years, and a fine not exceeding ten
thousand dollars ($10,000).
   For purposes of subdivision (a), in no instance shall consent of
the patient or client be a defense. However, physicians and surgeons
shall not be guilty of sexual exploitation for touching any intimate
part of a patient or client unless the touching is outside the scope
of medical examination and treatment, or the touching is done for
sexual gratification.
   (c) For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Psychotherapist" has the same meaning as defined in Section
728.
   (2) "Alcohol and drug abuse counselor" means an individual who
holds himself or herself out to be an alcohol or drug abuse
professional or paraprofessional.
   (3) "Sexual contact" means sexual intercourse or the touching of
an intimate part of a patient for the purpose of sexual arousal,
gratification, or abuse.
   (4) "Intimate part" and "touching" have the same meanings as
defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal Code.
   (d) In the investigation and prosecution of a violation of this
section, no person shall seek to obtain disclosure of any
confidential files of other patients, clients, or former patients or
clients of the physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and
drug abuse counselor.
   (e) This section does not apply to sexual contact between a
physician and surgeon and his or her spouse or person in an
equivalent domestic relationship when that physician and surgeon
provides medical treatment, other than psychotherapeutic treatment,
to his or her spouse or person in an equivalent domestic
relationship.
   (f) If a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and
drug abuse counselor in a professional partnership or similar group
has sexual contact with a patient in violation of this section,
another physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug
abuse counselor in the partnership or group shall not be subject to
action under this section solely because of the occurrence of that
sexual contact.

Last modified: February 13, 2012