A dentist who had sex with his 15-year-old first cousin when she was working as his receptionist in 1961 should not face professional disciplinary charges because it was not a dentist-patient relationship, his lawyer says.
The dentist, whose name is suppressed, is charged with having an inappropriate sexualrelationship with a present or former patient.
The Dentists Disciplinary Tribunal turned down his application to have the proceedings stopped, and in the High Court at Wellington yesterday his lawyer, Susan Hughes, appealed.
The provincial North Island dentist admitted the relationship but said it was consensual and he believed that his cousin was 16.
He was married and aged 29, but Ms Hughes said the tribunal's job was to look at his role as a dentist, not questions of morality. The relevant issue was that the relationship arose from a family connection, and any patient-dentist relationship was coincidental.
