Discussion Prompt
John B., a therapist in a small town, agreed to see a new patient who was also the mother of a friend of John B.’s child. He knew the family had financial issues. Wishing to be of service, John B. decreased his fee to accommodate the patient.
John B. saw the patient for six months, never receiving payment for the sessions. He sent several notices that went unpaid. Finally, he and the patient agreed to terminate their arrangement due to the patient’s inability to pay his fee. The patient agreed to pay his fee in installments and, once paid, they would revisit the possibility of treatment.
He sent one, two, three billing notices to the client’s home without response. Getting frustrated, he finally sent notification to the client’s fax machine at her office, but the client did not report to work that day. The bill was titled “psychological services rendered” and handwritten in large print was “Third Notice—OVERDUE!!” with the client’s name. This notice sat in an open access mail tray of the busy office all day.
For your original post, answer the following questions:
What should the worker have done in the beginning of the professional relationship?
Discuss at what point the social worker could have intervened to avoid the conflict? If this produced a dysfunctional outcome, state why.
What are duties and obligations of the worker in this case? Refer to the NASW Code of Ethics, where applicable.