Psychologist in a sexual relationship with his patient told her he wanted to be her Darcy

August 8, 2017

Psychologist, Markus Themessl-Huber, told a patient he wanted to be her 'priestly Darcy' (a literary heartthrob from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" novel). He sent her hundreds of raunchy emails and arranged for her to be discharged from his care so they could consummate their relationship. The married father falsified his work timesheets to pocket pay while concealing his time spent out of the office with the woman, boasting to her, 'This is how I secretly make love to you while under the NHS umbrella'. He was working for the National Health Service (NHS), the British public health system, as a clinical psychologist when the affair began in late 2015. After hundreds of erotic emails, they planned for her discharge from his care, with Themessl-Huber writing: 'I worry you feel pressured into being discharged before you're ready.' From January to March 2016, Themessl-Huber engaged in a sexual relationship with the patient. Themessl-Huber told his patient the 'only way he could be open' was if she agreed to be discharged. She wrote that the relationship had left her 'heartbroken' and 'confused', triggering the same feelings she had suffered from her previous traumatic experiences of sexual abuse. The affair ended when the patient took a medication overdose in March 2016.

Themessl-Huber has admitted five charges including engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship with the woman, sending personal email messages including of a sexual nature and giving her gifts, and submitting five false timesheets while meeting the patient. He faces being struck off (license revoked).

SOURCE: Record Reporter, "Creepy psychologist told patient he wanted to be her 'Darcy' and compared himself to Humphrey Bogart's character from Casablanca," The Daily Record, 8 AUG 2017, http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/creepy-psychologist-told-patient-wanted-10951227