This is a local case where I live here in Wisconsin. Of particular interest is the fact that the patient and therapists claim that the patient arrived in therapy with the memory of abuse and that the therapists claimed that they "challenged" the memory (although clearly ineffectively). No "recovered memory" techniques were used. The therapists did, of course, facilitate the accusations and family destruction that insued and were found liable by the jury. I agree that it should serve notice to therapists, although many local responses here seem to see the case as an aberration rather than precedent.
Bill Scott >>> 01/28/11 6:59 PM >>> This is a landmark case which has received little publicity. One of the few news reports on it is here: http://tinyurl.com/4zddv4t More details are available here: http://tinyurl.com/4p5mwl3 The case is notable in a number of respects: 1) It took 15 years working its way through the courts before a decision was reached, a delay apparently due primarily to arguments over whether patient-therapist confidentiality prevented use of therapy records. The Wisconsin Supreme Court eventually decided patient-therapist privilege did not apply in the case. 2) The plaintiffs in the case were the parents, third parties who were falsely accused of sexual and physical abuse of their daughter when she was a child. The defendants were the therapists who encouraged these beliefs in the daughter during therapy. The daughter apparently still has these beliefs, has had no contact with her parents for the past 18 years, and opposed the lawsuit. 3) The jury found the therapists negligent in their treatment of the daughter, and awarded the parents a cool $1 million in compensation for the false accusations. The outcome of the case serves notice to therapists that they have a duty not to use unsound therapy which leads their patient to falsely accuse others, in this case her parents, of horrendous crimes. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: wsc...@wooster.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb25165c&n=T&l=tips&o=8212 or send a blank email to leave-8212-13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb251...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=8225 or send a blank email to leave-8225-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
