Caught in the Divorce Crossfire

by Joseph Shaub

It is probably many a therapist’s worst nightmare to find a couple they have worked with descend into an acrimonious divorce and then be required to give testimony about these clients.  This is what happened to Dr. Arden Snyder at Virginia Mason Hospital.  The story is recounted in the Washington Appeals Court Case Redding v. Virginia Mason Medical Center which can be found in Volume 75 of the Washington Appellate Court Reports at page 424. (The formal legal citation is 75 Wn.App. 424). 

The story is that Tracy and Michell Redding had some domestic problems leading to a 1989 domestic violence prosecution against Tracy.  The judge ordered him to get anger management counseling, among other things.  Tracy sought treatment at Virginia Mason and in the course of this counseling, his wife Michell participated.  Tracy had complained about Michell’s drinking and Dr. Snyder, who was working with Tracy confirmed in his report to the court that Michell’s drinking was a contributing factor to Tracy’s anger. 

Well, few years later, Tracy and Michell began divorce proceedings and a child custody dispute arose.  Tracy wanted to point to Michell’s drinking problem as evidence that he should be primary residential parent and when his lawyers requested the records of the joint sessions at Virginia Mason in order to prove his claims....well, they just handed them right over.  When Michell realized that Virginia Mason had just given the records over she sued them for turning over privileged material in a court proceeding. 

The Court of Appeals said that this was not a violation, stating that, “in litigation arising between the joint patients the psychotherapist-patient privilege does not protect statements made by one of them to a therapist during a joint counseling session.” 

The Court made it very clear that, as between Michell and any other party besides Tracy, anything she said in joint therapy was privileged (so if she was being sued, for example, in an automobile accident hit-and-run case and the injured person wanted to prove she had an alcohol problem, they couldn’t force Dr. Snyder to testify or get his records).  But since Tracy had been present at these sessions, there was really no information of which he wasn’t already aware, so there is no basis for claiming a privilege.

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