A Doctor and Their Client

[Mayla]

Situation

I knew I had something unique on my hands when my attorney and his colleagues said they've never seen anything like this before.

I'm in a custody case where my child's mother, in a concerted effort with her mental health doctor, composed a scathing character assassination against me and submitted it to our custody evaluator. The way the document looks, mom composed claims without evidence, her doctor loaned their credibility to her allegations, and then the lengthy paper was submitted by mom's doctor to our custody evaluator with both their names signed on the document. The doctor even gave clinical impressions of me without any history and I've never been this doctor's client, nor have they ever assessed me as a patient.

Our custody evaluator asked me to comment on this document's claims and I backed my counter claims with evidence—all of them. Nothing was ever brought up about this paper again and we've yet to go to court.

I've consulted mental health ethics panel experts who've said this doctor will almost certainly lose his license for this action and probably be sanctioned from the state.

I don't want to retaliate especially since none of the allegations stuck. I know, however, that these types of transgressions are going to continue against me if I don't do something.

My Questions

1. Has anyone ever encountered a situation like this before?

2. Are there any legal precedents out there where this, or a similar situation, happened to a parent?

3. What sort of legal actions may either—or both—face for composing something like this for the courts?

4. What sort of legal action should I request for what was done?

Any advice helps; more detail could be provided if necessary.

Thanks

 

[adjusterjack]

I'm at a loss to understand why people ask those kinds of questions (1 and 2) since the answers are meaningless. I'll demonstrate.

1. Has anyone ever encountered a situation like this before?

I'm sure thousands, maybe hundred of thousands of people in custody battles have encountered hostile exes that lie and spew vitriol. Does it help you to know that? I don't think so.

2. Are there any legal precedents out there where this, or a similar situation, happened to a parent?

A "legal precedent" is an appellate court decision on how any given law is applied to any given situation. Custody cases are generally handed at the trial court level. Trial court decisions are not "precedential" so knowing the trial court decisions on somebody else's case isn't going to help you.

3. What sort of legal actions may either—or both—face for composing something like this for the courts?

4. What sort of legal action should I request for what was done?

Questions 3 and 4 (what to do) are the pertinent questions. And the answers are:

1 - File a complaint with the state medical board. Nobody's taking that doctor's license unless you initiate the complaint. Nobody is going to do it for you.

2 - Sue the doctor for defamation. The way you punish somebody for doing you wrong is you sue him and take his money. Otherwise he acted with impunity.

3 - Hire a lawyer to handle your court custody battle. A lawyer will know how to handle your ex's shenanigans.

 

[justblue]

Situation

I knew I had something unique on my hands when my attorney and his colleagues said they've never seen anything like this before.

I'm in a custody case where my child's mother, in a concerted effort with her mental health doctor, composed a scathing character assassination against me and submitted it to our custody evaluator. The way the document looks, mom composed claims without evidence, her doctor loaned their credibility to her allegations, and then the lengthy paper was submitted by mom's doctor to our custody evaluator with both their names signed on the document. The doctor even gave clinical impressions of me without any history and I've never been this doctor's client, nor have they ever assessed me as a patient.

Our custody evaluator asked me to comment on this document's claims and I backed my counter claims with evidence—all of them. Nothing was ever brought up about this paper again and we've yet to go to court.

I've consulted mental health ethics panel experts who've said this doctor will almost certainly lose his license for this action and probably be sanctioned from the state.

I don't want to retaliate especially since none of the allegations stuck. I know, however, that these types of transgressions are going to continue against me if I don't do something.

My Questions

1. Has anyone ever encountered a situation like this before?

2. Are there any legal precedents out there where this, or a similar situation, happened to a parent?

3. What sort of legal actions may either—or both—face for composing something like this for the courts?

4. What sort of legal action should I request for what was done?

Any advice helps; more detail could be provided if necessary.

Thanks

What state?

 

[army judge]

I knew I had something unique on my hands when my attorney and his colleagues said they've never seen anything like this before.

Your knowledge should lead you to conclude that any and all questions should be addressed solely to your attorney.

 

[zddoodah]

1. Has anyone ever encountered a situation like this before?

It is unlikely that the answer to this question is anything other than yes.

2. Are there any legal precedents out there where this, or a similar situation, happened to a parent?

Possibly. If your attorney believes precedent would be helpful, then he/she can research your unidentified state's case law to try and find some.

3. What sort of legal actions may either—or both—face for composing something like this for the courts?

Since no one here knows much of anything about your case or has read the document(s) to which you're referring, no one here can comment intelligently about this.

What sort of legal action should I request for what was done?

Same answer as above.

I'm at a loss to understand why people ask those kinds of questions (1 and 2) since the answers are meaningless. I'll demonstrate.

. . .

A "legal precedent" is an appellate court decision on how any given law is applied to any given situation. Custody cases are generally handed at the trial court level. Trial court decisions are not "precedential" so knowing the trial court decisions on somebody else's case isn't going to help you.

That doesn't demonstrate that the answer to the second question is meaningless. That "custody cases are generally handled at the trial court level," while true, is also true of every other type of case. Yet there are tons of published cases on custody issues. The OP's second question isn't well-suited to a forum like this because he didn't identify his state and because we don't have enough information to know if precedent exists or would be helpful.

Sue the doctor for defamation.

Except that we don't know if the doctor made false statement of fact and, even if the doctor did that, statements made in the context of court proceedings are generally privileged against defamation claims.