I used to be one of those psychologists who assumed that running my clinical practice according to the APA’s Ethics Code, practicing within my training and credentials, and participating in regular continuing education and consultations, meant never worrying about a potential malpractice issue. Was I ever wrong.
In 2003, I shared office space with two other colleagues, one psychologist and one child psychiatrist, both of whom I had trained with at a local teaching hospital and thought I knew quite well. We were not partners and all had separate corporate structures. Over the first year of sharing office space together, the psychiatrist began repeatedly missing patient sessions as well as refusing to return their phone calls.
Patients would often linger in our waiting room for an hour or more, unable to reach my colleague. Her voice mail was often full. Several of her patients actually showed up in crisis. That’s when my colleague and I called for backup – one time we even hospitalized one of her patients. Our colleague finally admitted she was depressed and being treated. She continued to miss appointments and patients calls. One time she arrived at our office smelling of alcohol. Read the rest of this entry »
