Recent Success by Federico Grosso, DDS, PhD, MFT, BCFE, a Board Certified Forensic Expert Witness, in Helping a Mental Health Defense Malpractice Attorney Obtain a Summary Judgment Dismissal In a Major Lawsuit Involving a California Marriage and Family Therapist.

Federico Grosso, DDS, PhD, MFT, BCFE is a board certified forensic expert helping California attorneys litigate and defend malpractice actions involving MFTs, LCSWs, CADCs, and CATS. Recently, he was involved as a defense expert witness in a major mental health malpractice case involving a mental health clinician and the violent death of several people. His academic, clinical, and forensic experience helped the defense attorney obtain an early dismissal of the case as a Summary Judgment. He also has served successfully in national cases in malpractice actions involving dentists who are accused of child abuse arising from treatment in the workplace. His extensive forensic experience, his publications, lectures, and clinical experience make him an effective expert witness. He has been involved in major cases where has been successful in helping attorneys obtain desired results.

SANTA BARBARA, CA June 16, 2004 - Federico C. Grosso, DDS, PhD, MFT, BCFE reported that he was involved as a forensic expert witness in a major malpractice case involving a mental health clinician and the violent death of a several people including the clinicians client. Dr. Grossos initial responsibility was to read voluminous court records to discern the strengths and weaknesses of the case allowing him to prepare the defense attorney for the worst case scenario. In this case, the unfortunate death of four people took place, including the clients. Due to the nature of the case and the potential exposure and liability of the clinician, a possible financial award to the plaintiffs could have been several million dollars.

Dr. Grosso used his profound knowledge of clinical applications, which he developed as an author of several academic texts on California legal and ethical applications for mental health clinicians. This helped him discern the complicated clinical interplays involved in this case regarding harm to self or others and determine the plaintiffs position that the clinician had a legal duty to warn. As he assessed the presented evidence, Dr. Grossos foremost duty was to assure that the defense malpractice attorney was not blind-sided by the plaintiffs attorney for failing to maintain forensic objectivity in this difficult case. After completing his review of the evidence, Dr. Grosso was able to document that the defendants position in this case was correct: the clinician had assessed, diagnosed, and treated the client appropriately and did not have a legal duty to warn. Dr. Grosso helped the attorney present this information clearly and precisely to the Court and based on the presented information, the Court dismissed the malpractice case in Summary Judgment (threw the case out of Court). Fortunately for the defense, the plaintiffs attorneys never presented the weaknesses of the case identified by Dr. Grosso. Had they done so, the outcome could have been different.

As a result of this case, Dr. Grossos belief in the concept of safe clinical practice has strengthened. He defines this type of practice as one where the clinician is fully aware of the legal requirements mandated by his or her license, the ethical standards dictated by applicable professional organizations, the maintenance of personal clinical objectivity, the implications of legal and ethical decisions on his or her clinical practice, and having the Scope of Competence (training, knowledge, and experience) to treat the presenting issues. Legal experts also call this type of practitioner as a reasonable and prudent clinician. From this recent forensic experience, Dr. Grosso has added a new course to his Interactive Online and Self-Study Continuing Education programs. This course is titled The Standard of Care For Managing Mental Health Crisis Issues. This course is a must for any mental health clinician who may have to face an unpredictable yet frightening and potentially destructive crisis issue during the course of clinical practice. This course helps the clinician understand his or her legal and ethical duties, assessment requirements, risk factors, cultural issues, and appropriate clinical interventions required to create safety when managing crisis issues.

Dr. Grosso uses a series of Interactive Online and Self-Study Courses, academic and clinical publications, practical clinical software, and statewide lectures for marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, alcohol and drug abuse counselors, and certified addictions treatment specialists to enhance the development of a safe clinical practice. These clinical resources are available from http://www.fgrosso.com.

In a recent presentation to new clinicians, Dr. Grosso stated that based on his court experience as an expert witness, most mental health clinicians make the following clinical mistakes: a) poor or no documentation of their therapeutic duty to assess, diagnose, and treat according to the standards of care; b) having inappropriate scope of competence (the training, knowledge, and experience) to treat the presenting issues, c) not staying current with changes in legal and ethical guidelines in their practice; d) not using an appropriate informed consent document to notify the client of the potential risks and benefits of treatment; e) not assessing appropriately for risk factors that can lead to harm to self or others, f) unintentionally breaching client confidentiality, g) ending treatment inappropriately, h) not having or using a treatment plan to document proposed treatment or to assess the progress of treatment, i) entering into inappropriate relationships with clients (friendship or sexual relationships), and j) failing to manage crisis issues appropriately.

Dr. Grossos continuing experience as a forensic expert in malpractice cases led to the development of these resources. These cases have involved marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, drug and alcohol counselors, and certified addictions treatment specialists. Dr. Grosso commented in a recent lecture, Many clinicians are unable to defend their clinical actions because they fail to document how they reasoned a specific clinical challenge. They are unable to show opposing attorneys their duty to assess, diagnose, and treat the client appropriately throughout the duration of therapy or counseling due to poor mental health records and/or lack of appropriate training in mental health law and their specific professional ethical standards. They often write little or no clinical information about the patient because of improper training. In other cases, they write too much information and when the mental health records are subpoenaed, the opposing attorney uses this excessive information to discredit the client and/or the treating clinician. This leaves the door open for clients to sue their clinicians in these cases to recuperate losses suffered in these court cases. This is especially true for California drug and alcohol counselors who are not bound by the mental health laws of the state and continue to treat clients without this legal foundation of safety.

Dr. Grossos earlier publications on psychotherapy standards of care have become benchmark guided to defending or litigating malpractice actions involving the above mental health clinicians. Attorneys find that the concepts presented in these publications are easily applicable to all mental health clinicians, whether licensed or unlicensed, and that these concepts, as presented in these publications, are easily understood by juries. Many universities continue to use these publications in their classes to help students develop a safe structure of documenting both mental health records and progress notes to avoid potential malpractice and administrative actions. These publications are available at http://www.fgrosso.com.

Background on FGrosso.com. FGrosso.com provides mental health clinicians with practical and easy-to-use clinical resources including practice enhancement workbooks, online and self-study continuing education, software, consultation as an expert witness, lectures, and academic publications. Dr. Grosso also provides expert witness services in malpractice actions involving marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, alcohol and drug abuse counselors, certified addictions treatment specialists, and dentists accused of child abuse when providing treatment in the dental office. He also lectures for and consults with mental health organizations. He is an official lecturer on law and ethics and other subjects for the California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.