Posted on 05/04/2006 2:14:00 AM PDT by kingattax
A McHenry County man is suing his marriage counselor, contending the therapist he hired to help improve his marriage instead began an affair with his wife.
That relationship eventually prompted the couple to divorce, according to the breach-of-contract suit filed by 35-year-old Scott Buetow of Lake in the Hills.
His lawsuit seeks more than $200,000 in punitive damages from his former counselor, Dan Blair, and the Arbor Counseling Center where Blair works.
"He [Blair] had an obligation to provide services, and he willfully abused that for his own benefit," said attorney Hans Mast, who represents Buetow.
Fraud, malpractice alleged
The lawsuit filed by Buetow in McHenry County also accuses Blair -- a state-licensed clinical professional counselor -- of fraud and professional malpractice.
Buetow and his wife began seeing the counselor in April 2004 to "strengthen and stabilize" their 10-year marriage, the suit contends.
While providing both joint counseling and individual therapy sessions to Buetow and his wife, Blair allegedly started a a romantic -- and secret -- relationship with Buetow's wife.
Despite the alleged relationship, Blair continued counseling Buetow and worked "to undermine the marriage to his benefit by tendering poor advice," the suit contends.
Couple has four children
Buetow filed the suit because he believes "he got a raw deal from the person he trusted and confided in," Mast said.
Buetow and his 36-year-old wife, who have four children, were granted a divorce earlier this year, Mast said.
Blair, who has been licensed as a counselor since 1998, didn't return phone calls seeking comment on the suit.
He hasn't been disciplined for any professional complaints since being licensed, according to records from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
An official at Arbor Counseling declined to comment on the lawsuit
Therapists should only be paid for results. This hourly business is ridiculous.
If a therapist is successful, the patient or client will be glad to pay. But it always seems that therapists are like lawyers. You come away from the experience usually dissatisfied with the lack of bang for your buck...
Then again, this guy's problem is that his wife apparently got banged on his buck. So I suppose asking for his money back and some extra isn't unreasonable.
This therapist committed a disgusting breach of professional ethics. He should lose his license forever, and have to pay damages up the ying yang to both the husband and the wife.
And that's one of the fringe benefits enjoyed by many counselors...
Easy. How willing are the clients willing to pay? A happy client is a sign of successful therapy, and happy people will probably pay with little fuss. ;-) And if you didn't notice, the original post was highly facetious.
I'll admit, most therapists probably do good work. I went and saw a school psychologist once and only once. I never went back because the guy was nutso. But I have been on good terms with therapists and friends with some, though not good friends.
I met a speech therapist who took me aside as a kid and offered to help me with my lisp. Up till then I had no idea I had a lisp, and nobody had noticed one either. I now have a lisp, and nothing will get rid of it. It is barely noticeable though, and only comes out strong when I get dehydrated or tired of enunciating.
No, it was my fault. I should've tagged the post with a /sarc or /irony.
I've said this before... We need text styling for sarcasm and facetious-isms.
;-P
A gal who gets more bang for the buck?
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