Guy Sues Therapist Who Gave His Details To His Wife

A Therapist should never break a client’s trust.

Many of us already have a hard time telling someone about our feelings and problems. And these sorts of stories can only exasperate the issue. After all, nobody wants their ‘dirty laundry’ to be aired, so everyone can know everything. We all have our secrets, and we would like them to stay that way. Not only that, but it is also highly unethical for a therapist to tell anyway this information without the explicit consent of the patient.

And most therapists won’t even treat someone whom they knew years ago so to treat your friend’s husband is breaking many ethical rules. But she went a step further by relaying everything to her friend about her husband. In no circumstance is this behaviour ever okay. But his family seems to think he is overreacting which is complete bollocks if you ask me. Nobody deserves to have their privacy and trust broken like this especially not by their partner and therapist.

Source: Reddit

Therapy can be a great way to work out these issues.

Simply put, his wife broke his trust, so he filed for divorce.

And the therapist definitely deserves to have her licence disbarred.

NTA. What your wife did was controlling and abusive behaviour. I am so sorry this happened to you. Ask people who say you are an a**hole if they have any secrets that they keep just to themselves. Then ask them if they would be OK with all of them being revealed to their partner as a way to control them. If they say no then you are proven right, and they should examine why they feel it is OK for people to disrespect your boundaries and your safe space.

If they say yes then they need help. –Bad_Advice_Sorry

The children probably just don’t want their parents to split up.

He should definitely sue her for breaking one of the most important rules.

She did this to herself and can’t blame anyone else.

He is going to need a new therapist after this whole ordeal.

You’ve clearly learned this the hard way, but as advice to others–never, EVER allow anyone with any personal connection to you, your family, or your friends to be your therapist, or anyone who provides a similar service. It’s always bad news, as not all therapists are created equal, and it will often cause personal issues/cognitive dissonance in both the therapist and your friends/family members.

Her actions were absolutely illegal and breaching HIPAA. Good on you for getting a lawyer and catching this woman in the act. She should lose her licence for something like that. Who knows how many others have had their private information leaked due to loose lips?

NTA. You are mentioning what you supposedly “did” in this situation, even if it was a lie, was not a valid reason to breach HIPAA. Nor were any of the other times she gave out your private information. Honestly, the only time they are obligated to break it is if it is necessary to protect you from yourself, or others from you–PHYSICALLY. Like you plan to hurt yourself, or injure another person. It can also be done if a) there is a billing situation which requires a condoned disclosure, b) sharing information is necessary to facilitate client care across multiple providers, or c) sharing information is necessary to treat the client. None of these are true in the case of “my client’s spouse is my friend, and I want to inform her of cheating”. Nor is it true in any other situation other than the ones I mentioned. That isn’t how it works. Seriously, fuck therapists like this. They’re an absolute mockery of the practice as a whole. I’d say the lie was a clever way to get to the truth. –horlzonline