Keep in mind that everything you do as a psychotherapist is measured against the “standard of care.” This includes choosing other professionals for consultation, supervision, or referral. If you choose unreasonably, you can be held liable. In one case, a … Continued

Read More

Last time, we talked about the two most prominent ways that psychotherapists can run into legal trouble: lawsuits and board complaints. This time, we cover the other two kinds of legal trouble: criminal actions and subpoenas. Criminal Actions Yes, it’s … Continued

Read More

Need a law and ethics guide for psychotherapists? We have noticed something about many book-length treatments of psychotherapy law and ethics.  They spend a long time discussing issues like “the standard of care” in fairly ethereal, abstract, and academic terms. … Continued

Read More

The duty of “informed consent” means that medical providers must inform patients about the benefits and risks of a proposed treatment, as well as potential alternatives. Courts began regularly imposing this duty on psychotherapists when they faced “recovered memory” cases … Continued

Read More

Raphael Osheroff was a highly successful doctor in Northern Virginia. For about two years, he had been suffering from anxiety and depression. In January 1979 he voluntarily admitted himself to Chestnut Lodge, a private psychiatric hospital in Maryland. At the … Continued

Read More

Health care providers have always needed the patient’s consent to perform services. As a famous case from 1914 put it, “Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his … Continued

Read More

    Ruth Corn went to see Dr. James French about a lump on her right breast. Dr. French examined her and told her there were “danger signals” for cancer.  (Corn v. French, 289 P.2d 173 (Nev. 1955).) It was … Continued

Read More

Betty Haggart lived in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In 1986, she began seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Doo W. Cho, for weekly psychotherapy. Ms. Haggart saw Dr. Cho over the next four years. On several occasions, Dr. Cho had Ms. Haggart hospitalized for … Continued

Read More

Jean Palermo was a teacher in Massachusetts. In 1971, she sought treatment for depression and a “bad marriage,” and began seeing a psychiatrist named Dr. John Brennan. (Palermo v. Brennan, 41 Mass.App.Ct. 503 (1996).) During a therapy session in 1973, … Continued

Read More

One of the most common ways that psychotherapists find themselves mired in litigation, or answering to a board complaint, is through child custody disputes. Almost always, there is a frustrated and aggrieved parent. (Sometimes there are two.) And an aggrieved parent will likely blame you—and may sue you or file a board complaint.

Read More