Therapists' Liability to the Falsely Accused for Inducing Illusory Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse - Current Remedies and a Proposed Statute
![handle is hein.journals/jlah11 and id is 53 raw text is: THERAPISTS' LIABILITY TO THE FALSELY ACCUSED FOR
INDUCING ILLUSORY MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD
SEXUAL ABUSE-CURRENT REMEDIES AND A PROPOSED
STATUTE
JOEL JAY FINER'
A father hired a private investigator after his [adult] daughter
reportedly uncovered a repressed memory and accused him of incest.
The investigator [visited] the therapist complaining [of] nightmares
and trouble sleeping. On the third visit, the therapist told [her] that she was
an incest survivor. 'She [said] I could not remember because my brain had
blocked the memory that was too painful to deal with.'
She read the list of symptoms of incest survivors, [shook] her head
yes as if this was confirmation of her diagnosis. She recommended
incest survivor groups. In the fourth session, the diagnosis of probable incest
victim was confirmed [based on] classic symptoms of body memory and
sleep disorders. When [I claimed] no memory of such events, the therapist
assured me that this was often the case.2
I. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 47
II. RECOVERED MEMORY: CuRRENT LITIGATION ............... 49
A. Suits By Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse ....... 49
B. Suits By Patients Against Therapists ............... 54
1Professor of Law, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law; B.B.A., City College of New
York; M.A., LL.B., Yale University. Copyright, Joel Jay Finer 1997.
This Article was supported by a grant from the Cleveland-Marshall Education
Fund which allowed me the time to research and write it.
I appreciate the valuable feedback from the following colleagues (who read an
early draft): Susan Becker, Patricia Falk, and Veronica Dougherty. Journalist-friend
Michael Drexler was also very helpful. Mr. Aaron O'Brien, a law student, provided
valuable help with line-editing of an early draft. Very special thanks to my spouse, Joan
G. Finer, who helped in many tangible and intangible ways. The support of a special
person, C.M., made an important difference as well.
Finally, this work might not have been written without the encouragement of my
colleague, Professor StephenJ. Werber, the Journal's faculty advisor and Ms. Kate Ryan,
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law and Health. Ms. Ryan's extraordinary patience
and superb handling of my several revisions of this work is deeply appreciated.
2 Elizabeth F. Loftus, The Reality of Repressed Memories, 48 AM. PSYCHOLOGIST 518, 530
(1993). Reconstructed for consistency of pronouns and tightening of material, as cited
material combines speech and new text. Nothing of substance has been changed.
Note: all italics herein are supplied by this author unless otherwise indicated.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jlah11&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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