2009 Pa. Super. 92 - Thierfelder v. Wolfert’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 1 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A]s it is alleged that Dr. Wolfert, a general practitioner, was rendering psychological care, it does not matter that he is not a specialized psychiatrist or psychologist. It is not appropriate to make a distinction between the two classes of physicians when they are rendering the same care. The risk of harm is different when a physician is rendering psychological care rather than treating for some other symptom. If [appel-lee-wife] had simply alleged that she had been treated by Dr. Wolfert for a non-emotional condition such as arthritis, we might not find that [appellee-wife] would have a viable cause of action against him. It well could be that under those circumstances a subsequent, intervening sexual relationship would have had no effect on her arthritic condition-thus establishing no causal connection for malpractice. However, in this case, it has been pled that [appellee-wife] was being treated for emotional and psychological vulnerabilities. The allegation that the sexual relationship between her and her doctor intensified the nature of her condition compels our result today.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Thierfelder v. Wolfert