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[mistyfaerie]

Last year I was mandated to 4 therapy sessions. I also had to sign a release to verify participation and the therapist had to send another letter at the end to show that I was making progress. If I did not go within 36 hours, I would get expelled, according to administration. I never made any threats to harm anyone, so I don't see how this was right. With HIPPA in place and privacy rights, could I sue the university successfully?

Thanks for any help

[tee_bee]

Last year I was mandated to 4 therapy sessions. I also had to sign a release to verify participation and the therapist had to send another letter at the end to show that I was making progress. If I did not go within 36 hours, I would get expelled, according to administration. I never made any threats to harm anyone, so I don't see how this was right. With HIPPA in place and privacy rights, could I sue the university successfully?

Thanks for any help

No. But there are lawyers who will take contingency fee cases.

[mistyfaerie]

You said no. Could you please explain why? My privacy rights were infringed upon. Thank you.

[svenc]

I also had to sign a release to verify participation and the therapist had to send another letter at the end to show that I was making progress.

Mistyfaerie, the release you signed almost certainly included an explicit waiver of some of your HIPAA privacy rights.  I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that HIPAA prevents medical practitioners from releasing your records without your consent.  It does not prevent third parties, such as your school, from requesting to see a copy of (in your case) verification of attendance and progress at therapy sessions.  

Third parties request that patients sign medical record releases all the time.  For example, I recently applied for additional life insurance.  The insurer requested that I sign a waiver for access to medical history records.  If I had refused to sign it, they would not have offered me coverage.  However, there is no violation of my rights inherent in their demand to see these records before making a decision on my application.  Another example is school districts requesting to see medical records before providing learning supports to disabled students.

If you had concerns about the release form, the time to seek legal advice would have been before signing it.  If there is more to your story than you are sharing here, you may find it more useful to bring your story to a lawyer specializing in HIPAA, rather than sharing what seems to be a very personal (and perhaps unpleasant) story in an online forum.

[mistyfaerie]

I was concerned about the release, but at that point I didn't want to get expelled. My main concern is not about the release per se but the fact they mandated this in the first place with no good reason.

[notaprof]

Schools don't threaten expulsion for no reason.  You may not agree with the reason that the school required this intervention but there would have been a reason.  The school did not request details, only verification that you were addressing a problem identified by someone.  The immediacy of the requirement probably had to do with a concern for you and your well being, not that you were a threat against others.  The latter situation would have resulted in other actions. 

However, I agree with SvenC that this is not the place to discuss something personal like that so please refrain from sharing personal details of this sort with strangers on an anonymous forum.  It sounds to me as if the school had your best interests in mind.  Best wishes to you in the future.

[offthemarket]

I don't think this is the venue where you'll receive the validation you're seeking.

[tee_bee]

Yes. Why "no"? It's unclear there's a substantial "cause of action" here that would make the University civilly liable for anything. In this case you may not have either a statutory or common law expectation of privacy. And the other comments also suggest that this could be a problem. Beside, what harm has been done to your privacy? I am not being dismissive--I am just asking the sorts of questions that a competent attorney would ask.

Speaking of attorneys--universities have whole armies of them, and, frankly, many aren't exactly overloaded with work. The financial (and emotional) cost of protracted litigation may be greater than you might imagine. And, indeed, it's the "no good reason" clause that's going to be at the heart of this litigation. Most civil litigation is a matter of public record--you'd be doing far more harm to your privacy by bringing legal action than has been putatively done by the school. Drop it.

[mistyfaerie]

They mandated them because I didn't follow their directives (I had no reason since they were attacking me with no good reason) and they claimed I had obsessive behavior which I didn't. What kind of a settlement am I looking at if this is successful?

[tee_bee]

They mandated them because I didn't follow their directives (I had no reason since they were attacking me with no good reason) and they claimed I had obsessive behavior which I didn't. What kind of a settlement am I looking at if this is successful?

[DNFTT. Just repeat. DFNTT. Ahh, I feel better. Oh, I am slipping here...]

Best case scenario? Nothing. No settlement at all. See also all the previous posts on this thread.

[mistyfaerie]

I can't believe you're making so much light of my situation. Most of you on this forum think you're so much than everyone else, mostly students as I can see with you talking about how ignorant they are, etc. I'm just hurt by all of this.

[tee_bee]

Sorry, I was afraid this was going to come to this. Your situation is probably bad. I now say this as someone who's seen these situations for over 20 years: you'll be worse off if you try to bring any legal action. It will cost time, money, and emotional capital, all for a low likelihood of success. For your own sake, I'd seek advice--perhaps from a lawyer--and weigh the pros and cons. And consider what folks have said here too. Your later post suggested that you really didn't weigh what other, wiser (than me) folks have said here. Good luck.

[onion]

Mistyfaerie,
It occurs to me that the reason why you were sent to therapy is because someone noticed behavior in you that concerned them.  Although there are threads on here about how students can be annoying, there are threads on here about how we are concerned about our students.  For example, there is a thread right now that is titled something to the effect of "My student is hurting (emotionally)."  I had a student last year who was a "cutter", and I started a thread asking for how to find help for this individual.

Someone--a professor, a TA, an administrator, someone in student affairs--must have seen something that caused them to be concerned for you, and started the ball rolling to get you into those therapy sessions.  While you may disagree with that course of action, and, in fact, seem angry about it, I think that it came from a place of caring.

Take care of yourself.  And listen to TeeBee--you won't win a law suit and if this case even made it to court, you'd be raked over the coals by the lawyer-snakes your University has on retainer.

Best of luck to you.

[higherandhigher]

Like it or not, I agree with the consensus.

I do empathize with your situation, but I just don't see a suit being fruitful.  Many universities have an ombudsperson, and all have grievance procedures. That might be of help to you.

There are also organizations like The Fire that sometimes pursue complaints alleging a violation of student rights.

[pantani]

Hi, the initial question raised regards probability of success in filing a law suit.  The prevailing answer seems to be "unlikely" or "highly improbable." I would agree with the prevailing opinion.  I don't think respondents are saying so out of lack of sympathy.  The sad truth is, respondents have seen many lawsuits, even ones with clear evidence of severe wrongdoing, and those with weak evidence, fail.  Seeking legal recourse is a very difficult path with heavy costs.  Pursuing legal recourse will negatively affect you in many ways: professional, personally and financially.  Weigh carefully before making this decision.