Subpoenas for Counselors
Hi, I’m Linda Kats with Therapist Consultants, and I’ve got a tip for you. One of the things that therapists really fear is when we receive a subpoena. And what do we do? Oh my, we’ve got a subpoena that just came in and they’re asking for records. And we don’t really know to handle that but we do know one thing from our training, you just don’t turn your records over without some sort of procedure.
So what do you do when you get a subpoena? The first thing you do is you contact your patient and let them know, and try to get a release from them right away. Find out what it’s about if you weren’t expecting it. And find out what they want to have happened from it, so get a release from them.
The second thing is, you want to talk the patient’s attorney because one of the things that you’re looking for is, what is it that they need from you in order to help your patient. Because that’s the whole process about a subpoena, you want to help you patient, not hurt your patient. So get a release from your patient and talk to their attorney to find out exactly what it is that their looking for through this subpoena.
The next thing is, if you have to talk to the opposing attorney, obviously you do the first two things that I’ve told you, and then you talk to them, answer only the information that they ask you for. Do not offer anything else, make sure you don’t find yourself engaged in a conversation with them because I can promise you; they will try to engage you. So just answer the questions that they ask, and do not give them any extra information.
But again, you already have the background of what it is that’s going to help your patient and not hurt your patient.
So what do you do when you get a subpoena? The first thing you do is you contact your patient and let them know, and try to get a release from them right away. Find out what it’s about if you weren’t expecting it. And find out what they want to have happened from it, so get a release from them.
The second thing is, you want to talk the patient’s attorney because one of the things that you’re looking for is, what is it that they need from you in order to help your patient. Because that’s the whole process about a subpoena, you want to help you patient, not hurt your patient. So get a release from your patient and talk to their attorney to find out exactly what it is that their looking for through this subpoena.
The next thing is, if you have to talk to the opposing attorney, obviously you do the first two things that I’ve told you, and then you talk to them, answer only the information that they ask you for. Do not offer anything else, make sure you don’t find yourself engaged in a conversation with them because I can promise you; they will try to engage you. So just answer the questions that they ask, and do not give them any extra information.
But again, you already have the background of what it is that’s going to help your patient and not hurt your patient.
The next thing that you can try is to let them know that getting those notes from you might not help them at all; in fact it might even hurt them. You want to make sure you’ve thoroughly discussed this information with your patient, so that they understand exactly what’s going on because you know one our ethical guidelines is, the last thing that we want to do is to hurt our patient.
We don’t want to release any information that may endanger or patient or hurt our patient. So just be sure you have a thorough conversation with your patient about what may help them in this situation.
And then the last thing is, this is a big one. Whatever you do, do not change your patient charts. Make sure you leave everything just as they are, that’s why it’s so important that when you are recording notes and so forth in the original process of seeing your patient, that you’re very specific and sometimes less detail is better. Whenever something like this may be in the horizon and you never know.
I think that if you’ll follow these steps, you’ll be good with a subpoena. Just remember that you never have to appear and you never have to do anything without an absolute court order. However, talking with the patient, if this will help them, and you get all the releases then go ahead and do what you need to do.
I’m Linda Kats with Therapist Consultants. I’ll see you next time with another tip.
- Linda Kats, LPC
We don’t want to release any information that may endanger or patient or hurt our patient. So just be sure you have a thorough conversation with your patient about what may help them in this situation.
And then the last thing is, this is a big one. Whatever you do, do not change your patient charts. Make sure you leave everything just as they are, that’s why it’s so important that when you are recording notes and so forth in the original process of seeing your patient, that you’re very specific and sometimes less detail is better. Whenever something like this may be in the horizon and you never know.
I think that if you’ll follow these steps, you’ll be good with a subpoena. Just remember that you never have to appear and you never have to do anything without an absolute court order. However, talking with the patient, if this will help them, and you get all the releases then go ahead and do what you need to do.
I’m Linda Kats with Therapist Consultants. I’ll see you next time with another tip.
- Linda Kats, LPC