Does this sound fishy to you?
My SD has been seeing a therapist, of the BM choosing, for over a year now (of which, we, BTW, did not find out about until six months after the fact). We have met with the therapist once and have tried to contact him via e-mail, without any luck. The BM is very non-communicative concerning the SD visits, so my BF called yesterday to request a copy of SD records so we could see what was going on with the therapy sessions.
This is the weirdest thing. The secretary told BF that all they have are the papers filed with his insurance to request payment. There are NO records. The therapist keeps everything in his head. WHAT??!! This man has countless patients, who he sees every day and he takes no notes and keeps all information in his head??!! Riiiight...
We both think something is very fishy. The BM apparently also sees this therapist and has many issues - sexual addiction, domestic violence with her step husband, possibly alcoholism, and my thought is maybe the therapist is protecting the BM. I don't know, does that sound too out there?
We have decided to seek a therapist in our area to take SD to, and "fire" this guy. If the BM wishes to continue taking SD to this person, she can pay for it herself. I have NEVER heard of not having ANY notes, comments, a file, whatever.
Does this sound weird to you?
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Comments
Could it be patient privacy issue?
Could this be a doctor patient privacy issue? I'm not sure how old the SD is but maybe you could go see the therapist in person to make sure he is legit.
No, I don't believe it would
No, I don't believe it would be. The SD is 6 and my BF is the one who carries the insurance for her, so he should have every right to her records. We have met with the therapist once since finding out the SD was seeing him. He seemed to be straight up, but after hearing this...
That's Bull@#it
Don't believe it for a second. Therapists take notes, or at least write up reports after the fact. There is no way that a therapist is not keeping some sort of records. There's just too much legal risk and I'm sure they are required to do so. I'm sure the insurance company would love to hear that the therapist isn't keeping records.
If you have joint legal custody the therapist can not refuse to talk to you about SDs sessions. If they do then it's time to get your lawyer involved. Just a call from your lawyer would probably be enough to get them talking, but I would not allow my SD to see that therapist anymore. Just the fact that they are beating around the bush about talking to you indicates that the therapist isn't maintaining a professional distance from the situation.
Now, if you don't have joint legal custody, I'm not sure what you can do. Get legal counsel.
Something is very wrong.
Our BM has been in therapy for years. Now the girls have been in therapy. I swear to God, some of these therapist don't want to 'cure' them because they would lose out on the insurance money.
Something is definately wrong with the repsonse you got.
I would have BF call again and again until he gets the therapist on the phone.If the therapist won't give you info because of 'privacy', then have him put that in writing. If you have joint legal custody, it's back to court.
Keep us posted.
If nothing more...
...the insurance company would require a diagnosis or something. There has to be something more.
~ Anne ~
It is Weird
The therapist has to have some type of documentation and diagnosis to submit to the insurance company for billing (get paid). Although depending on the age of the child they may not have to share the details of the sessions just what the scope of treatmnet is. (HIPPA laws)Typically, if the child is under 12 they can share, older than that there are confidentiality concerns. Even though you may not have 50 percent placement you may still have joint custody which is different and entitles you to joint decisions regarding parenting/medical treatment. So BIOMOM is correct he has the right to participate in the therapy.
Thanks everyone!
I just wanted my suspicions confirmed, that something is NOT right here. The SD is 6 and BF has joint custody. We haven't had any concerns about the therapist till now. When we found out the SD was seeing a therapist 6 months AFTER she started seeing him, we immediately asked for an appointment to meet with him to discuss exactly what you all noted above. We met with him and he seemed to be a stand up guy; was very forthcoming with his thoughts on SD and her progress. Since that time BF has made several attempts to contact the therapist through phone and e-mail and no responses. That takes us to the present and the phone call to request the records. SD has an appointment in two weeks and we asked BM to make a late afternoon appointment so we could meet with the therapist for a few minutes, so BF called to request a copy of the records be available for us when we come and that's when we got the weird "all in his head" response.
We are now investigating therapists in our area, so we can get her in with someone else. I believe the therapist is possibly protecting the BM, who also sees him. There are many, many issues with her and is the reason the SD even needs therapy to begin with.
My BF plans to call his insurance company and notify them of this strange turn of events and we'll see where this goes. If I have more news I will be sure to report it.
Thanks again everyone for your always insightful and thoughtful responses. You all are the best!
hhmmmm...
Sounds fraudulent to me. Have you check the therapist for his license and his credentials?
Man has the intelligence to change his life,
Sometimes, he just fails to use it...
another perspective
I agree with everyone that the therapist is definitely keeping notes on record and not just in his/her head. However, after working almost twenty years in a mental health clinic, i do know that therapists generally do not release records to individuals, even if they are your own. The reason they do this is because sometimes there may be things in the progress notes may be written in such a manner, that it may upset the reader unless it can be explained by the therapist. Such as a diagnosis of "major depression" can freak someone out if they do not know what it means. At our office, if there was not a third party involved, such as an insurance company requesting records, the therapists would agree to release records to the individual, but only if they would come in for an appointment when they picked them up so that they could be "gone over" and explained/discussed with the individual to avoid any misunderstanding. HOWEVER< this could and should have all been explained when the records were requested. You should never have been lied to. You are right to be suspicious.