A Long Island doctor who was supposed to be treating a married model for depression committed medical malpractice by having an affair with her — but it wasn’t all his fault, the state’s highest court ruled yesterday.
The Court of Appeals sided with a jury that Kristin Dupree was entitled to $388,000 from Dr. James Giugliano — and also agreed that she was 25 percent responsible for the affair she says “destroyed her life.”
Dupree, a former model for Elite, went to Giugliano, her family doctor, “for medical treatment for depression and anxiety” in 2000, court papers say.
He prescribed anti-depressant medication, even “switching” drugs based on Dupree’s “concerns about diminished libido,” the judges noted.
They started an adulterous affair in 2001, and “their first sexual encounter occurred at a gym where defendant was showing plaintiff exercises to alleviate stress and anxiety,” the ruling said. The fling lasted for nine months.
Dupree came clean to her husband, who filed for divorce. An ugly five- year battle followed.
“This ruined her life,” said Dupree’s lawyer, Kenneth Cooperstein.