Can I sue a mental health clinic?

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Railroaded
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:38 pm
Location: Phladelphia

Can I sue a mental health clinic?

Postby Railroaded » Sat May 20, 2006 12:32 pm

I sent my daughter a year ago to a mental heath clinic to be evaluated for Major Depression, possible ADDH and PTSD. The PTSD was from a bad neighborhood that was high crime and from harassment from these neighbors. It was a part time M-F clinic. The doctor there knew I took my daughter to a mental hospital and she was put on Zoloft. The Zoloft really didnt have a chance to work since it can take up to 6-8 weeks to work. My husband and I went to a family therapy meeting with a social worker there. On the third week my daughter was out of control, yelling and cursing and cutting her arms. We went to the therapy and I was talking about my daughters friends (I didn't like a couple of the girls). My daughter started cursing and yelling at me. I raised my voice back and my daughter punched the wall and left the room. This 23 years my junor social worker yelled at me and blamed all my daughters problems on me as her Mother. I left in tears and my blood pressure hit the roof. That was her last week there. For weeks after that my daughter was so out of control running away, staying out late, not doing home work, cursing out teachers punching walls threating to kill people in the family etc... I found out that the doctor there took her off the zoloft..I found this out by a mailed discharge notice. DHS and the lawyers for the city were sent a detailed medical records on my daughter. In this report I am called mental slurs and it is stated that my POOR daughter has to have a Mother like this! That I am the reason she is this way! :oops: Yes a father and mother that have been married for 27 years raised 5 childrent four that are/were honor students, three that went to college with honors. This daughter that was in the clinic goes to a Private high school at $4000 a year. I have raised my grandsons and live with my oldest daughter so she could finish college and work full time. I have a spine injury and have not worked since a car accident. I do not get any SSI or welfare. I dont use drugs or drink! I went through a living hell living in a bad neighborhood with crimes of hate and harassment that included fires, shot bullets, broken window and dead pet cats. When my daughter was in this clinic it was party time with violent teens most in foster homes. She learned to curse words I have not heard in years! The doctor there had reports of her DX from the mental hospitals and testing for the LD that she has. I did file a complaint with the insurance that paid for the clinic, but even though they found broken policies there was no much they could do. Some of the problems was that she was taken off the Zoloft cold turkey. She had some serious side effects from the witdraws. The insurance co wanted me to meet with the Doctor again and discuss my daughters medical report! I said No..I felt that she could say I was abusive or other lies and I would have more trouble. BTW I only taked to this doctor once and that was for 15 min to tell of my daughter post PTSD ADHA and depression. I told her I was a witness in a armed robbery trial and that the defendant was harassing me not to appear in court. That was a Real Fear! My daughter saw the guy hanging around! The doctor said I made this up it was not real and that I am mental. Bottom line is this is what the Judge saw since they sent a copy to DHS. DHS sent a copy to the courts and city lawyers. I paid $1500 for a lawyer that quit the case after receiving this report! Can I take any action against this clinic , the doctor and social worker? I want to report this to the State or Feds that handle Medical Records and privacy HIPA. Please help me!

Indie
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:58 am

Re: Can I sue a mental health clinic?

Postby Indie » Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:13 am

I know this post is from years ago..but something similar happened to me recently and was wondering the same thing.also..counselor saw my neighbor in a store recently and was discussing my daughter with her.can you say hippa violation? Would like tp sue them for putting us so far back in treatment.maybe I could then afford the treatment to recover from it.

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LindaJM
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Re: Can I sue a mental health clinic?

Postby LindaJM » Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:50 pm

Sounds like something to talk to a medical malpractice attorney about. Get an informed opinion or two or three. Since I'm not an attorney.. I'm not so much help. It does sound like a violation of professional ethics and definitely something that could be reported to the licensing board... maybe a state agency... also maybe a professional organization.
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Please keep in mind that none of us are lawyers and we can't give legal advice. We are simply telling you what we would do in a similar situation. It is to your advantage to get a lawyer.

"Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke ... so try to do something to change the system ...


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