Malpractice in psychotherapy: what it is, examples and penalties involved

The profession of psychologists and psychiatrists in a clinical context must be carried out in accordance with the lex artis, which means that must carry out their professional work in psychotherapy in a way that is considered correct to carry out the treatment of their patients.

In case of non-compliance with the lex artis, we would be talking about malpractice in psychotherapy, which could harm the patient and the correct overcoming of it, as well as could affect co-workers or even to the same center or institution where you work, and the degree of seriousness of the malpractice of the offenses committed may be.

Malpractice actions could be sanctioned by the penal code, the institution in which he works and also by the professional association of the autonomous community in which he carries out his profession.

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What is understood by malpractice in psychotherapy?

Malpractice in the area of ​​mental health occurs when a professional performs one or more actions that do not respect the ethical standards, the norms of the center or institution where he works,

non-compliance with the Law within a psychotherapeutic context or incorrect application of scientific-technical knowledge related to the practice of their profession.

The seriousness of the breach of any of the functions related to the profession of the psychotherapist is classified according to its severity.

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Examples of malpractice in psychotherapy

Next, the different faults that could be committed by psychotherapists in a classification that ranges from mild to severe and can be considered as very serious.

1. Minor malpractice offenses in psychotherapy

These are minor offenses in psychotherapy that violate good practice in the performance of the profession of psychotherapist.

Unjustifiably breaking the working hours or absence from the workplace without a justification for it, as long as they do not amount to a serious or very serious offense.

Lack of conformity in social dealings with co-workers or negligence in fulfilling some of the functions of their profession, as long as it does not affect administrative matters or clients, as long as they are not considered by the corresponding body as serious or very serious offenses.

When there is a non-compliance with the rules or express laws related to health and safety in the therapeutic field or the failure of the therapist to comply with his duties and obligations with respect to his duty with respect to his profession, as long as they do not amount to a serious or very serious offense.

Another minor fault would be the fact that consent, conceal or even cooperate with any act in the commission of serious misconduct by a professional colleague, as long as it is not considered a serious or very serious offense by the body in charge of determine it, normally being the official school of the autonomous community in which he carries out his profession sanitary.

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2. Serious malpractice offenses in psychotherapy

Now the causes that could be sanctioned as serious offenses in the practice of psychotherapy will be discussed.

Among the serious offenses are serious disregard for patients, and co-workers, abuse of their authority in their work environment, damage or deteriorate the equipment or facilities of your workplace caused by unjustified negligence, a drop in performance in your work, without constituting a very serious offense or breaching the rules that regulate their profession, in the event of not being classified as a very serious offense serious.

Other serious offenses would be the fact of failing to comply without any justification the stipulated working day, getting to accumulate more than 20 hours per month below which should work, as it would be a lack serious the refusal by the psychotherapist to use the means available in his workplace with the gift of preventing certain occupational hazards, having received said means and adequate information in this regard.

They are also among the acts sanctioned as serious misconduct to accept any consideration to any patient for the services provided or to miss his / her post as I work for a period greater than 3 days in a row or five alternate days in 2 months, as long as this does not come to be considered a very serious offense by some reason.

3. Very serious malpractice offenses in psychotherapy

In this section, some of the faults will be briefly explained, considering them to be very serious by mental health professionals.

When the psychotherapist breaches his professional duty in the therapeutic context of mental health, reaching infringe any law of the Constitution or the respective Statute of Autonomy, or in those cases in which I arrived at discriminate against a patient or colleague for any reason (p. g., racial, gender, religion, social status, economic situation, among others).

Abandon their professional service without just cause, leaving their patients without receiving the professional help they deserve, when they have absences of assistance for a period of more than 5 days without any justifiable cause, have a significantly lower performance in the performance of the functions required by their profession or breach their obligation to provide essential services that have been stipulated in the event of having strike.

Reveal private data regarding the institution or center where I work, or about the information revealed by their patients in the sessions psychotherapy or during any time of their stay in the health center, which breaks their privacy, breaking the obligation on the part of the psychotherapist to keep professional secrecy.

It would be a serious fault for the psychotherapist to fail to comply with the functions of his job and / or the rules that regulate his profession, as well as if he did not comply with the orders of a superior in a manifest and notorious way, thus violating any law that regulates his profession or that of the center or institution where he works, as well as the fact of perform any illegal act with respect to their functions that seriously harms patients, colleagues and / or the institution or health center in which works.

Other grounds for sanction for serious misconduct would be when a healthcare professional takes advantage of their statutory status to obtain some kind of benefit for himself or for third parties or the demand of some compensation for his services to any patient of the health services.

Attacks on another person with whom he has a relationship through his profession as a health professional would also be sanctioned as serious offenses (p. Eg, a patient or co-worker), as well as sexual harassment.

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Prescription of offenses that lead to malpractice in psychotherapy

In accordance with Law 55/2003, The offenses that violate the laws prescribe after a certain time has elapsed depending on the degree of severity of the malpractice in psychotherapy that has been carried out, said terms being the following:

• Minor offenses: 6 months after the offense was committed.
• Serious offenses: after 2 years.
• Very serious offenses: 4 years later.

Penalties for having carried out malpractice in psychotherapy

The different sanctions that could be applied in the event of misconduct by mental health professionals will be briefly outlined below.

1. Stay away from the service

In the following 6 years after receiving the sanction, you will not be able to practice in the field of public healthNor will he be able to work in any administration or public body.

For this reason, they would lose their status as statutory personnel, being able to receive this sanction in the event of committing very serious offenses that involve malpractice in psychotherapy.

2. Having to forcibly change location and workplace

In this case, the therapist would have to travel to another location and would be prohibited from participating in any surgical procedure. mobility in order to be able to rejoin the locality from which he has been “expelled” during the period of 4 years after receiving the sanction. In addition, nor would you be entitled to receive any compensation.

Said sanction could be imposed only in the case of committing very serious offenses.

3. Being suspended from their professional duties

He would be banned from carrying out his profession as a sanitary in a period between 2 and 6 years for having committed very serious offenses. In the event of serious misconduct, the suspension would be for a period of less than 2 years.

If you are suspended from your duties for a period of less than 6 months, you will not lose your destination in the center where you are working, being able to rejoin it after having completed the sanction.

4. Having to forcibly transfer to another workplace

The sanction that implies a forced transfer to another workplace it would be applied for a period that would not exceed 2 years, being applied in the case of serious misconduct.

5. Admonition

The mental health professional receive a written warning in case of minor offenses that come to influence a malpractice in psychotherapy.

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Criminal and ethical responsibility

By committing malpractice in psychotherapy, your actions could be penalized at the criminal, civil and / or deontological level, as we will see below.

Criminal liability

There are acts of malpractice that could suppose some omission or reckless action that is considered by the Law, in which case they could be divided into two types:

• Reckless or negligent action: unintentionally causing harm to others, through negligence or recklessness.
• Painful action or omission: intentionally causing harm to another person in the professional context.

Deontological responsibility

As is well known, health professionals in the field of mental health must comply with a series of ethical standards in the practice of their profession.

In the case of not complying with these ethical standards that are governed by the professional code of ethics, could be reported by other professionals in the Official College of Psychologists, in the case of psychologists, or in the Official College of Physicians in the case of psychiatrists, in which case these bodies would be in charge of judging whether or not there is malpractice in psychotherapy for part of the professional denounced and, if so, they would carry out the classification and disciplinary sanction correspondent.