AMHA-OR - Professional Training
The full brochure and registration form for this event.
October 1, 2010
Lakewood Center for the Arts • 368 S. State Street • Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Registration & Breakfast Networking 8 am • Enjoy company and food before the workshop begins.
Workshop begins promptly at 9 am • No food or drink is allowed in the theatre.
Lunch 12:15-1:15 pm is included in your registration fee.
Program 9 am to 4:30 pm - 6 hours ethics-focus CE
Rumors & Reports: Ethics, Professional Relationship & Oregon Law
Presenters: Paul Cooney, JD, Michaele Dunlap, PsyD, Standish McCleary, JD, PhD
This workshop will examine the requirements of and several ethical and professional quandaries created by Oregon’s new Duty to Report Law
Oregon’s new duty to report law (HB 2059*) passed the legislature in April, 2009 and became effective January 1, 2010. The law requires licensees of all health professions to report “prohibited or unprofessional conduct” of other health licensees to their professional licensing boards within 10 days. [Includes all mental health professions, physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacy specialists, massage therapists, dietitians, naturopaths, etc.] Under the provisions of the law any licensee of the 23 affected human service professions who learns that another licensee of the 23 affected professions has committed a crime or violated his or her profession’s requirements is required to make a report directly to the health regulatory board of the offending person.
The new law requires reporting prohibited conduct that: (a) Constitutes a criminal act against a patient or client; or (b) Constitutes a criminal act that creates a risk of harm to a patient or client. Unprofessional Conduct must be reported. “Unprofessional conduct” means conduct unbecoming a licensee or detrimental to the best interests of the public, including conduct contrary to recognized standards of ethics of the licensee’s profession or conduct that endangers the health, safety or welfare of a patient or client.
Unless state or federal laws relating to confidentiality or the protection of health information prohibit disclosure (as, for example, when the information is obtained by a mental health professional in a therapy session) a licensee who has reasonable cause to believe that another licensee has engaged in prohibited or unprofessional conduct shall report the conduct to the board responsible for the licensee who is believed to have engaged in the conduct. The reporting licensee shall report the conduct without undue delay, but in no event later than 10 working days after the reporting licensee learns of the conduct.
Self report is required. A licensee who is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony or who is arrested for a felony crime shall report the conviction or arrest to the licensee’s board within 10 days after the conviction or arrest.
Workshop Description:
This workshop will examine the requirements of and several ethical and professional quandaries created by Oregon’s new Duty to Report law. The presenters will discuss duty to report requirements for professionals, duty to self report, the background, intent and “letter of the law” HB2059 which applies to 23 groups of Oregon licensed and pre-licensed medical and human services professionals and place that law in the history and context of similar regulations.
Among the quandaries to be addressed in this workshop: The choices we must make in the face of this law and the decision processes that might affect these choices; when reporting is mandated; impact of anxieties about the law on our relationships; the impact of professional envy or competitiveness on the choice to report; the ethical requirement in some professions to contact a colleague before making a report; issues of anonymity in report; confidentiality among professionals in their professional and personal relationships.
Is snitching ethical? It of course depends.... How has this law evolved? An historical emphasis in the law upon loyalty, and honor, as a basis for confidences owed to clients, patients, spouses, clergical communicants and others began to lessen in the 18th century. Public and judicial interest in pertinent information started to shift discussion to utilitarian analyses of where the higher cultural benefit or harm might lie in achieving some balance between confidentiality and disclosure. The law has come to codify respect for client privacy across professions, along with multiple exceptions deemed to be in the greater public interest. Confidentiality to clients has also expressly been preserved in various professional rules requiring reporting of colleague misconduct, which commonly also preserve confidences generated in some colleague assistance groups. However, the loyalty and discretion we might honorably owe a colleague has been largely left in the realm of personal and professional ethics. It competes with rules addressing the public and professional need for information useful to protect broader interests. Nonetheless the difficulty of enforceability of overly broad reporting requirements, and limits to what people are actually willing to do, have long ago obliged lawyers to change the scope of their own colleague reporting rules to known and substantial matters. We can perhaps learn from this.
Our primary objective is to help professionals meet the requirements of the law with full consideration of professional ethics and personal integrity.
Presenters:
Paul Cooney, J.D.
is a healthcare attorney who has been in practice since 1992. Mr. Cooney is a member of Cooney & Crew, LLP where he specializes in healthcare litigation and represents a wide variety of healthcare professionals in all aspects of their practice. Mr. Cooney is General Counsel for the Oregon Psychological Association. He represents mental health professionals in malpractice cases, licensing and discipline matters and general business matters. He is licensed to practice in both OR and WA and is a frequent speaker on legal issues and risk management.
He believes the Duty to Report Law deserves reflection and examination because it is important for mental health professionals to understand whether their conversations with patients or colleagues may trigger a duty to report unprofessional conduct to a licensing Board.
It is essential for them to understand when a report may be mandated and when a report would be prohibited. Board complaints, even dismissed cases, carry long-lasting effects.
Michaele Dunlap, PsyD
creates support for mental health professionals -- practical, organizational and political. She is in group practice at Mentor PC, is President of Mentor Research Institute and serves on the OPA Colleague Assistance Panel. Her clinical focus is on adults, couples, families and relationship difficulties in closely held businesses. She supervises and consults; works with addictions, trauma recovery, life and health challenges and the processes of personal and relationship growth.
She believes the Duty to Report Law deserves reflection and examination because of its impact on relationships among mental health professionals including collaborations, consultation, supervision and social connections. The lack of clarity in the law requires consideration and self-examination before action is taken. Further, since our clients are sometimes members of the regulated professions, mental health professionals will find themselves helping clients deal with the requirements of this law.
Standish McCleary JD, Ph.D.
was a practicing attorney in Maryland for 16 years before earning his doctorate in psychology in 1989 from the University of Maryland, interning at the Portland VA Medical Center, and becoming a psychologist in private practice in Portland OR. His orientation and training is eclectic, drawing from cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, developmental, existential and experiential theory and practices, among others. He has presented research on confidentiality and law in American Psychological Association and Oregon Psychological Association conferences and has lectured and consulted on ethics and law for psychology students and mental health professionals.
He believes the Duty to Report Law deserves reflection and examination because the ethical and legal tensions inherent in it have a longstanding history across professions and cultures, and a full consideration of them may raise the odds of common sense prevailing in its application.
- Mental Health Boards’ Representatives
- Shane Haydon, PhD, Member, Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners
- Martin Pittioni, Executive Director, Board of Licensed Social Workers
- Becky Eklund, Executive Director, Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists
First Friday Lunches offer both CE and networking opportunity. Monthly October-June Click for Current Schedule
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