When you enter the field of clinical psychology, you work hard to earn your patients’ trust. State and federal entities take any perceived breach of that trust, especially around disclosing confidential information, very seriously.
Violations can put your license at risk of disciplinary action. If you’re facing a case before the Clinical Psychologists Licensing and Disciplinary Board, you need an experienced license defense attorney.
[Related: Defending Your Medical License Against Misdiagnosis Claims]
What Can Threaten a Psychologist’s License in Illinois
Clinical psychologists, like other licensed medical professionals, must maintain a high standard of conduct to earn and keep their license. Many issues can jeopardize that license and prompt action by the disciplinary board.
Under the Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act, these issues include the following:
- Unethical, unauthorized or unprofessional conduct
- Gross negligence in the practice of clinical psychology
- A mental or physical impairment that affects your ability to practice
- Disciplinary complaints from other states
- Sexual misconduct with a patient
- Habitual or excessive use of drugs or alcohol that affects your judgment or safety
- Conviction of, or a guilty or nolo contendere plea to, certain crimes, including DUI
- Violating state or federal confidentiality statutes
Of everything on that list, the rules get most specific at confidentiality. That’s also where a well-meaning disclosure can still turn into a complaint.
[Related: Illinois Medical License Defense: Opioid Overprescribing]
How Confidentiality Rules Apply to Psychologist Patient Records
Violations may involve sharing confidential patient information without written consent.
Restrictions exist for these situations. These include limited sharing among other therapists, which requires informing the patient in advance, and coordinating information across state agencies, which is limited to a general description of services received.
Disclosures in legal proceedings need approval from a judge or hearing officer. Restrictions also protect minors’ records.
The Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act sets out a psychologist’s confidentiality duty. It defers to the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act wherever the two conflict.
[Related: Practicing Medicine Without a License in Illinois: Laws, Penalties and Consequences]
When Illinois Law Allows a Confidentiality Breach
If a patient makes a specific threat of violence against a specific person, Illinois law allows, but doesn’t require, a mental health professional to break confidentiality and warn that person.
Under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act, the decision sits with the therapist’s own judgment. Illinois law gives therapists discretion to warn a specifically threatened person in narrow circumstances, not a blanket duty to disclose.
Illinois courts have also recognized a related but separate duty here.
In Eckhardt v. Kirts, 179 Ill. App. 3d 863 (1989), an Illinois appellate court held that a psychiatrist could face civil liability for failing to warn a foreseeable, identifiable victim of a patient’s violence. This reasoning applies to therapists generally rather than to physicians alone; the same logic would apply to clinical psychologists.
Statutory discretion protects you from a licensing complaint for disclosing. It doesn’t automatically protect you from a negligence claim for not disclosing.
[Related: How To Keep Patient Health Record Information Private]
Why “Clear and Present Danger” Also Triggers a Mandatory Report
Discretion under the confidentiality act doesn’t cover every disclosure your patient’s condition might require. Under the Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) Act, 430 ILCS 65/8.1(d), if you determine that a patient poses a clear and present danger to themselves or others, you must notify the Illinois Department of Human Services within 24 hours.
This duty runs on its own mechanism, separate from the confidentiality act’s discretionary warning provision. It also isn’t optional once you’ve made that determination.
[Related: Actions To Avoid if Your Professional License Is Under Investigation]
What Disclosure Duty Is Not Discretionary for Illinois Psychologists
The judgment call doesn’t extend to every situation. Illinois licenses psychologists as mandated reporters under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, 325 ILCS 5/4.
The act requires an immediate report whenever you have reasonable cause to believe a child known to you may be abused or neglected. Willfully failing to make that report is its own ground for discipline under the Clinical Psychologist Licensing Act.
Here, the act doesn’t leave room for the professional discretion it grants with a threat to a third party. Know the rule exists, and know which situation you’re in.
[Related: IDFPR License Investigation: Why You Should Hire an Attorney]
Contact Williams & Nickl To Defend Your Illinois Psychologist License
Any confidentiality breach accusation can put you in front of the Clinical Psychologists Licensing and Disciplinary Board.
If you’re a licensed clinical psychologist facing disciplinary action for a confidentiality breach or other allegation, Williams & Nickl is here for you. We’ve represented thousands of Illinois professionals before the IDFPR and its licensing boards.
Contact us online or call 312-335-9470 to schedule a free, confidential 1-hour consultation.
Read our testimonials and case results to see how we’ve handled licensing issues for Illinois medical professionals, including clinical psychologists.