  We study the effect of wave function orthogonality in the relativistic
treatment of the nucleon removal reactions (gamma, p) and (e, e' p). The
continuum wave function describing the outgoing nucleon is made orthogonal to
the relevant bound states using the Gram-Schmidt procedure. This procedure has
the advantage of preserving the asymptotic character of the continuum wave
function and hence the elastic observables are unaffected. The orthogonality
effects are found to be negligible for (e, e' p) reactions for missing momenta
up to 700 MeV/c. This holds true for both parallel and perpendicular
kinematics. By contrast the orthogonalization of the wave functions appears to
have a more pronounced effect in the case of (gamma, p) reactions. We find that
the orthogonality effect can be significant in this case particularly for large
angles. Polarization of the outgoing protons and photon asymmetry show more
sensitivity than the cross sections. If the orthogonality condition is imposed
solely on this one hole state the effects are usually smaller.
