Can a Hero be too tortured?

I love a tortured hero as much as the next romance fan. But can it ever go overboard? There is an online romance discussion group I frequent. One book comes up for discussion every so often, Her Secret, His Child by Paula Detmer Riggs. The main theme of this book is date rape. Whenever it came up for discussion in the past, I didn't join in. Not having read the book, I never felt I could honestly participate. A few months ago I found this book in my TBR (to be read) and decided to read it in case it ever came up for discussion again. I barely got into the book when I realized that I wouldn't be able to finish it. Not because of the subject matter . That doesn't pertain to this post. The reason I couldn't finish it was because the author "tortured" the hero too much for me to be able to continue. He was a paraplegic, injured when he was trying to save someone's life. He had come from a very disfunctional background and I knew that when he met the heroine she was going to lay a very heavy duty guilt trip (whether he deserved it or not I will never know). But before that I knew it would be too much torture ahead to this guy for me to continue.
Another author who comes very close to this line and on occasion crosses it, is Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor. Don't get me wrong. I think she is a good author and I have most of her books, but on occasion I think she puts her hero through just a little bit too much torture for me to really enjoy the book.
So, if the Riggs book ever comes up for discussion again, I'm afraid I'm still going to have to stay out of it and be content with reading others opinions.