Opinion ID: 712984
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Insured receives the Regular Care and Attendance of a Physician.

Text: 17 Total disability is defined, in relevant part, as: 18 Sickness or Injury which totally and continuously prevents an Insured ... from performing the material and substantial duties of that specialized area of practice.... 19 Sickness is defined as: 20 Sickness or disease which causes the Insured to be totally disabled for a period of time. The Sickness must begin while the Insured's coverage is in force. 21 Dr. Goomar claims that the district court committed reversible error by misconstruing the language of the Centennial and Sentry policies. He claims that his mental sickness caused him to molest four female patients, which resulted in his license being revoked, and that his sickness therefore rendered him totally disabled. We disagree. 22 Diane Mohr, who worked as a nurse for Dr. Goomar between January 1976 and August 1982 and between April 1985 and September 1986, stated that Dr. Goomar never demonstrated odd or irrational behavior and that he maintained a normal work schedule. She never received any complaints from patients regarding Dr. Goomar's conduct. 23 Donna Hladik, who worked part-time for Dr. Goomar from approximately 1979 to 1984, stated that she never saw Dr. Goomar do anything improper, never noticed an inability on the part of Dr. Goomar to perform the duties of his practice, and never noticed any emotional or mental problems of Dr. Goomar during that time. She also had never received any complaints from patients regarding Dr. Goomar's conduct. 24 Shukla Goomar, who was Dr. Goomar's office manager as well as his wife, testified that she did not feel that her husband needed psychiatric help at the time the molestations were occurring. She also testified that she has no way of knowing whether her husband was disabled in 1987 when he lost his license. Testifying on her husband's behalf at the license revocation hearings, Shukla stated that she felt her husband was a competent doctor. She never mentioned anything to the Review Committee about the mental problems that Dr. Goomar now claims he had at the time. 25 Dr. Arthur Isenburg, who had observed Dr. Goomar working with patients at Saratoga Springs Hospital in New York, believed strongly enough in Dr. Goomar's competence that he testified on Dr. Goomar's behalf at the license revocation hearings. He stated, I would not have so testified if I had any personal or professional reservations concerning Dr. Goomar's competency or abilities as a physician. 26 At the license revocation hearings, Dr. Goomar vigorously defended himself, arguing that he was fit to practice medicine and wanted to continue doing so. He did not mention anything about the mental problems that he now alleges he had at the time. 27 In 1989, Dr. Goomar told Dr. Sae Chung, his attending psychiatrist at Albany Medical Center, that the psychiatric problems he was having had started only six months prior to his admission to Albany Medical Center in September 1989, and that he had never had any psychiatric problem before. After extensive testing, Dr. Chung and Dr. Thibodeau concluded that Dr. Goomar's mental illness at that time was a single episode of a severe major depressive affective disorder with psychotic behavior, specifically ruling out paranoid schizophrenia. Dr. Thibodeau determined that this condition was brought on by the significant life changes that Dr. Goomar had undergone as a result of having lost his medical license. 28 Dr. Goomar continued practicing medicine until his license was revoked in 1987. There is no evidence that he molested anyone after April 1984, and the evidence indicates that he practiced competently for three years after the last incident with no apparent disabling effects from his alleged sickness. As Dr. Lipian, the appellee's designated expert psychiatrist, stated: 29 If this condition truly caused Mohinder Goomar to be totally disabled, it could only do so by depriving him of an ability to control his own action. After April 1984, it appears that Dr. Goomar, untreated in any way, practiced competently for three more years with no further incidents involving female patients. These facts suggest that he did have the ability to control his own actions, and he chose to stop such unprofessional behavior as soon as he was publicly accused of improper sexual conduct with patients. 30 Dr. Goomar has failed to raise a material issue of fact as to whether his alleged sickness caused the loss of his license and thus his alleged total disability. We therefore affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment for Centennial.