Doctors are supposed to touch during an exam, but not fondle. Psychiatrists should listen to a patient's darkest secrets, but never parlay the intimacy into a kiss. Anesthesiologists put patients under for surgery, but shouldn't have their way with them. When physicians barge through the sacred boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship, the damage to patients can last for years - if not forever. Frequently, patients who are abused start to avoid doctors altogether. Some resort to seeing only female doctors. Many can't get help because they can't get comfortable with a therapist. Making matters worse, victims often aren't believed if they do report a doctor, or the complaint is brushed off to preserve the physician's career. That response, some experts say, can be as damaging as the sexual violation. First there's the betrayal by the actual predator himself. Then there is the betrayal by the colleagues and supervisors," said David Clohessy, the executive director of SNAP, a support and advocacy organization for people sexually abused by clergy, doctors, therapists and others. "You've got people who are deeply wounded in the first place by a predator, and they turn to the appropriate officials for help and they get ignored at best or rebuffed and attacked at worst." Many patients keep silent for fear they won't be believed. That's one reason no one knows the pervasiveness of physician sexual misconduct.