Review of Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Actions: April 2023 (Ethics)
Clinician continued to provide counseling services to a minor after the father revoked consent. The clinician wrote a letter about the father in coordination with the mother, stating that the minor was being harmed while at the father’s home. The clinician attended softball games with the mother.
This case is an example of a harmful dual relationship and operating outside the scope of practice.
The clinician will not be able to renew their license for five years.
Under ARS 36-2272, Except as otherwise provided by law or court order, no person, corporation, association, organization, or state-supported institution, or any individual employed by any of these entities, may procure, solicit to perform, arrange for the performance of or perform mental health screening in a nonclinical setting or mental health treatment on a minor without first obtaining the written or oral consent of a parent or a legal custodian of the minor child. If the parent’s consent is given through telemedicine, the health professional must verify the parent's identity at the site where the consent is given.
In Arizona, only one signature is required, regardless of whether the parents are married. The best practice is to get both parents to sign. It also only takes one parent to request that you cease services, whether they consented or not.
Obtain custody/decision-making court documents and/or agreements for any case involving children of divorced parents.
Clinician sent client data via email to their spouse. The information sent was unsecured. The clinician’s license was placed on probation for 12 months, and a $1,000 fine was imposed.
Please review HIPAA Privacy Rules.
Please review HIPAA Security Rules for national standards to protect electronic personal health information.
Emails sent via Gmail will typically have standard TLS encryption (read more about encryption levels here). However, clinicians can ensure end-to-end encryption using the Virtru extension.