A fellow mental health employee asked one of my mental health patients for money and received 20.00. They asked the same patient for 20 more but only received 10.00. The employee then asked the patient to purchase items for them. What law is the employee breaking? Live in Arizona. The patient has asked for the money and not received it. The employee has been terminated on other issues. Can the employer still go after the offender? I repaid the money out of my own pocket and my employer told me they would not reimburse me and that, since the employee not longer worked for us, they could not do anything. I call BS!

Unethical, yes. Illegal, No.

You volunteered to reimburse, they don't have to reimburse you.

While what you did was admirable, you can not expect the hospital to share your ultruism.

As for illegal, it would depend on the specific circumstances. I am thinking that there could be some crimes, fraud, theft under color of authority, ewtc... depending if the money was simply given for no reason or if their were privileges given/withheld based on the money being given. Though, that will depend specifically on the law of the jurisdiction, call the police and report it, worst thing they can do is not proceeded. Though the patient would have had a civil claim against the hospital for the money, the person was an agent of the hospital working within the scope of employment. So, you could mention to the patient (if you see them) that they should ask for their money back from the hospital (at least the patient will make out better for the incident.