I took in an unrelated 16 year old and her 1 year old daughter 11 years ago. I am the only grandmother ** has ever known and we are very close. After living with me for 9 years **'s mom got her own apartment. Shortly after,** was having a hard time and came back to live with me instead of staying with her mom. All was going well until the father, a convicted felon, got out of prison and hired a lawyer to get visitation rights to see **..

During the ups and downs of all this we started seeing a therapist to help ** cope and learn to deal with her feelings more appropriately. The therapist has turned out to be a Nurse Ratchett- against me. At one point when ** was with her mom, the therapist told the mom to not allow ** to see me for 3 months. Because of the dad's legal fight, a guardian ad litem was appointed for **. When the guardian talked to the therapist she told him many negative things about me, gave me a psychiatric diagnosis and told many blatant lies. When I read the guardian's report I was flabbergasted that the therapist would lie and distort but also be allowed to say things about me without a release of information. Can she do that? This is now a public record and her comments about me can be seen by anyone that the father cares to share it with. Can I report her as violating HIPPA? Can I sue her for libel? The woman is doing serious damage to my granddaughter.

The court ordered that **begin living with her mother again at the end of this school year. However, yesterday when the mom and **went to see the therapist, she told the mom to take **that day. ** did not even get to come back here. Her mom came and picked up all of her things. She did not get to say goodbye to me, go back to her school for closure-nothing. She starts a new school tomorrow. Is there any therapist in their right mind that would think that good for a child? I am a National Board certified teacher. I've just retired after teaching for 29 years in two of the best schools in the state. If the therapist is doing this to me, I shudder to think about the kind of control she has over other people.

The Guardian has the right to discuss medical issues related to the child in their care. Unless you are on that access list... you would not be allowed.

Are you aware of what HIPAA really is?

Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule (http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/)

How is any of this "public record"? Medical files are private information.

No she did not violate HIPAA. The GAL, as the child's legal representative, had a right to this information.

For you to sue the therapist for defamation, you will have to prove you were harmed. If you believe she is causing harm to the child, you need to go back to the court and present proof that she lied.

Now I'm a bit confused about some things. You say you took in an "unrelated 16 year old and her 1 yr old daughter". Yet you refer to her as your granddaughter. Is the child related or not. If she is not your granddaughter by blood, did you ever go to court to establish a legal relationship? Also you say after the mother moved out the child returned to live with you. Was this with the mother's permission?

No, HIPAA was not violated. It is actually necessary for the GAL to know all these thing in order to do their job. Do you have any proof that the therapist lied? Have you gone to another therapist or psychiatrist to help your claim? I'm not going to say that you need to, but you will need proof to back up your claim that the therapist told untruths that caused you harm.

The father went the correct route by getting a lawyer and going to court for visitation. When the child went back to live with you with out the mother was there any form of custody or guardianship formalized?

I am in no way saying that you are unfit. However, I am not there (or a licensed therapist). Do you believe that the child is being harmed in the situation that she is in now?

As I understand it, a therapist made a report of what the child told the therapist, and shared the report with other people. Thus, the contents of the report may contain statements of what the child told the therapist. If this report accurately reports what the child told the therapist, they are probably true (In other words, while what the child said about the OP might not be true, but the substance of what the child said to the therapist is probably truthful,) As such, it would not be libelous.

If other persons share this information in the report, while knowing that the statements contained in it may be false and defamatory, they may technically be liable for defamation.

That's not the way I read it. I read that the therapist had family sessions with the child, the mother and the OP. And the therapist gave info to the GAL based on those sessions. Without knowing what exactly was said to the GAL we can't say what type of case the OP has. Only that the GAL had the right to request the evaluation from the therapist so there was no HIPAA violation.

You are right: evidently the OP too spoke to the therapist:


... we started seeing a therapist ... When the guardian talked to the therapist she told him many negative things about me, gave me a psychiatric diagnosis and told many blatant lies. ...

We of course don't know what these "lies" were. If the therapist said something like " [OP] is crazy", I doubt that it would be defamatory. On the other hand, if the therapist said "[OP] reported that [OP] tried to kill the child", it might be defamatory. We don't know.