Suit Alleges Seduction by Noted Therapist : Courts: An ex-patient accuses the head of San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, and another makes a similar charge. The doctor’s lawyer denies misdeeds.

A male former patient has sued the medical director of the San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital, alleging that Dr. David McWhirter--an author and expert on human sexuality--took advantage of his emotional problems to seduce him more than 15 years ago.

The patient contends in a sworn deposition that he was invited to McWhirter’s home for dinner, forcibly dragged across the floor and rolled to his back. He then engaged in oral sex with McWhirter and another male therapist, also a dinner guest, the patient said in the deposition.

Another former patient has filed notice that he intends to sue on similar grounds. The second patient alleged in an interview that when he called McWhirter because he was suicidal, the psychiatrist came to his home and seduced him.

McWhirter “said I needed sex and that I should get used to having sex with people more easily,” the patient said.

McWhirter’s lawyer, Jeffrey Barton, said the “allegations are not true and Dr. McWhirter categorically denies them. If necessary and if the plaintiff persists, Dr. McWhirter will go to trial to refute these allegations.”

Barton said he has advised McWhirter not to speak to The Times about the case. “We will try this case in court, not in the press,” he said. A trial date has been set for September.

McWhirter, author of “The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop,” has presided over the county’s 109-bed mental health facility since 1987, after he tired of running his private practice.

A graduate of the University of Southern California School of Medicine, McWhirter has run an Air Force base hospital, a university health service and the adult inpatient service at Los Angeles County Medical Center.

Barton said the pending litigation is the first of its kind involving McWhirter, 60.

Every major medical and psychological organization forbids therapists to have sex with their patients, saying the involvement can be emotionally devastating for patients. In eight states, including California, it is illegal for therapists to have sex with their patients.

Fearful of how the allegations of homosexual seduction would be perceived, the two former patients requested anonymity. Both men say that the alleged sexual involvement with McWhirter has left deep emotional scars and depression, aggravating the problems that brought them to McWhirter in the first place.

One former patient said he had repressed memories of the incident until a recent therapy session. The other said he did not disclose the misconduct sooner out of fear of repercussions.

One patient, who retired as a master chief petty officer from the Navy after more than 20 years, is married and has two grown sons, and has had no homosexual encounters except that evening with McWhirter, said David Miller, the attorney for the two patients.

The retired petty officer, who is now a psychotherapist practicing in San Diego, saw McWhirter for depression on and off for about seven years beginning around September, 1976, Miller said.

He remained in therapy with McWhirter for six years after the alleged incident, according to the deposition and Miller.

The second man to allege misconduct said that he had seen McWhirter as a therapist from 1982 until they had sex about five years later.