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What do I do if I am a licensed massage therapist and a patient accuses me of molesta

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charleslmt

Junior Member
Florida. I am a 55 year old LMT in Florida working in a chiropractor's office. I have been a LMT over 10 years, am committed to ethics, never had a problem with a client. A patient in the chiropractor's office received 3 massage treatments from me: after the first one she requested additional time, the second and third times she requested me by name; there are several LMTs in the office. About two weeks ago she told another massage therapist in the office, the chiropractor who runs the office and another staff member who works in the office (one by one in different conversations) that I molested her until she bled in the first visit, when she requested extra time, molested her again in the 2nd visit which she requested me for, and in that I molested her in the 3rd visit which she had requested me for, again. The doctor has told me he believes that I did not do it, because he knows how committed I am to ethics with all patients and has monitored feedback - all positive - about my treatments for the past 2 years, and agrees her claims are absurd since she repeatedly requested me, however cannot let me work in the office until it is resolved. She told him and another staff member that she will "press charges." I am lost, I never touched any client inappropriately, always covered them, etc. Part of me is just waiting to be arrested (?) or served lawsuit papers (?) and another part of me wants to research how I could sue her for slander (?) costing me my job. I didn't do anything inappropriate or unethical, everybody knows that, but how could I prove that I didn't do it?
I am just lost and so damaged by this obviously crazy lady :confused:and do not know what to do. Any advice appreciated.
 
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adjusterjack

Senior Member
I hope that you and your boss have refused further service to this patient.

There really isn't anything you can do until something actually happens, she could just be blowing hot air.

I do suggest, however, that you report this to your professional liability carrier so that they are on notice and can investigate.
 

charleslmt

Junior Member
Thanks...

I hope that you and your boss have refused further service to this patient.

There really isn't anything you can do until something actually happens, she could just be blowing hot air.

I do suggest, however, that you report this to your professional liability carrier so that they are on notice and can investigate.
This is how my boss handled it: He told me he believes me, he knows she is just ridiculous, from knowing me AND from her crazy story, but he chose to handle it by continuing to treat her for the chiropractic sessions her insurance had approved/were scheduled but wanted me "not to be there" until she finished her treatments with him. That was two weeks ago. I don't think he is going to call me to come back, and even if he does, I don't think I want to work for such low pay with such enormous risk! That is the tragedy of it, I love helping people - I do micro-current pain relief treatments that work very, very well and it feels good to help people who think they have to accept being in pain but get relief instantly with 5 minutes of treatment. But my wife says I would be better off working in a 7-11!!! And it is hard not to agree with her.
I called my liability insurance carrier and they said there is nothing they can do until she does something. All she has really done so far is make the accusation, to several people, and my boss, which cost me two weeks work, so far, and probably my job, if not my career.
Waiting to see what ELSE/MORE she will do is very difficult.
One friend suggested I go to a lawyer, and have her served to "cease and desist" but
1) that takes money I don't have and
2) that sounds like advice from a tv show.....do people really do that? Could I do that? :confused:
 

charleslmt

Junior Member
Is it illegal for someone to lie about me and cause me to lose my job?

This is how my boss handled it: He told me he believes me, he knows she is just ridiculous, from knowing me AND from her crazy story, but he chose to handle it by continuing to treat her for the chiropractic sessions her insurance had approved/were scheduled but wanted me "not to be there" until she finished her treatments with him. That was two weeks ago. I don't think he is going to call me to come back, and even if he does, I don't think I want to work for such low pay with such enormous risk! That is the tragedy of it, I love helping people - I do micro-current pain relief treatments that work very, very well and it feels good to help people who think they have to accept being in pain but get relief instantly with 5 minutes of treatment. But my wife says I would be better off working in a 7-11!!! And it is hard not to agree with her.
I called my liability insurance carrier and they said there is nothing they can do until she does something. All she has really done so far is make the accusation, to several people, and my boss, which cost me two weeks work, so far, and probably my job, if not my career.
Waiting to see what ELSE/MORE she will do is very difficult.
One friend suggested I go to a lawyer, and have her served to "cease and desist" but
1) that takes money I don't have and
2) that sounds like advice from a tv show.....do people really do that? Could I do that? :confused:
After a client told my chiropractor/boss that I had molested her (I didn't - story is in my other posts), my boss told me he believes I did not do it, it is a crazy story by a crazy lady, but I should take time off without pay until her treatment plan with him is completed. But now it is over three weeks, the office staff have called me a couple of times and told me "she said she is going to press charges" but the doctor won't return my call, and I quite obviously do not have a job anymore. It is unbelievable to me that a person can cost me my job by lying about me and there is nothing I can do but sit here in fear that I might get arrested for something I did not do when I feel like what I should be able to do is have her her arrested for slander or sue her for damages she caused by lying about me, but I do not know the law about it.
I am hoping for some advice about how to recover form this, and hopefully how to wipe out the damage to my career and life that she has caused. Any advice greatly appreciated!
Charles
 

justalayman

Senior Member
If you are an employee i would suggest filing for unemployment and starting s job search.

The chiropractor is obviously not being honest or he lacks ethics proven by his love of money over supporting the false accusation of one of his employees. In either case i, personally, would not want to continue employment there.

If you can't afford an attorney then you are stuck riding this out and waiting to
see what the client does.

Given the intimacy of the treatments you perform i wonder if there isn't some means of
Proactive protections in the future. Maybe treatment rooms are set up so they are not entirely isolated from
Others in the office (but obviously respecting the need to maintain some level of privacy given the activity at hand). Offhand I can't think of many ways to provide protections for yourself but it is something i would surely consider going forward. If you haven't noticed, medical doctors have pretty much made
It standard practice to have two people in an exam room when the patient is of
The opposite gender of the doctor. That isn't just because the doctor likes an audience to perform to.
 

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