After Sexual (and Other) Malpractice - What Can You Do?
Estelle Disch, Ph.D.
BASTA! Boston Associates to Stop Treatment Abuse
528 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Copyright © 1992
(617)661-4667
After Sexual (and Other) Malpractice - What Can You Do?
Estelle Disch, Ph.D.
BASTA! Boston Associates to Stop Treatment Abuse
528 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Copyright © 1992
(617)661-4667
Look for a support group in your community. See the Web page for TELL - Therapy Exploitation Link Line.
Choose confidantes carefully. Some people will blame you, others won't believe
you, and others may minimize the experience. It is very important that you feel
heard and understood by those you lean on for support about this abuse.
Talk with the offending therapist about what happened in the presence of a neutral
third party. This sort of processing session has helped some people. If the therapist
fears a lawsuit, he/she is less likely to be willing to do this with you, since the
neutral third party could become a witness in a trial. Processing sessions can be
set up to include an advocate for each party so that you don't have to face the offending
therapist without an ally.
Tell the therapist what he/she did wrong, how it affected you, and perhaps send a bill
for a refund of your therapy fees. If you are working with a lawyer, discuss this with the
lawyer before sending the letter. This strategy offers you an opportunity to say what you
want to say but it does not necessarily produce responses from the therapist.
Educate yourself, and then attempt to educate others about the damage that sexual
malpractice inflicts. Sometimes there are opportunities to educate professionals or
the public via drafting legislation, other writing, conference presentations, lobbying,
testimony at legislative hearings, interviews with the media, etc.
NOTE: Complaints are often very difficult, time-consuming, and long in the sense that they can take years. They are similar to rape trials in that you have to describe highly personal and painful aspects of your life to strangers. We suggest that you talk with others who have filed complaints before embarking on this path. Most people who have done so have felt better afterwards but most also agree that the process can be extremely painful and frustrating. Some who have gone through it do not recommend it to others.
Complaint options vary, depending upon whether or not a therapist is licensed, belongs to professional associations or works for an agency. Licensing boards, professional associations and agencies are usually willing to tell you by phone if the therapist is under their jurisdiction.
 | Licensing BoardsIn most states, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, other counselors, and
other health professionals are licensed by the state to practice psychotherapy, pastoral
counseling, or health care. Check in the government listings in your state to find out how
complaints against various professionals are handled. Licensing Boards have the
power to censure a therapist, or to suspend or revoke his or her license. A suspension or
revocation would prohibit a therapist from billing insurance companies for payment and
might otherwise interfere with his or her ability to work. In some states, however, anyone
with any sort of training can practice psychotherapy, so the loss of a license will not
necessarily stop the person from practicing. |
| Professional AssociationsEthics Committees of professional associations are in charge of monitoring their members' behavior. They will investigate complaints of malpractice and will confront the alleged offender. Their most powerful sanction is to expel the therapist from the association and announce the expulsion in the association newsletter. (Apart from the public embarrassment, an expulsion of this type sometimes makes it more difficult for a practitioner to get malpractice insurance.) Short of expulsion, associations can sometimes set conditions under which a practitioner can continue to be a member. They also serve an educative function and can make recommendations to the therapist. They cannot stop a therapist from practicing. To establish whether a therapist belongs to a particular association, call the association and ask. If the answer is yes, ask for a copy of their complaint procedure and the ethics code which was in place at the time you were abused. If the therapist belongs to more than one association, you may file a complaint with each one if you choose. The major therapy associations are listed here. You might have to make several calls to find out whether the person who abused you belongs to any professional associations. In some cases the national association will refer you to a local branch for filing a complaint. Psychiatrists: American Psychiatric Association
|
| Agency Grievance ProceduresIf the therapist works in an agency, you can ask the agency for a copy of their ethics code (if they have one) and their grievance procedures. If they don't have procedures in place, you could write a letter to the director or to the Chairperson of the Board of the agency (or both), describing what happened and asking for some sort of redress (apology, compensation, etc.). If there are no set procedures, there is no way of telling how long the process will take or what the possible outcomes are. Think carefully before filing a complaint of this nature. If you can find an advocate within the agency, that might help.
|
In selecting a new therapist it's very important that the therapist believe your story and not be an abuser him/herself. It would also be wise to choose a therapist who has worked either with survivors of sexually abusive therapy or survivors of incest and other forms of child sexual abuse since sexual abuse in therapy is a lot like incest, and since incest survivors seem especially vulnerable to this abuse. If people you know have had good, boundaried experiences in long-term therapy, you might be able to use those therapists as sources of referrals. There are also books available to help you choose a therapist (Bruckner-Gordon, F.,et al.,Making Therapy Work: Your Guide to Choosing, Using and Ending Therapy. Harper & Row, 1988 or Hall, M., The Lavender Couch: A Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy for Lesbians and Gay Men. Boston: Alyson, 1985.) Consider asking the therapist some or all of the following questions:
| What is your clinical training and what degrees do you have? |
| Are you licensed to practice in this state? |
| To what professional associations do you belong? |
| Do you work for an agency which monitors your work? If so, does the agency have a client bill of rights, an ethics code for practitioners, or a grievance procedure? |
| What kind of supervisory back-up do you have when you have questions about your work? Who else will know about my case? |
| Where is your office? Are there other people around during appointment times? |
| Have you ever been socially involved with a client or former client? Under what circumstances? |
| Have you ever been sexually involved with a client or former client? |
| What is your position on social and/or sexual activity between clients and therapists? |
| Have you ever been accused of professional misconduct, insurance fraud, etc.? What happened? |
| Do you carry malpractice insurance? Are there any exclusions in the policy? |
In asking these questions, trust your sense of whether the therapist is appropriately outraged and empathetic with your situation, and whether he/she is telling the truth. If the therapist gets defensive or nervous about answering these kinds of questions, try another therapist. You might be able to ask these questions on the phone in some cases, though it can also be beneficial to ask them in person, so that you can get a better sense of the therapist as you shop around. It is a good idea to interview several people and then choose the one with whom you feel most comfortable.
If the therapist is not licensed, belongs to no professional associations, does not work for an agency, has no supervisory back-up and no malpractice insurance, we'd suggest finding another therapist. And if the therapist has been sexually involved with clients, see someone else.
You might have a civil or criminal case, depending upon what happened to you and how long ago the abuse occurred. Look for a lawyer with experience in this variety of malpractice law. If there is a chance that you will bring legal action, try to talk with a lawyer before bringing other kinds of action against the therapist, or before going public in other ways (such as granting interviews to journalists), so as not to risk weakening your case.
Most malpractice lawyers will take cases on a contingency fee basis if they think you have a case they can win, deferring payment of most legal fees until the case is settled. If the therapist has no assets and no insurance, a civil suit will be more difficult since the point of a civil suit is to recover money for damages (loss of income, coverage of future therapy expenses, compensation for emotional suffering, etc.). Although many malpractice policies have exclusions or low coverage for sexual misconduct, an experienced lawyer will know how to sue in spite of that. Cases have been won based on the therapist's mishandling of the transference, failure to treat, failure to make an appropriate referral, failure to terminate, etc.
This advice was compiled by Estelle Disch, Ph.D., Certified
Clinical Sociologist.
Any feedback will be gratefully received c/o BASTA! at the above address or at (617)
661-4667.
Copyright © 1998 BASTA! All rights reserved.
This information has been reproduced on AdvocateWeb.org with the permission of BASTA! and the author.
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